So we’re just basically considering statistically which is more plausible? A HDD failing versus a corporation being greedy? I think both are bad and unreliable. A company guaranteeing a “purchase” in perpetuity (not subscription) and having the standard be offline installers (for your own backup) is the best bet. Everything else is just dictating the best way to stub your toe.
IANAL but is that really true? You don’t “Buy” anything on steam, you’re licensing a subscription to use the software under their terms. Downloading a torrent wouldn’t be covered by that. Purchasing a game though and having the same data backed up on a device is covered (identical to a torrent download), at least I thought that was the legal case for rom’s and such even being able to exist in the first place.