Valve boss lets off steam about DRM

In short, it's just plain dumb.

President of Valve Software Gabe Newell has said that he thinks the DRM on computer games is "just dumb".

In email correspondence with a fan, Newell wrote that "The goal should be to create greater value for customers through service value (make it easy for me to play my games whenever and wherever I want to), not by decreasing the value of a product (maybe I'll be able to play my game and maybe I won't)... We really, really discourage other developers and publishers from using the broken DRM offerings, and in general there is a groundswell to abandon those approaches."

Recent PC games - including Spore, Bioshock and Mass Effect - have caused outrage among gamers for refusing to work across multiple machines, even when uninstalled.

For its part, Valve managed to work its way around the DRM problem by going the whole hog and creating its own gaming distribution service. Games purchased on the Steam system are tied to a single login, but that login can be used across multiple machines - making it easy for gamers to switch and upgrade components, but killing piracy, since the login is also tied to friends' lists and personal details gamers are unlikely to want to share.

As more and more publishers sign up to Steam - Newell distributes games from scores of other companies through his service - the future of PC games might not just be DRM-less, it might be entirely disc-less.

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7 Comments

RaYdeX Dec 4, 2008 12:34 PM	Does Steam actually allow multiple simultaneous logins? The major down-side of services like steam though, is that all your games can be taken away from you at the whims of some-one else. And that's not cool. DRM to me, should be no-more than a product key check at start-up. You register the game with the company with your details so that if your product key gets around you can prove who you are, and that's that. I don't see why it needs to be any more than that. Who cares if I'm using a back-up game disc. I mean, hell, back in the days of Floppies, every single game I played was from a back-up. I'd never play a game from an original.
Bastard Child Dec 4, 2008 1:15 PM	Seeing as you can't privately sell STEAM games, and registered games have your personal details attached forever, you're only one step above the cesspit Gabe.
t8y Dec 4, 2008 1:20 PM	recently sold my copy of spore to someone locally, "minus one install of five" he cant install it on his pc. i have not been able to uninstall it from mine yet (as my gpu has died, reason im selling things is to pay for a new one!). so it sounds to me like ill have to refund his money because no matter what, it wont work?
Devilsmurf Dec 4, 2008 2:43 PM	GTA 4 through Steam still features SecureRom, so much for no DRM on Steam. Also the article doesn't specify simultaneous multiple logins, just logins on multiple PC's.
R4nd0M Dec 4, 2008 4:10 PM	It's not Valve's fault that the Steam version of GTA 4 still features SecuROM. That decision was up to R* alone. No, you can't have multiple logins on steam. You can however, "log in" offline on the same account across multiple computers provided your games are up to date and you're only playing LAN games or singleplayer.
D12017K Dec 4, 2008 4:47 PM	Steam is a distribution platform with intrinsic DRM. Gabe didn't actually say DRM is useless just that most DRM is stupidly implemented. I.e. hurts the end user with no added benefit at all. Valve's own games dont use DRM but they have no control over what DRM third party developers use when they distribute their products on steam. :)
SceptreCore Dec 5, 2008 12:23 AM	Does this mean I have to start paying for games now? FUCK!

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