Players can only access the lowest rank of competitive gameplay for free, and access to any higher levels costs a subscription fee of $2.50 a month. That’s right, you’ll need a subscription to play GeoGuessr on Steam, for some reason.
Not only is this price point bizarre for a game that you can literally just hop into similar browser versions and play for free, but […]
GeoGuessr has required a subscription to actually play for a while now. I think they had a very limited Free tier until 2024, but it was not a great experience. The developers claim that they need to charge a subscription fee because they need to pay Google for the Streetview API access. To me, that seems plausible and would justify a subscription model (as opposed to a one-time purchase).
On the other hand, OpenGuessr seems to be a free alternative that offers a very similar game. That certainly seems like a better alternative if it’s sustainable.
They also show you how much API calls cost you incurred, which is nice. That way I know how much of my donation only offsets what I use and how much I actually donate to development
I understand the subscription model is required since every player is bound to cost them money for every round, but apparently even if you’re already subscribed to GeoGuessr you have to pay again for the Steam version which is absurd to me.
Yeah, that seems quite weird and not customer friendly at all. I was wondering if it has something to do with Steam’s in-game purchase conditions (mostly the fee).
I’m not sure if it’s just because Ubisoft has a special contract but for Trackmania I’m able to pay the subscription either through Ubisoft directly or through Steam.
The steam version of trackmania is quite weird - I looked for a way to pay for it through steam for a while before resignedly going into the Ubisoft payment in the overlay… Only to be directed to steam for payment. I’m not sure if it’s even possible to pay through Ubisoft when launching it from steam.
Yeah I enjoyed GeoGuessr and wishlisted it in Steam when it was announced. Got an email from Steam saying it was available and opened the store page to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews.
I’ve played OpenGuessr and it’s pretty close to the same experience, I never do versus or anything, just a casual player. I did notice it tended to put me in the same countries quite often, like 8 instances of Brazil and 3 in the Philippines in 20 rounds, but still enjoyable.
GeoGuessr has required a subscription to actually play for a while now. I think they had a very limited Free tier until 2024, but it was not a great experience. The developers claim that they need to charge a subscription fee because they need to pay Google for the Streetview API access. To me, that seems plausible and would justify a subscription model (as opposed to a one-time purchase).
On the other hand, OpenGuessr seems to be a free alternative that offers a very similar game. That certainly seems like a better alternative if it’s sustainable.
Geotastic is another great alternative that is funded by donations and ads (which you can remove by donating once)
They also show you how much API calls cost you incurred, which is nice. That way I know how much of my donation only offsets what I use and how much I actually donate to development
I understand the subscription model is required since every player is bound to cost them money for every round, but apparently even if you’re already subscribed to GeoGuessr you have to pay again for the Steam version which is absurd to me.
Yeah, that seems quite weird and not customer friendly at all. I was wondering if it has something to do with Steam’s in-game purchase conditions (mostly the fee).
I’m not sure if it’s just because Ubisoft has a special contract but for Trackmania I’m able to pay the subscription either through Ubisoft directly or through Steam.
The steam version of trackmania is quite weird - I looked for a way to pay for it through steam for a while before resignedly going into the Ubisoft payment in the overlay… Only to be directed to steam for payment. I’m not sure if it’s even possible to pay through Ubisoft when launching it from steam.
Yeah I enjoyed GeoGuessr and wishlisted it in Steam when it was announced. Got an email from Steam saying it was available and opened the store page to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews.
I’ve played OpenGuessr and it’s pretty close to the same experience, I never do versus or anything, just a casual player. I did notice it tended to put me in the same countries quite often, like 8 instances of Brazil and 3 in the Philippines in 20 rounds, but still enjoyable.