Valve: Piracy is a Service Issue

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Valve: Piracy is a Service Issue

Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell has spoken out once again on the issue of piracy.

Newell reiterates what he’s said on previous occasions. DRM doesn’t work and pirates are not per se after free stuff.

“One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It’s a service issue,” he says.

“The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.”

“For example, Russia. You say, oh, we’re going to enter Russia, people say, you’re doomed, they’ll pirate everything in Russia. Russia now outside of Germany is our largest continental European market.”

Newell argues that instead of hurting legitimate customers with DRM, you have to give them something that’s superior to the pirated counterpart.

‘It doesn’t take much in terms of providing a better service to make pirates a non-issue,” Newell says.

Source: TorrentFreak

Full interview: GeekWire

[Udedenkz]

Like people care about DRM either way. 2 steps to pirate and crack vs 4 - big difference

[TFindley]

People do care about DRM... Need I remind you about EA's flirt with DRM. Take Spore for example. I believe Spore was a good example:

By September 14, 2008 (ten days after the game's initial Australian release), 2,016 of 2,216 ratings on Amazon.com gave the game one out of five stars, most citing EA's implementation of DRM for the low ratings. Electronic Arts cited SecuROM as a "standard for the industry", and Apple's iPod song DRM policy as justification for the control method. Former Maxis developer Chris Harris labeled the DRM a "screw up" and a "totally avoidable disaster".

[Laurë Veteran]

As far as gaming goes I think this is close on the mark. If you can afford some expensive gaming PC you ought to have the funds for many games. If paying instead of pirating makes your gaming experience better then it will lure people in.

Buttt..... they'd be foolish not to see that pricing makes some difference. It might just be different to the pricing of music or other things.

[Ayepecks]

No offense, but this is really old news... Gabe's been saying that for the better part of a year now, including that exact line about Russia.

[LaP]

As far as gaming goes I think this is close on the mark. If you can afford some expensive gaming PC you ought to have the funds for many games. If paying instead of pirating makes your gaming experience better then it will lure people in.

Buttt..... they'd be foolish not to see that pricing makes some difference. It might just be different to the pricing of music or other things.

Of course pricing does make a difference but i think M. Newell is spot on about the service.

Right now consumers who want to play PC games have 2 choices :

1. Buy a game. Go to a warez site to remove the DRM and be able to play without the CD. Deal with bugs and bad support. Upgrade the game with a patch downloaded from a web site to make it playable. Go to a warez site to hack the game again.
   
2. Or simply download the already cracked game. Deal with bugs but for free. Upgrade the game with the same patch downloaded from the same web site as the legit version. Go to a warez site to hack the new version of the game.
   

The choice is obvious for anyone who doesn't care about doing something illegal.

Now if you give this user the next 2 choices :

1. Buy a game. Don't have to remove any DRM cause none has been used. Game is playable on day one and updates will only be required for small fixes and new contents. Legit versions of the game are able to connect to a service to automatically apply patches and add some new free contents.
   
2. Download the game for free. Need to use a p2p service to download patches and contents cause they are not publicly avalaible.
   

Now the choice is not that obvious cause choice number 1 is effortless.

Price is a factor but effort is another one. Let's face it people like it easy. If you give them an easy way to play their games they'll pay for it. And that's why right now Steam is a success.

[Minifig]

People do care about DRM... Need I remind you about EA's flirt with DRM. Take Spore for example. I believe Spore was a good example:

Surely Ubisoft is a better example?

[Denis W. Veteran]

The headline's a rehashed argument, but the original article is far more interesting.

For instance, the claim that TF2 has a 20-30% conversion rate from free-to-play users to premium accounts. They contrast that to others doing F2P with just 2-3%.

[oceanmotion]

Easy for him to say, Steam is DRM. If it didn't exist I don't think he would be playing the same tune. If only every publisher had their own Steam client or just published them on Steam/Works, that right Gabe. You can't have all the cake. Users shouldn't expect publishers to go Steam because most people like it.

[LaP]

Easy for him to say, Steam is DRM. If it didn't exist I don't think he would be playing the same tune. If only every publisher had their own Steam client or just published them on Steam/Works, that right Gabe. You can't have all the cake. Users shouldn't expect publishers to go Steam because most people like it.

Then they can use their own server to host files and provide a way for legit users to log in inside the game.

It's not rocket science we are in 2010 not 1980.

But some devs can't even ship a game in a satisfactory playable state so i think it's too much to ask.

[Luis Mazza]

I think the article is 50% correct. The other 50% is anti-piracy tools to demotivate pirates and resoanable prices.

[Athernar]

Easy for him to say, Steam is DRM. If it didn't exist I don't think he would be playing the same tune. If only every publisher had their own Steam client or just published them on Steam/Works, that right Gabe. You can't have all the cake. Users shouldn't expect publishers to go Steam because most people like it.

Steam is only DRM in respect to it only allows you to play what you've bought on your account. To try and draw a comparison between Steam's "Passive DRM" and an "Active DRM" product like Securom is silly and your post is quite frankly petty.

I think the article is 50% correct. The other 50% is anti-piracy tools to demotivate pirates and resoanable prices.

I completely disagree, there will -never- be such a thing as an anti-piracy tool to demotivate pirates. The more secure a system claims to be the more driven the crackers become.

Heck, I bet a great deal of the cracks out there are made by people that probably don't even play games.

[Xerax]

I find the way to reduce piracy is to offer the download online and sign the package with RSA. Similar to how the XBox does Xbox Games on Demand. Since that started to get better titles, I haven't "acquired" any games illegally. Heck, the last game I pirated was Halo: Reach, and I still got the legendary edition and console for it. I just wanted to download it early so I could start researching the map/file formats.

[Luis Mazza]

I completely disagree, there will -never- be such a thing as an anti-piracy tool to demotivate pirates. The more secure a system claims to be the more driven the crackers become.

Heck, I bet a great deal of the cracks out there are made by people that probably don't even play games.

Because if cracks require internet activation, they can hardly be broken. I quit piratingsoftware with the hardest (long wait) codes to crack. It works and if it didn't, companies wouldn't do it. The crack requirement is able to DEMOTIVATE USERS, not crackers.

[Shadrack]

I'll be honest with you guys, I don't buy 100% of the games I play...

I do buy 100% of the games that released demos that I enjoyed playing and therefore bought the full game...

[Athernar]

Because if cracks require internet activation, they can hardly be broken. I quit piratingsoftware with the hardest (long wait) codes to crack. It works and if it didn't, companies wouldn't do it. The crack requirement is able to DEMOTIVATE USERS, not crackers.

Sorry, but I don't understand what you're trying to say.

[Mr. Gibs]

I agree with him, since sometimes DRM actually ruins the gameplay experience. For me I pirated GTA4 before I bought it on Steam, now on my pirated copy I got 45fps with most settings turned up. Now my legit copy of the game with the same version, same drivers and same exact settings gets 33fps. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why I lost 12fps (some places it was even lower) when I hadn't changed anything with the game.

Eventually I got a crack for my legit copy and my fps went back upto 45+. The only reason I can think of that would cause such a difference is the DRM that the game comes with :/\

Sure Steam does use DRM, but its a pretty passive kind that has no effect on gameplay and doesn't get in your way. That's the way it should be, and not the way GTA 4 is.

[Shadrack]

I agree with him, since sometimes DRM actually ruins the gameplay experience. For me I pirated GTA4 before I bought it on Steam, now on my pirated copy I got 45fps with most settings turned up. Now my legit copy of the game with the same version, same drivers and same exact settings gets 33fps. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why I lost 12fps (some places it was even lower) when I hadn't changed anything with the game.

Eventually I got a crack for my legit copy and my fps went back upto 45+. The only reason I can think of that would cause such a difference is the DRM that the game comes with :/\

Sure Steam does use DRM, but its a pretty passive kind that has no effect on gameplay and doesn't get in your way. That's the way it should be, and not the way GTA 4 is.

Doesn't GTA4 also use Games for Windows Live? I hate it when I buy a game off steam and it loads up the Steam UI on top of the game, and then the Games for Windows Live UI loads ontop of that. The crack should disable both of those which may be where the framerate drop was coming from.

[Ayepecks]

I'll be honest with you guys, I don't buy 100% of the games I play...

I do buy 100% of the games that released demos that I enjoyed playing and therefore bought the full game...

I don't see that as much of an excuse. You can always rent games, watch gameplay videos, read reviews, etc.

Ironically, the only games I've ever pirated are ones I've bought -- ones that have horrible DRM systems that are a pain in the ass. I don't feel bad about it, either -- if I bought it and don't want the headaches, I'm not going to apologize for that.

[briangw]

Service issue??? Says the guy who must have infuriated thousands of people who wish to play their Steam games without issues but complain that they can't because of various problems with their service.....

[Athernar]

Service issue??? Says the guy who must have infuriated thousands of people who wish to play their Steam games without issues but complain that they can't because of various problems with their service.....

Compared to the millions that have a perfectly acceptable experience, seems like a pretty decent success rate if you ask me.

And I do hope you're talking about issues actually relating to the Steam service itself, since it's not down to Valve to fix their partner's buggy software.

[curme]

Steam is only DRM in respect to it only allows you to play what you've bought on your account. To try and draw a comparison between Steam's "Passive DRM" and an "Active DRM" product like Securom is silly and your post is quite frankly petty.

I completely disagree, there will -never- be such a thing as an anti-piracy tool to demotivate pirates. The more secure a system claims to be the more driven the crackers become.

Heck, I bet a great deal of the cracks out there are made by people that probably don't even play games.

STEAM is anything but passive. If you buy a game, I'll use CIV5 and FEAR3 as an example. You have to create a STEAM account to play, even if you bought the games at a store. Ok, one you are registered the automatic updates begin. I just want to put the cd in and play the game!!!!!! STEAM tells me when the game will be ready to play, funny, I was ready to play it when I bought it!

And for those who say "offline" mode, first you gave to sit through the gigs of updates before STEAM will let you play the game you bought from another store.

[Eric Veteran]

Please do not use this topic to discuss what/how you pirate. That's still agaist the forum rules.

[imachip]

I don't see that as much of an excuse. You can always rent games, watch gameplay videos, read reviews, etc.

Ironically, the only games I've ever pirated are ones I've bought -- ones that have horrible DRM systems that are a pain in the ass. I don't feel bad about it, either -- if I bought it and don't want the headaches, I'm not going to apologize for that.

I don't pirate anymore and the main reason is http://www.giantbomb.com and their 'quick looks' which are up to an hours worth of them playing the game. Therefore it's so easy to know what to expect from the game and know whether if it's worth buying or not.

Piracy used to be wonderful when I was a student, I couldn't afford much at that time but a computer to do my course on so it was a welcome release from boredom/stress. Even so, I still purchased the titles I've played most later on. Nowadays I probably waste money by pre-ordering... lol.

[Athernar]

STEAM is anything but passive. If you buy a game, I'll use CIV5 and FEAR3 as an example. You have to create a STEAM account to play, even if you bought the games at a store. Ok, one you are registered the automatic updates begin. I just want to put the cd in and play the game!!!!!! STEAM tells me when the game will be ready to play, funny, I was ready to play it when I bought it!

And for those who say "offline" mode, first you gave to sit through the gigs of updates before STEAM will let you play the game you bought from another store.

And this is relevant to DRM... how?

Oh by the way, you can turn off automatic updating. Not sure why you'd want to though considering today's development culture of "broken-on-release, fix it with a patch".