4mo ago

GeoGuessr is making its way to Steam next month after almost 12 years of sticking it out as a browser game

www.rockpapershotgun.com

Games @sh.itjust.works

fantawurstwasser @feddit.org

4mo ago

GeoGuessr is making its way to Steam next month after almost 12 years of sticking it out as a browser game

www.rockpapershotgun.com /geoguessr-is-making-its-way-to-steam-next-month-after-almost-12-years-of-sticking-it-out-as-a-browser-game

22 comments

Was good until they hiked the prices, removed free play and ruined the interface. Would highly recommend Geotastic instead.
- Geotastic is definitely a great alternative! If I could add another it would be FreeGuessr.com. You can turn off street names, it doesn't have Ads and you can play No Move or Blink Mode directly from the game.
  
  There's a few, like Openguessr too. But they are not really Geoguessr alternatives in the same way Geotastic is, with all the community features, I also like the transparency Geotastic has with running costs, I can donate to cover my own usage without overspending for profiteering like is the case with Geoguessr now.
Volatility of a business based on Google Maps seems to be very painful from observing GeoGuessr.
- Yeah, GeoGuessr is an extreme example as Google basically did 95% of the work for them. Having to image large chunks of the world would mean a huge investment and I highly doubt GeoGuessr would even exist without Google Maps.
  If Google would double their API pricing tomorrow there's very little GeoGuessr can do except maybe switch to Apple Maps (they offer an API, not sure they offer one for their "street view" data though).
  
  I mean they do require a subscription now to play GeoGuessr, so could be they are planning
- Yeah, this easy pass.
- Haha! You're in the Gulf of Mexico!
  [Depending on where you're located determines if this is a right or wrong answer]
  
  Companies are subject to the places they operate in and not following it could have consequences. I remember Guardian having to censor stuff due to UK court order. My gripe is that they are going diving into the military contract business that they had control over but still got into due to money.
- Yeah, considering that the whole game is dependent on Google Maps, they can end it any time. I just hope GeoGuessr has a good partnership with them. I saw somewhere that they pay millions per year for the maps!
Why?
- I found out recently that steam now let's devs create subscriptions as opposed to one-time charges, so it's 110% that
  
  Ain't no way I'll pay that.
  I would have discussed if it meant a one time payment but hell nah.
- Money.
  
  They already added a subscription.
  Up front cost cannot cover the ongoing API costs they must be paying for Google Maps. So either this has to be free and just a front end for the same shit, or they'll still end up net negative.
- Trading Cards and probably TF2 hats.
- Can run a little bitcoin mine in the background this way
Amazing news! It's great to see GeoGuessr coming to Steam! 🥰 This should make playing on Steam Deck much smoother. I just hope there's a free option (even with ads). On the web, most people have switched to free alternatives like FreeGuessr. If they go with a monthly subscription on Steam, I’m not sure it will work.

22 comments