Valve dishes DRM dirt

Eye firmly on Ubisoft’s DRM issues.

The CEO of Valve, Gabe Newell, slammed Ubisoft's digital restriction management (DRM) in an interview at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) awards.

Gabe was at the GDC to receive a Pioneer Award and when talk turned to DRM, Newell zoned in on Ubisoft's recent DRM debacle that has gone over like a lead balloon.

We reported last week that Ubisoft's latest anti-piracy measures caused a barrage of complaints. It was revealed that the system forced gamers to login via the publisher's website in order to play and required users to have a constant Internet connection.

On behalf of Valve and 99.9 per cent of the gaming industry, Newell said he thought that DRM, in its current form, is restrictive and a damaging customer experience.

"One thing that you hear Valve talk a lot about is entertainment as a service," said Newell. "It's an attitude that says 'what have I done for my customers today?'"

"It informs all the decisions we make, and once you get into that mindset it helps you avoid things like some of the Digital Rights Management problems that actually make your entertainment products worth less by wrapping those negatives around them."

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17 Comments

smadge1 Mar 16, 2010 11:55 AM	This Gabe guy sounds like he knows what he's talking about.
Bundywow Mar 16, 2010 1:03 PM	Isn't Steam a good parallel to UBI's DRM at least the way it was at the launch of HL2? Just an observation I am not critical of Steam in fact I like the service it provides and I use it regularly.
NRUFrost Mar 16, 2010 1:52 PM	Valve cant talk, You buy a boxed copy of a game from your local dealer and have to input the code into your steam account for it to install, once you have done that you cant resell the game or even lend it to a mate to try out. Take Supreme Commander 2 for example, if you put Steam into offline mode you cant even make a LAN game... I use steam, Because i have no choice... not because i want to.
ArcaneMagik Mar 16, 2010 2:35 PM	You always have a choice. It's just you don't like what options you have compared to using steam. If steam was the only way to play any game, that would be an example of no choice.
squid Mar 16, 2010 3:19 PM	you can resell steam games.. its just a bit convoluted...
NRUFrost Mar 16, 2010 3:52 PM	What options ArcaneMagik? 3 examples: I purchased AVP from JBHIFI, You need a steam to play. Mate purchased Sup Com 2 from EB, You need steam to play MW2 you need steam... getting the point yet? Squid, Can you explain how to resell games from steam, because as far as i know you cant, I have researched this a lot and thus far come up with no evidence that you can. If it was possible don't you think they would have the ability to do this built into steam? for example, Right click a game and have the option to sell to a friend on your list or De-authorize a game key so you can sell it.
MagnumXY Mar 16, 2010 4:47 PM	All Steam needs is a one time online activation on each game if you can't do that then I doubt your computer could run the game either.
NRUFrost Mar 16, 2010 5:01 PM	Guess school is out, Attacking ones computer power to argue a point that you obviously know nothing about. Do you know what LAN stands for? Local Area Network, So why would you need to be online to play a LAN game? oh that's why to check if you have a legit copy of the game, and that is exactly what SupCom2 does, If your offline you cant make a Multi player LAN game. Plus why should i have to install a 3rd party Digital Distribution application to install a game from another company? DRM! One point to make your puny comment on my computers power to run the game is that if a console can run all these games then you would be hard pressed to find a PC off the shelf these days that cant.
jiayijames Mar 16, 2010 5:49 PM	I don't like Steam but at least it's better than Ubisoft's latest solution, even their own Starforce previously is arguably better than always on connection. Currently EA seems doing a better job, sure they still use SecuRom, but just an example the latest BF BC2 really gives you choices, either activate online then no disk needed, or use disk based authentication but have to insert it each time you play.
Dionysus73 Mar 16, 2010 10:11 PM	Steam is rubbish - no doubt about it. I purchased "Orange Box" and "Fear 2" but I have a terrible (4Gb/month) internet connection. It took me six days to even install "Orange Box" and more than a week to install "Fear 2" (not to mention the downloads each installation chewedup!)! I finds Steam's authentication protocols to be a complete abortion of the gaming experience. Never in my life have I not paid for a game - not once. Let me assure you - never in my life will I ever buy anything linked to Steam - just a crap experience. It truly amazes me that anyone would even make an attempt to legitimize Steam's idiotic system.
studor Mar 16, 2010 10:50 PM	@Dionysus73: So you blame Steam because of your crappy internet connection? Where is the logic in that? And if you think the Steam system is bad you have obviously never experienced the horrors of FADE, Star-force, UBI U-Play, and numerous other crappy protection schemes. At least with Steam once you have purchased a game and attached it to your account you will always have access to that game.
SquallStrife Mar 17, 2010 8:15 AM	"Do you know what LAN stands for? Local Area Network, So why would you need to be online to play a LAN game?" You don't. Offline mode. Next?
NRUFrost Mar 17, 2010 1:19 PM	I am dealing with idiots, You cant be in Offline Mode. You have to be online to play LAN in SupCom2. Read before opening your mouth, or instead actually play the game before commenting.
SquallStrife Mar 17, 2010 5:41 PM	It takes a special kind of self-righteous idiot to play the "I am dealing with idiots" card. It doesn't speak well to your character that you have to prop up your ego by reassuring yourself that you're smarter than some anonymous poster on the interwebs. I hope your baseless assertion gains you the respect of your peers, because it will do no such thing on these forums. Back on topic. Have you actually tried Steam's offline mode? Or are you accepting what some prepubescent troll says on the GameFAQs forum, the bastion of intelligence that it is?
NRUFrost Mar 17, 2010 6:10 PM	The reason for the "I am dealing with idiots" statement is because twice now i have had to explain myself... well, twice. I don't assume that i am smarter than anyone, but when people ignore what you have written just to ask the same question or in fact think they gave an answer to your problem, without even looking at the problem and realising that this was already tested, Hence your half baked smartarse response to my statement "You don't. Offline mode. Next?" If you had read anything, or even actually tested this yourself you would know, But you probably blew your new start allowance on a shiny new rocking horse, or you could have gone back a few posts to see this gem or knowledge that you completly missed. "Take Supreme Commander 2 for example, if you put Steam into offline mode you cant even make a LAN game..." So before you start questioning my sources how about you go do something proactive and make sure you cant breed.
elmo198 Mar 31, 2010 2:18 PM	DRM is one of those stupidest thing ever invented IMHO. I hate steam so I dont play games that require steam.. they just lost a customer.. but one customer arent going to hurt them anyway. but steam suck balls, bloated and full of useless shit that just hog system resources. but DRM is gay. is very restrictive and it wont allow you to do much with it once you have it. take 4 example itune songs you downloaded. why the fuck can I only play it on itune equipment, why cant I play it on other devices. I paid good money for it. is mine.
Catmanagain Apr 19, 2010 4:38 PM	I agree with Dionysus73 I purchased a Fear 2 retail version during the install it insisted on installing a older version of Steam. This install process kill all the other games I have that use Steam. The recommendation from Valve was I need to reinstall my OS and then reinstall all the games in the correct order so that the steam version was incrementally updated. So I will not be purchasing any games from now on that use Steam. In hindsight other option was possible to register the game and than allow the game to be installed though Steam download. Unfortunately MY ADSL provider has low limits on my data, so much so that I estimated it would take me about 3 months for the download to compete.

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