Rocksmith 2014 has rocked out for the last time: Almost 10 years to the day after the acclaimed learn-to-play-guitar game debuted, Ubisoft has removed it from sale on all digital storefronts as of October 23, 2023. DLC packs and Singles for Rocksmith 2014 will be removed from those storefronts over time as well."

Of course I have already purchased Rocksmith via Steam and I play it daily. 
It is said that once you have purchased Rocksmith via Steam, you can simply download it and install it again. 
But who guarantees for how long? therefore my next question. 
Is there a method to re-download the installer files from steam, for example, so that I can save them for later installation of the game? 
Of course it is in my Steam library, but who guarantees that if I ever want to clean up my PC and I have to reinstall Steam, I can also reinstall Rocksmith.
With this they force you to make the switch to Rocksmith +. And I do not want that.

 

The main question is an existential question.

1 hour ago, gwbuiter said:

But who guarantees for how long?

There are very few guarantees in life. 2 main qualifiers.

1) how long can you and will you maintain access to your Steam Account?

2) How long will Steam be able to keep their service up and running?

Steam started 20 years ago in September of 2003. There is debate as to the first game available, but general consensuses is Half Life 2 was the first game available for digital download on November 16, 2004. Half Life 2 is still in the Steam Store, Still available to be purchased, Still available to be downloaded.

The user agreement states that a purchased game will remain available for download on the account it was purchased on for life as long as the account is still active. Your question brings up further questions, more existential questions that also have vague answers. Such as, will Ubi continue to provide support for the game, i.e. in regards to newer operating systems.

1 hour ago, gwbuiter said:

Is there a method to re-download the installer files from steam, for example, so that I can save them for later installation of the game?

No. Yes, no. There is another method for download using the Steamcmd. There is no installer. You can save the files. As long as you own the game on your account, you can use those files. Installer? no, there is no stand-alone-installer. Can / could someone write one? As long as smart people with the know how exist, the limits are your imagination, education, and intelligence. Again, if you already own the game on your account, there should be no reason or need to not withstanding:

1 hour ago, gwbuiter said:

they force you to make the switch to Rocksmith +

There is that possibility, but it is only a possibility. Another member just recently posted in the past week or so how that individual went to UBI support and was (allegedly) told to purchase Rocksmith + instead. A lot of us last year with the update they forced on us were screaming that is what they were trying to do, was force us to Rocksmith +. Keep in mind though, that they made the rollback Beta available, and when I just recently checked, it, the beta, was still available to use. I do not see that happening as long as the DLC is still available for sale, and will be for at least 8 more years.

 

A main thought to keep in mind is, with Operating Systems like 7, 8 having their end of support, and end of life expired, with 10 nearing its End of Life, Ubi is not likely to support the game on newer operating systems. You will have to maintain a computer with the proper system requirements to play the game. As you do that, the older operating systems will not work with new Steam updates. It will become a royal pain in the ass to keep the game running, and probably require huge support of the community and smart guys to keep it working. Currently there have been many people with Win11 that have experienced huge problems, as well as people with the newest Mac release.

There are no guarantees.

Or you can buy a physical second-hand copy of Rocksmith for PS3 and PS4. I wouldn't be sure the game will run forever on PS4 (I don't have one and I've heard concerns about some dependency on Sony servers) but it will run for sure forever on a PS3 unless the disc gets scratched or the console breaks. The good thing about PS3 is that they're old but not yet vintage, so you can buy one for 20 bucks and the game for 5 or 10. 

19 hours ago, Shroud said:

Or you can buy a physical second-hand copy of Rocksmith for PS3 and PS4.

When I first read this, I really liked this idea. However, after looking more into it, while it seems a good idea, this raises other questions, such as already purchased DLC. While I believe you are able to connect your Sony/PS network accounts to your Steam account, I do not think that you can download already purchased DLC for the PC for either version of Rocksmith to the Console. While this would leave the person with the base game(s) and songs available on the discs, if someone has already spent several hundred dollars on DLC they maybe better off prepping a dedicated PC to function the same as a console after downloading and backing up all their DLC and cDLC keeping their PC disconnected from the internet as to not update Steam for when it "bricks" because of an EOL OS.

Someone with PS3 or PS4 experience will have to answer, which I still believe the answer to be "no", if already PC purchased dlc can be ported to a PS3.

DLC are not transferable to any platform.

On top of that PS3 have its store now closed so none of the DLC can be purchased on that platform anymore, only PS4 still have a working store but that leave the user without CDLC.

I use Rocksmith in offline mode.  No internet connection, no downloading unwanted updates, no problems.

3 hours ago, 3basses said:

I use Rocksmith in offline mode.  No internet connection, no downloading unwanted updates, no problems.

While this is what I was eluding to with a dedicated machine, and I applaud your dedication to removing yourself from the network, this does still present problems and does not fully satisfy what the OP was asking. If you have all the DLC that you will already want, and play / use no other steam games this is fine, and again is what I was suggesting in my post.

If you have any other games, and or wish to use the same machine to use Steam, then Steam "needs" to be online to update. As far as Rocksmith not updating, this is fine. Only way to prevent Rocksmith from updating is preventing Steam to update. The larger concern is Steam itself will brick with updates, such as in less than 60 days it will brick for people using Windows 7. Again, as I said in my above post, This will happen for Windows 10. This in part is OP's question, relevant to what will guarantee the longevity of Rocksmith. If you use a machine totally offline, then neither of which will be an immediate problem. However, this also does  go back to adding any Steam Store DLC, and cloud storage. If someone wishes to keep their progress or total concurrent days played, and carry this over to another PC, it will not be possible. Minor details, but still an issue for some people.

Another concern of OP is if the machine fails, or just as bad, a catastrophic file corruption of the Operating System, OP's question is to how to fix or repair such things in the event of either happening, concerning how long Rocksmith being available for download, hence thier question of backing up files / installer. Keeping Steam disconnected in offline mode solves neither one of these concerns.

If you buy a DISK version of RS2014 for PC, will it work at least with CDLC? Or do CDLC only work with the Steam version?

If it is the PC version, it is the Steam version. The Disk actually has very little on it. It forces you to use or make a Steam account, then downloads the actual Rocksmith program from Steam.

Yep, it works with cDLC.

2 hours ago, Sniper Reload3d said:

If it is the PC version, it is the Steam version. The Disk actually has very little on it. It forces you to use or make a Steam account, then downloads the actual Rocksmith program from Steam.

Yep, it works with cDLC.

Ok thanks, so this prompts more questions...

Will the disk version still work now that RS is removed from the Steam store?

Does the disk version have a one-time key for linking the game to a Steam account?

The reason I am asking is, that there are second-hand PC disks copies of RS2014 on sale. I have been thinking of buying one of these as a gift. But if the disk itself does not have the game, it sounds like it's not gonna work at all, unless the first owner actually never installed the game (which is very unlikely).

35 minutes ago, Shroud said:

Ok thanks, so this prompts more questions...

Will the disk version still work now that RS is removed from the Steam store?

Does the disk version have a one-time key for linking the game to a Steam account?

The reason I am asking is, that there are second-hand PC disks copies of RS2014 on sale. I have been thinking of buying one of these as a gift. But if the disk itself does not have the game, it sounds like it's not gonna work at all, unless the first owner actually never installed the game (which is very unlikely).

The key to this is a Fresh, Un-used key. At the moment, only the digital keys were removed. What that means is, yes, if you buy a brand new hard copy (dvd) version with a key that is not been used / bound to someone's account, for the time being you can still download Rocksmith. So if you go to a vender i.e. Amazon and purchase it, it should indeed work. Etownhammer said it worked for him. For how long this will work is anybodies guess, and when the keys run out, then that is it. A used copy / second hand purchase probably will not work as you need the key that is not already bound to someone's account. Once I downloaded Rocksmith from Steam 11 years ago, I have never ever ever used that dvd again. the dvd is basically worthless past the key install. I would have to find my original box, but I believe the key is just printed somewhere in the box, it is not on the physical dvd itself.

Edit: the physical non-digital key is printed on the booklet inside the dvd case.

 

Thanks! That's what I suspected. Funny thing is, there are even brick & mortar shops here selling second hand copies... I wonder if they know what they are doing. 

8 minutes ago, Shroud said:

I wonder if they know what they are doing.

They say to safe guard the key after you install. I do not think you can reuse a key, but it maybe possible, I do not have the answer to that. I would suspect that they do know and do not care.

https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/help/rocksmith-2014-edition-remastered/purchases-and-rewards/article/missing-activation-key-for-rocksmith-2014/000063508

"Please note that keys are unique and can only be used once."

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/0E71-0971-324A-1161