Valve's Newell attacks aggressive DRM

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/317439/valves-newell-attacks-aggressive-drm/

Newell last year said that the practice resulted in games that are "worth less" - to a cheering crowd at GDC.

This week, in an interview with Kotaku, he went a step further. "We're a broken record on this," said the exec. "This belief that you increase your monetisation by making your game worth less through aggressive digital rights management is totally backwards."

Newell added that piracy was "not an issue" for Valve as it is "a service issue, not a technology issue".

He cited Russia as an example, which is now Steam's largest European market outside the UK and Germany. Valve had invested in making sure games were properly localised for the region in order to combat piracy.

"When we entered Russia everyone said, 'You can't make money in there. Everyone pirates,'" he said, going on to explain that, at the time, pirates were localising games better than official publishers.

"When people decide where to buy their games they look and they say, 'Jesus, the pirates provide a better service for us,'" he commented.

"The best way to fight piracy is to create a service that people need. I think (publishers with strict DRM) will sell less of their products and create more problems.

"Customers want to know everything is going to be there for them no matter what: Their saved games and configurations will be there. They don't want any uncertainty."

get rid of copyrights and intellectual property as a whole I say.

get rid of copyrights and intellectual property as a whole I say.

dkdk999

get rid of copyrights and intellectual property as a whole I say.

dkdk999

Valve is great on how they value us (the consumer), however I feel that other developers and publishers value their games more than they value us.

Get rid of publishers and 99% of the problems with the game industry are solved.Moriarity_

Get rid of publishers and 99% of the games go away.

Everything in life is about balance. The thing that throws industries out of whack is the publicly traded corporation, the destroyer of capatilism.

[QUOTE="Moriarity_"]Get rid of publishers and 99% of the problems with the game industry are solved.Pug-Nasty

Get rid of publishers and 99% of the games go away.

Everything in life is about balance. The thing that throws industries out of whack is the publicly traded corporation, the destroyer of capatilism.

With Digital Distribution, there is no need for publishers. There can be a developer and gamer direct relationship. 99% of games aren't even publisher backed, so that stat is false.

All publishers want to do is broaden the game to a bigger audience and pump out as many games as possible, profitabled of course. That kills developer traditions and inner-cultures. Less innovation in games, less compeition.

As long as you dont punish the people who buy your games, I'm cool with it. Heil68

[QUOTE="Pug-Nasty"]

[QUOTE="Moriarity_"]Get rid of publishers and 99% of the problems with the game industry are solved.ShadowDeathX

Get rid of publishers and 99% of the games go away.

Everything in life is about balance. The thing that throws industries out of whack is the publicly traded corporation, the destroyer of capatilism.

With Digital Distribution, there is no need for publishers.

Publishers don't just fund the pressing of data onto discs, they fund the entire development of games. A game released over a DD network still requires development, and still requires funding. The disc pressing is a marginal cost compared to the development.

There can be a developer and gamer direct relationship. 99% of games aren't even publisher backed, so that stat is false.

Obviously, I was using that percentage in reply to the other poster. I have no idea what percentage of games are publisher backed, but it is certainly a very large amount. The number probably shrinks as you broaden what types of games you include... flash, arcade, whatever, but a full game is expensive and risky, which is why publishers exist.

All publishers want to do is broaden the game to a bigger audience and pump out as many games as possible, profitabled of course. That kills developer traditions and inner-cultures. Less innovation in games, less compeition.

Publicly traded corporations exist solely to earn money for their investors. Any publicly traded entity has less freedom to take risks because risky behaviour causes investors to flee, which cause the company to shut down even if business is good.

[QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"]

[QUOTE="Pug-Nasty"]

Get rid of publishers and 99% of the games go away.

Everything in life is about balance. The thing that throws industries out of whack is the publicly traded corporation, the destroyer of capatilism.

Pug-Nasty

With Digital Distribution, there is no need for publishers.

Publishers don't just fund the pressing of data onto discs, they fund the entire development of games. A game released over a DD network still requires development, and still requires funding. The disc pressing is a marginal cost compared to the development.

There can be a developer and gamer direct relationship. 99% of games aren't even publisher backed, so that stat is false.

Obviously, I was using that percentage in reply to the other poster. I have no idea what percentage of games are publisher backed, but it is certainly a very large amount. The number probably shrinks as you broaden what types of games you include... flash, arcade, whatever, but a full game is expensive and risky, which is why publishers exist.

All publishers want to do is broaden the game to a bigger audience and pump out as many games as possible, profitabled of course. That kills developer traditions and inner-cultures. Less innovation in games, less compeition.

Publicly traded corporations exist solely to earn money for their investors. Any publicly traded entity has less freedom to take risks because risky behaviour causes investors to flee, which cause the company to shut down even if business is good.

[QUOTE="Pug-Nasty"]

[QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"]

With Digital Distribution, there is no need for publishers.

Publishers don't just fund the pressing of data onto discs, they fund the entire development of games. A game released over a DD network still requires development, and still requires funding. The disc pressing is a marginal cost compared to the development.

There can be a developer and gamer direct relationship. 99% of games aren't even publisher backed, so that stat is false.

Obviously, I was using that percentage in reply to the other poster. I have no idea what percentage of games are publisher backed, but it is certainly a very large amount. The number probably shrinks as you broaden what types of games you include... flash, arcade, whatever, but a full game is expensive and risky, which is why publishers exist.

All publishers want to do is broaden the game to a bigger audience and pump out as many games as possible, profitabled of course. That kills developer traditions and inner-cultures. Less innovation in games, less compeition.

Publicly traded corporations exist solely to earn money for their investors. Any publicly traded entity has less freedom to take risks because risky behaviour causes investors to flee, which cause the company to shut down even if business is good.

ShadowDeathX

[QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"][QUOTE="Pug-Nasty"]

ThePlothole

Aggressive DRM only serves to save jobs of the people who brought you these joyful games.Olimar_the_Min

How? Oft times it's completely worked around within a few days (a la Ubisoft "Always-On" DRM being cracked) and thus negates any possible effect it would have on mitigating piracy.

It often ruins the enjoyment of actual customers, due to the fact that these companies see pirates as potential customers, which is quite hard to prove.

Aggressive DRM only serves to save jobs of the people who brought you these joyful games.Olimar_the_Min

Valve complaining about DRM??? Thats just too funny.

Pot, kettle, ext.

Not every developer can afford the tens of millions of dollars it takes to develop a modern game.ThePlothole

Not all developers need tens of millions of dollars to develop a game.

[QUOTE="ThePlothole"]Not every developer can afford the tens of millions of dollars it takes to develop a modern game.N30F3N1X

Not all developers need tens of millions of dollars to develop a game.

Indie games is a good example :> IF they make the game good (put some love into it) it will sell good for close to no production cost. :KalDurenik

I'm not talking solely about indie games, I'm mainly talking about games made before this generation. Show this generation of noobs that graphics don't matter in making a good game ffs.

Aggressive DRM only serves to save jobs of the people who brought you these joyful games.Olimar_the_Min

And then this:

let's first fix lame steam offline mode and then open mouthJohn_Read

[QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"][QUOTE="Pug-Nasty"]

ThePlothole

Publishers do fund the game, I agree. But if you take them out, developers will still be able to fund it themselves. All the profits of the game will be directed towards them as well.

Not every developer can afford the tens of millions of dollars it takes to develop a modern game.

Not every developer needs 10s of millions of dollars to make a Hollywood game.

Minecraft is a good example. Other indie games prove this as well. Heck, even the damn facebook games. You don't need the entire reserve of a third world country to make a successful game.

[QUOTE="ThePlothole"][QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"]

Publishers do fund the game, I agree. But if you take them out, developers will still be able to fund it themselves. All the profits of the game will be directed towards them as well.

mirgamer

Not every developer can afford the tens of millions of dollars it takes to develop a modern game.

Not every developer needs 10s of millions of dollars to make a Hollywood game.

Minecraft is a good example. Other indie games prove this as well. Heck, even the damn facebook games. You don't need the entire reserve of a third world country to make a successful game.

No, you don't.

The difference, however, is that there's about a few hundred indie games released for every successful one.

A company like EA can't survive off just making indie-quality titles.

get rid of copyrights and intellectual property as a whole I say.

dkdk999

:lol: Yeah so no one could protect their ideas, designswhat so ever.. Meaning gaming would crash.. Genious idea.. I hope your aware that video games are 100% intellectual property.

Rather strange coming from the makers of Steam (which requires you to be online to play games you 'own'). I would call that 'aggressive DRM'. KC_Hokie

No you can play in offline mode buddy.

[QUOTE="KC_Hokie"]Rather strange coming from the makers of Steam (which requires you to be online to play games you 'own'). I would call that 'aggressive DRM'. sSubZerOo

No you can play in offline mode buddy.

This is a form of DRM. Valve should do away with Steam's online DRM before they start talking.

[QUOTE="Heil68"]As long as you dont punish the people who buy your games, I'm cool with it. ThePlothole

[QUOTE="ThePlothole"][QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"]

Publishers do fund the game, I agree. But if you take them out, developers will still be able to fund it themselves. All the profits of the game will be directed towards them as well.

mirgamer

Not every developer can afford the tens of millions of dollars it takes to develop a modern game.

Not every developer needs 10s of millions of dollars to make a Hollywood game.

Minecraft is a good example. Other indie games prove this as well. Heck, even the damn facebook games. You don't need the entire reserve of a third world country to make a successful game.

Nah The Witcher 2 is a better example 7 million thrown into that game and they got most of it back quickly, such a high quality game with top of the line graphics.

Valve complaining about DRM??? Thats just too funny.

Pot, kettle, ext.

evilross

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]

[QUOTE="KC_Hokie"]Rather strange coming from the makers of Steam (which requires you to be online to play games you 'own'). I would call that 'aggressive DRM'. KC_Hokie

No you can play in offline mode buddy.

This is a form of DRM. Valve should do away with Steam's online DRM before they start talking.

[QUOTE="KC_Hokie"]

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]

No you can play in offline mode buddy.

Guppy507

This is a form of DRM. Valve should do away with Steam's online DRM before they start talking.

As a result, I couldn't play DXHR. Seeing as "restart in offline mode" also needs an internet connection, I was helpless. Valve isn't as good as everyone thinks.starjet905

[QUOTE="Pug-Nasty"]

[QUOTE="Moriarity_"]Get rid of publishers and 99% of the problems with the game industry are solved.ShadowDeathX

Get rid of publishers and 99% of the games go away.

Everything in life is about balance. The thing that throws industries out of whack is the publicly traded corporation, the destroyer of capatilism.

With Digital Distribution, there is no need for publishers. There can be a developer and gamer direct relationship. 99% of games aren't even publisher backed, so that stat is false.

All publishers want to do is broaden the game to a bigger audience and pump out as many games as possible, profitabled of course. That kills developer traditions and inner-cultures. Less innovation in games, less compeition.

Nah The Witcher 2 is a better example 7 million thrown into that game and they got most of it back quickly, such a high quality game with top of the line graphics.

NoodleFighter

Good for them that they live in Poland.

[QUOTE="ThePlothole"][QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"] Publishers do fund the game, I agree. But if you take them out, developers will still be able to fund it themselves. All the profits of the game will be directed towards them as well.ShadowDeathX

No, just to develop a modern game that holds up to modern standards.

Rather strange coming from the makers of Steam (which requires you to be online to play games you 'own'). I would call that 'aggressive DRM'. KC_Hokie

[QUOTE="NoodleFighter"]

Nah The Witcher 2 is a better example 7 million thrown into that game and they got most of it back quickly, such a high quality game with top of the line graphics.

Icarian

Good for them that they live in Poland.

What does that have to do with anything?

[QUOTE="KalDurenik"]Indie games is a good example :> IF they make the game good (put some love into it) it will sell good for close to no production cost. :N30F3N1X

I'm not talking solely about indie games, I'm mainly talking about games made before this generation. Show this generation of noobs that graphics don't matter in making a good game ffs.

[QUOTE="Icarian"]

[QUOTE="NoodleFighter"]

Nah The Witcher 2 is a better example 7 million thrown into that game and they got most of it back quickly, such a high quality game with top of the line graphics.

topgunmv

Good for them that they live in Poland.

What does that have to do with anything?

Average salaries are lower. For example average net salary in UK is almost four times bigger than in Poland. So to make The Witcher 2 in UK would cost probably around 20-25 million because of higher salaries alone. Not to mention that everything else costs more too.

Why do you think that companies like to move their businesses to China or other similar countries?

The only thing DRM does is make it feel like you don't own the games you buy.

I still blame pirates. PC games are cheaper than consoles and drop price quicker.

There is absolutely no reasoning with them and 9 out of 10 excuses they make are as lame as it gets, this goes for all media they copy.

I've said it a million times, I respect the guy "more" (but not much) who is honest enough to say they do it because they can to avoid paying, rather then the bs excuses.

The ones I hate are, we do it to fight the corperations, excpet the fat cats don't feel it because they just take it out on the little guy with cuts of some sorts.

And the best one "hey, they ern too much money", that's none of your effing business, they make good product, they make money from good product.

Just lousy self justifications.

Crap DRM comes because no one has a clue how to handle the situation.

[QUOTE="Pug-Nasty"]

[QUOTE="Moriarity_"]Get rid of publishers and 99% of the problems with the game industry are solved.ShadowDeathX

Get rid of publishers and 99% of the games go away.

Everything in life is about balance. The thing that throws industries out of whack is the publicly traded corporation, the destroyer of capatilism.

With Digital Distribution, there is no need for publishers. There can be a developer and gamer direct relationship. 99% of games aren't even publisher backed, so that stat is false.

All publishers want to do is broaden the game to a bigger audience and pump out as many games as possible, profitabled of course. That kills developer traditions and inner-cultures. Less innovation in games, less compeition.