GDC 09: Steamworks update makes 'unique copies of games' and allows limitless installs
Valve has unveil a new set of advanced features for its Steamworks platforms at GDC, offering a complete suite of publishing and development tools that promise to make DRM a thing of the past.
In a statement to the press Valve points to the Custom Executable Generation technology as the primary update to the Steamworks tool set.
Described as a customer-friendly approach to anti-piracy, CEG makes unique copies of games for each user, meaning they can access the application on multiple machines without install limits and without having to install root kits on their PC.
"Delivering this extension of services on Steamworks' first anniversary, demonstrates our commitment to continually develop the platform to better serve the community working with these tools," said president and co-founder Gabe Newell. "As we roll out these features, we continue to look for new ways make PC games easier to create and better for customers to experience."
The new feature set, which is available worldwide with Steamworks free of charge, also includes support for in-game downloadable content and matchmaking, meaning developers can provide free or paid updates from within any given game.
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Fully integrated with Steam, In addition to the services added in the new expansion, Steamworks offers support for Steam Achievements, Steam Community, auto updating, Statistics and Steam Cloud.
... games on Steam will still probably lock themselves to the user preventing "sell on" or even giving it away. As far as I am concerned, user locking for games is simply outrageous. I mean, tell me one other media and entertainment industry that treats "disc buying" customers like this? In fact, I would even go as far as to say, tell me any other manufacturer of a physical product, that restricts the customer to permanent ownership of that product? Would anyone buy a new car if they could never trade it in?
I see no reason to support a system that prevents me from my right to sell on MY unwanted software. I can do it with everything else I own so why not MY software?
And more importantly, I can do it with the software on every other platform other than PC, so what makes PC developers think they are so special, that they have the right to do this? I only ever bought one game (HL2) that used Steam and it was the last one I will ever buy. Well, unless they start to offer me percentage based refunds on any software I no longer want.
I've been a developer for 23 years, and am all for anti-piracy measures, but if you put handcuffs on an innocent man, you instantly make him feel like a criminal. A lot of people will think "if I'm going to be treated as a criminal, then what's the point of not being one".
Same applies to items purchased on PSN and Live.... you cannot transfer ownership...good for companies, bad for gamers :o(
I wholeheartedly support Valve in this, however I believe there should be some system for reselling on steam - if it were possible to 'deactivate' the serial number of your game so that it may be resold and the serial number could then be activated by a different user, this would be a huge step forward.
As a developer I see no technical problem with this. for those who buy a hard copy of a game it should be possible to then sell that hard copy. For those with a soft copy I see nothing against a partial refund in "Steam credits", which may only be spent on the Steam content delivery system. This would encourage people who currently do not use the platform to do so, as well as benefiting developers.
From my experience, those who sell trade in games tend to be the same people who buy second hand games, purely for monetary reasons. Games purchased over Steam are already below the retail price, however many of those with little money will stick to the high street as they can resell the games once they are done with them. Games sold second-hand give no money to the developers, meaning that a games popularity may not be correctly reflected by its retail performance.
Studios which produce good games should reap the profits. The implementation of a system such as that I have suggested would not only bring more customers to Steam, more money to developers, but also more of the freedom customers expect from their retail experience.
