Gabe Newell, president of Valve no less, has replied to a fan by email that reportedly makes Newell’s stance on PC DRM tactics quite clear indeed; ”just dumb.”
He argues the goal should be making it easier for gamers to play their games, and not ”decreasing the value of a product” by having DRM that might not let them at all.
”As far as DRM goes, most DRM strategies are just dumb,” wrote Newell in a supposed email exchange reports Tech in Hiding.
”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,” concluded Newell.
It’s no secret that he is a strong proponent for PC gaming and continues to push Valve’s Steam service to provide better and more efficient methods of distribution. There’s been no confirmation whether this email is genuine but it is most likely.
DRM is becoming ever more unpopular among gamers especially with the latest iterations of SecuROM that limit the number of installations the user is permitted. They argue it’s to help fight piracy except that games with this type of DRM like EA’s Spore have been ‘cracked’ within days of release - leaving only the legitimate buyers being punished.
