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GDC10: Gabe Newell: DRM lowers a game's worth photo

Valve boss Gabe Newell recently touched upon the always thorny subject of DRM, stating that it lowers the value of games and that it doesn't do anything for customers. Obvious statements, but popular ones, as his speech drew a round of cheers from a packed Games Developer's Choice audience. Newell had just won the Pioneer Award. 

"One thing that you hear us talk a lot about is entertainment as a service," opines 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."

Some could and would argue that Valve's Steam service is a form of DRM in its own right. The difference between DRM like Steam and DRM like Ubisoft's restrictions, however, is that Steam is not f*cking bullsh*t. 

GDC: DRM damages the value of games, says Newell [Develop]








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56 comments | showing # 1 to 50
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Reginald's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 12:45
Reginald
how long do you think it will be until Ubisoft cracks ? they can't reboot those servers forever.
jawshoeuh's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 12:49
jawshoeuh
@Reginald I give 'em til May.
Chris Carter's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 12:49
Chris Carter
@Reginald
Even worse - what happens when the servers close?
Deadeight's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 12:52
Deadeight
Can Valve put a foot wrong with PC gamers? I think not.
Chris Carter's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 12:52
Chris Carter
N.B. - this is presupposing Ubisoft continues this farce.
ZethUK's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 12:53
ZethUK
@hardock spiffy
Valve is not yet good enough? Excuse me while I go piss myself laughing..
PhazonYoshi's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 12:57
PhazonYoshi
@spiffy; Yeah, a valve game being on almost every top 10 games of the past 10 years list shows they just aren't good enough to match such brilliance as generic shooter 12, or interactive film: the game.
Luftwaffles's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:00
Luftwaffles
Hardcock spiffy, quickly degenerating into a Patriot Snake level PS3 fanboy, lacking the humorous demeanor of Sexual Chocolate.
kylamity's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:01
kylamity
Steam is bullsh*t when you have to use it and you don't want to. (Dawn of War II, etc)
ArigusX207's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:01
ArigusX207
@hardock spiffy "Valve is not yet good enough to match any of sony's first party developers, so they continue sucking on M$ teets."

The incorrectness of this statement cannot be put into words. I'm not trying to diss on Sony, but did Sony make Half-Life 2? Portal? Team Fortress 2?

No, no they did not.
Super Drybones's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:11
Super Drybones
I don't know. If I made an indie game and found out 90% of people pirated it instead of giving me revenue, I would consider DMR pretty sexy at that moment.
RudyChan's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:11
RudyChan
Valve are the real gaming homies.
Velt's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:21
Velt
the problem is that even if you buy a new ubisoft game on steam you will get the new DRM. Ubisoft is retarded.
Davedude's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:34
Davedude
@Kylamity: Yeah, Dawn of War 2 has so much protecting it (Steam, Live, etc.)... I guess the first game was so pirated that they just wanted to make this one safe :\ and because of it, I can't host any LAN parties with it T.T only 3 of my friends bought the game, so it'd be unsuitable to have a LAN party with only those 4 people when there will be 4 more willing to play games with us
JohnnyJustice's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:36
JohnnyJustice
I find it HILARIOUS that that fellow actually believes Valve hasn't developed a video game better than anything Sony has done.

Yes, because Sony releases a title better than Half-Life to like it's nothing. Resistance- there is a quality game. Meaningful story, interesting characters, contributes a lot to the industry...

Half-Life 2 is just useless in comparison!
Corduroy Turtle's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:44
Corduroy Turtle
Sony fans don't have a leg to stand on. Sucks being in 3rd place huh?

Valve is great.
Valve is legit.
Anyone who says otherwise
Is full of shit.
Xzyliac's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:45
Xzyliac
@hardock spiffy
What about the Orange Box? Other than L4D what hasn't Valve given PS3?
JohnnyJustice's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:48
JohnnyJustice
Eh, I'm not a fan-boy. I have no PROBLEM with the PS3- I think MGS4 and Demon's Souls are incredible games. But I think it's laughable that the company that, by themselves, revolutionized storytelling in video games, revolutionized visuals in video games, and are just masters at creating games that are INCREDIBLE, mind blowing experiences- all of this while saving PC gaming and offering piss-awesome deals on Steam- could be accused of not having any games that are better than SONY exclusives. Maybe- maybe Nintendo, ya know? Maybe Zelda- obviously Ocarina of Time and Mario 64, but... Sony?

ROFL.
JohnnyJustice's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:49
JohnnyJustice
They never gave the PS3 Half Life, Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, CS:S, Day of Defeat: Source- plus you can't mod any of those games on the consoles so a good deal of the value gets taken out. But all of those disadvantages also apply to the 360 users, so I have no idea why the Sony fanboys have any reason to bitch, unless they're coming after PC gamers now, too.
JohnnyJustice's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:53
JohnnyJustice
No, it really doesn't. No reason why PC gamers should have to suffer just so Valve can waste its time doing all of its code for the PS3- I would expect no less the other way around. PC gamers had to wait for both Assassins Creeds, as well as a ton of other games, no? The PS3 may be powerful, but it's a bitch to develop for unless it's your first platform.

I don't get it. It's like my crying because Square Enix isn't giving me Final Fantasy to play on my PC. Why would I complain about that? I would like it- but I'm not gonna get my butt hurt about it.
ohno's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:54
ohno
x1251 - that's why he sits on an exercise ball.
Corduroy Turtle's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 13:55
Corduroy Turtle
It boils down to effort vs. profit. It's not worth the trouble right now.
Ninja Cameraman's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:04
Ninja Cameraman
@ Xzyliac

Valve hasn't given the PS3 anything INCLUDING The Orange Box, EA did the port and botched trying to get it to work with the PS3 which is why ToB PS3 is in such a bad state. Gabe is one of the bigger fanboy baiters on the planet and certain people from Valve have stated they don't wanna do PS3 ports because they don't wanna go through the trouble to make their 6 year old engine work with it and go through the learning process to program with PS3 devkits.

Now PS3 multiplats make more money than they did 2 years ago so big V smelled money and is starting to give some love to PS3. I love Valve and they make astonishing games but sometimes the people that work there can be dumbasses.
Xzyliac's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:11
Xzyliac
@Ninja Cameraman
Interesting. To be honest I never paid attention to the whole Valve/PS3 thing. I always just thought they, I dunno, just didn't. Like how certain devs just don't touch 360 and certain devs just don't touch PS3.
ScottyG's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:13
ScottyG
Thing is, Valve is one of those few companies who want you to get longevity out of your games. The Activisions, Ubisofts, and EAs for the most part would rather games only be worth something until the next one comes out.
Amnesiac's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:15
Amnesiac
Man, it sure is cool having both a PS3 and a PC.
Deekman's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:16
Deekman
How has no one talked about how AWESOME the Dreamstone was. Nice header Jim
odintal's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:26
odintal
@Amnesiac
imagine how awesome it feels to have a pc, wii, 360, and ps3.

just thinking about how awesome i have it right now made me poop a little.
Nortonantivirus's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:29
Nortonantivirus
@JohnnyJustice
Half-Life was released on Dreamcast (unreleased), and PS2. It even had extra co-op levels that were not on the PC version. Counter-Strike relies on multi-player, so PS2 would have been a shit decision. Thats why it was on X-Box Live. Valve is a primarly a PC deveoper. Hell, the X-Box 360 versions of Left 4 Dead and The Orange Box are not even close to as updated as the PC versions.

Valve does not "owe" anything to the console community. They never said they were going to bring consoles on the same level as PC, and never will. They tried to give them the same updates, but it didn't happen. They said PS3 was too hard to work with. Microsoft wanted to charge for Valve's DLC. Valve didn't want to charge for DLC, so only one update to TF2 was released. Valve has very little ties to Sony or Microsoft. The ones they do have are because of EA.

On another note, how did this go from DRM to "Valve hates the PS3"?
Genebeef's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:29
Genebeef
oh sony fanboys, going after gabe because he points out clearly the flaw of DRM.

i can see why though, sony fanboys love proprietariness as much as sony does and they feel compelled to defend it since - sony did create securom, locking legit players out of their games since too long -
odintal's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:32
odintal
@Nortonantivirus
SDF, that's how.
Poe's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:35
Poe
The solution to DRM is to make games of such high caliber and quality that people will be overwhelmingly compelled to purchase them legitimately. The End.
flabzilla's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:41
flabzilla
The dreamstone! finally I know the name of it, the only thing I could remember from that show was the flying magical fish and that would never bring anything up on google.
Berzerk's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:41
Berzerk
@harddock spiffy

Valve is serving it's customers, not it's potential custmoers. If you don't buy their games, then you're not a customer. If you bought it on PC and can then find a convincing argument as to why it would be better on PS3 (hint: you can't), THEN you can start bitching about it.

The reason they can put games on the XBox easily is because it's really just a simplified PC with a specialized user input device. It would need to be completely rebuilt to work properly on the PS3.

Personally, I'd prefer them to make Portal 2/Episode 3 than to port something that already exists to a system that's notoriously difficult to develop for.
Amnesiac's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:44
Amnesiac
@odintal
I envy the poop-inducing awesomeness of your console collection.
Corduroy Turtle's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:54
Corduroy Turtle
Fight. Fight! FIGHT!!!
StingingVelvet's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 14:55
StingingVelvet
I love how all you need to do to make your extremely restricted DRM "not fucking bullshit" is wrap it in some community features.

If only Ubi added an IM window.
Drzog's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:04
Drzog
I knew it wouldn't take long for the Ubisoft apologists to come out of the woodwork.
hpv's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:15
hpv
Steam is without question DRM. But yeah, it isn't bullshit and actually manages to add some convenience with the automatic downloading/patching of games and even more so with games that have Steam cloud support for save games.

Gabe Newell is still a big, fat idiot, though.
odintal's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:15
odintal
@StingingVelvet
that and let people play the game when they're not logged on to the internet.
Jos Joel's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:16
Jos Joel
@Patriotekans

How is It a forced meme... or a meme ?
Shadowiii's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:21
Shadowiii
@ hardock spiffy

Woah, you quoted me from a whole other thread? I don't know whether to be flattered or offended.
Also, you need to step up your game. At least Sexual is kinda witty, you and Patriot Snake just blather the same stuff regardless of subject. It gets old. :(
Also, Bill Gates doesn't work on the Xbox anymore, so Valve can't suck his nuts/tits/whatever else you fanboys said.
D-roy's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:24
D-roy
I just love how everyone is whining at Valve for not porting their games to the PS3.

Newsflash!

They didn't port the games to the 360. EA did.
JohnnyJustice's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:24
JohnnyJustice
Nortonantivirus
I know, we're agreeing with each other. :D
Jos Joel's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:33
Jos Joel
@StingingVelvet

If you think that all the benefits of Steam are only "some community features" how can you be happy with Ubisoft's DRM ?. It's like Steam but with servers that are constantly attacked and without any benefits for the user. A terrible, terrible bizarro version of Steam.
KwikPwn's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:36
KwikPwn


:)
ZRB's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:43
ZRB
@odintal

lets not forget that steam isn't down the launch day of their games.
HEL105's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:48
HEL105
I will never understand how pissed people get over a PC developer, not making games for their console. If the architecture of the 360 was more dissimilar to the PC, Valve would care less about that system, too. Just get the frakking game on PC, if the idea of having a 360 revolts you so much. You're not entitled to have every game come to a system, just because you happen to own it.
Jack8274's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 15:58
Jack8274
@D-roy

As much as I hate the fanboys too, Valve did actually develop the 360 version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orange_Box

Also, if you don't trust Wikipedia go to the references at the bottom.
flea friend's Avatar - Comment posted on 03/12/2010 16:29
flea friend
Until the new Fanboy Friday post goes up, this thread will have to do.


Seriously, though, it's nice to see that pirates, the public, and now others in the industry are starting to turn against Ubisoft.
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