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DRM is optional on Steam. The dev can opt to not include it, and the default Steam DRM is trivially bypassed anyway. Valve barely does any gatekeeping that isn

DRM is optional on Steam. The dev can opt to not include it, and the default Steam DRM is trivially bypassed anyway. Valve barely does any gatekeeping that isn't caused by outside pressure, i.e. Visa and Mastercard in the latest instance, which they're atleast trying to fight back against, from what I can tell.

eru 1y ago
Valve does some important gatekeeping that has a real impact: There's (almost?) no ads and microtransactions in Steam games. If you look at mobile games or browser games, you can see that developers would put them in, if they could.
- Telaneo 1y ago
  Fair point! Although that's a gate I very much like. I don't think Steam has any complete blockers to microtransactions, given that there are games that do have it, although I don't think they're as predatory about it as mobile games are. Maybe that's down to cultural differences between PC and mobile, or maybe there's more too it. Ads standing in the way of gameplay are indeed banned,[1] although there are ways around that I'm sure if devs really wanted to be knobheads about it, but people on PC tend to be more loud about ads in their games than on mobile.[2] [1] https://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-seemingly-bans-all-steam-games-that-require-watching-advertisements-to-play/1100-6529356/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-seemingly-bans-all-s... [2] https://news.designrush.com/ubisoft-assassins-creed-ad-sparks-backlash-from-gamers https://news.designrush.com/ubisoft-assassins-creed-ad-spark...
  - eru 1y ago
    Yes, not all gatekeeping is bad. Of course, Apple and friends will try to convince you that their gatekeeping is the good kind.
- TiredOfLife 1y ago
  > microtransactions in Steam games ROFL. Valve made games have (and heavily popularized): Paid battlepasses, Microtransactions, Loot Boxes and "NFTs"
  - MindSpunk 1y ago
    Valve invented loot boxes, they started with CS:GO. Don't forget skin "economies" from TF2. I find it really funny nobody acknowledges this.
Uvix 1y ago
There's no way to identify ahead of purchasing a game whether or not it's got DRM. Valve has been gatekeeping long before this year's Visa and Mastercard crackdowns. It's been an ongoing problem since at least 2018. They'll flunk a title at review without telling the developer what they did wrong, or even allowing them to resubmit with adjustments. I don't see any sign of them fighting.
- Telaneo 1y ago
  > There's no way to identify ahead of purchasing a game whether or not it's got DRM. For Steam's own DRM I do believe that to be true, but mostly not a problem, since Steam's DRM is just there so that the DRM checkbox is ticked. Any user can bypass it if they care, and the ones who do go to GOG for their games. For DRM beyond that, this isn't true. Denuvo and Securom is listed on store pages for games that have it, and the same goes for kernel-level anti-cheat. PCGamingWiki has a good list outside of that,[1] but from what I can tell, Steam has a warning about DRM on all the store pages listed there. > I don't see any sign of them fighting. Quoting this article:[2] > Apart from that, both Valve and Itch.io explicitly stated that payment processors are the reason games were deindexed or removed from sale entirely. Given that Visa and Mastercard some pretty big giants, I'd say they're making a fight of what they can. Valve's hardly to blame. They're just in a bad situation. Blame Collective Shout for starting the ruckus. [1] https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_third-party_DRM_on_Steam https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_third-part... [2] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mastercard-deflects-blame-for-nsfw-games-being-taken-down-but-valve-says-payment-processors-specifically-cited-a-mastercard-rule-about-damaging-the-brand/ https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mastercard-deflects-blame-for-...

eru 1y ago

Valve does some important gatekeeping that has a real impact: There's (almost?) no ads and microtransactions in Steam games. If you look at mobile games or browser games, you can see that developers would put them in, if they could.

Telaneo 1y ago
Fair point! Although that's a gate I very much like. I don't think Steam has any complete blockers to microtransactions, given that there are games that do have it, although I don't think they're as predatory about it as mobile games are. Maybe that's down to cultural differences between PC and mobile, or maybe there's more too it. Ads standing in the way of gameplay are indeed banned,[1] although there are ways around that I'm sure if devs really wanted to be knobheads about it, but people on PC tend to be more loud about ads in their games than on mobile.[2] [1] https://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-seemingly-bans-all-steam-games-that-require-watching-advertisements-to-play/1100-6529356/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-seemingly-bans-all-s... [2] https://news.designrush.com/ubisoft-assassins-creed-ad-sparks-backlash-from-gamers https://news.designrush.com/ubisoft-assassins-creed-ad-spark...
- eru 1y ago
  Yes, not all gatekeeping is bad. Of course, Apple and friends will try to convince you that their gatekeeping is the good kind.
TiredOfLife 1y ago
> microtransactions in Steam games ROFL. Valve made games have (and heavily popularized): Paid battlepasses, Microtransactions, Loot Boxes and "NFTs"
- MindSpunk 1y ago
  Valve invented loot boxes, they started with CS:GO. Don't forget skin "economies" from TF2. I find it really funny nobody acknowledges this.

Uvix 1y ago

There's no way to identify ahead of purchasing a game whether or not it's got DRM. Valve has been gatekeeping long before this year's Visa and Mastercard crackdowns. It's been an ongoing problem since at least 2018. They'll flunk a title at review without telling the developer what they did wrong, or even allowing them to resubmit with adjustments. I don't see any sign of them fighting.

Telaneo 1y ago
> There's no way to identify ahead of purchasing a game whether or not it's got DRM. For Steam's own DRM I do believe that to be true, but mostly not a problem, since Steam's DRM is just there so that the DRM checkbox is ticked. Any user can bypass it if they care, and the ones who do go to GOG for their games. For DRM beyond that, this isn't true. Denuvo and Securom is listed on store pages for games that have it, and the same goes for kernel-level anti-cheat. PCGamingWiki has a good list outside of that,[1] but from what I can tell, Steam has a warning about DRM on all the store pages listed there. > I don't see any sign of them fighting. Quoting this article:[2] > Apart from that, both Valve and Itch.io explicitly stated that payment processors are the reason games were deindexed or removed from sale entirely. Given that Visa and Mastercard some pretty big giants, I'd say they're making a fight of what they can. Valve's hardly to blame. They're just in a bad situation. Blame Collective Shout for starting the ruckus. [1] https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_third-party_DRM_on_Steam https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_third-part... [2] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mastercard-deflects-blame-for-nsfw-games-being-taken-down-but-valve-says-payment-processors-specifically-cited-a-mastercard-rule-about-damaging-the-brand/ https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mastercard-deflects-blame-for-...