I do have the same problem very, very rarely as well.

I try to relaunch my game (seems to be independent of what game it is) and usually it's ok at that point. But if it happens too often, yeah, once a week would be too often, even once a month would be, it might be worth contacting steam support.

And no, we are not leasing the games, we paid and own the code/lincense for our copy of the game, it is not a leasing agreement, it is a purchase.

Sucks that games are making us install these services like steam now to play their game. This method makes me furious and i hope this fad dies quickly because this is clearly not the future.

In fact the future is like this, and even worse. You will see.

I fear, you're right. When it's only streaming services with pay per minute business models, we'll long for the times when Steam was around. Time to look for another hobby then ...

The reason as to why companies give out games over apps like Steam is because they don't have to deal with having a physical box plus all the logistics and costs involved with it. The less products coming out boxed, the less money disappears to third party distributors etc. And let's face it, for flightsims, a niche-genre on the best of days, relying on in-store box-sales only is idiotic. Add in the fact that it's a damn hassle to pirate anything from Steam, and it's a win for the companies that use those portals.

And overall, it's a win for us customers, as we get easy access to niche-products like, for example, flightsims.

Prepare to be furious for a very long time, then, because like it or not, Steam and such apps definately ARE the future in content distribution. As the overall bandwith of the average home-user goes up, so does the amount of content being delivered online.

So you mean distributing games on DVD:s is the future? Guess those guys that did music on CD:s in the good ole days said the same thing...

It's not the distribution of games online that's an issue, it's not even verifying the game online, it's having to be Connected to the Distributor when playing your game that irritates.

On top of which, for an application whose entire raison d'etre is internet connectivity, it takes Steam longer to connect than any other application on my PC.
What's that all about ?

Not sure why its taking you so long to connect to COD. COD loads in 15 seconds, and I'm flying in another 15 seconds. Personally I have yet to have a problem with my STEAM games and like the fact it will update my copy of COD with no bother. I also like how I can have STEAM quickly verify and fix COD if necessary if I have a problem with a downloaded beta from another source. Although I completely sympathize with those having problems.

You dont need steam to distribute over the internet. Sure lets make steam a monopoly on how to buy games threw the internet, that will be just great. Each game dev. will have the ability to digital download on their own website.. not all threw steam.. that is the future.

With even more stringent DRM that ties your purchase to the developer/publisher ... Ubisoft's nonsense DRM, anyone? Or that BS about BF3?

Face it - STEAM is relatively harmless compared to other online distribution systems.