Valve's Newell calls DRM strategies 'dumb'

Valve’s head honcho Gabe Newell isn’t exactly the biggest fan of DRM. In a recent correspondence with a concerned customer, Newell called modern DRM protection strategies “dumb” and opined that the goal of the developer shouldn’t be to restrict, but rather make games more available to the consumer. Without saying it, Newell expressed that Steam (go figure) is one of the best methods of both protecting and ensuring playability with consumers.

From the letter:

As far as DRM goes, most DRM strategies are just dumb. 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).

[via Game Politics]