Piracy is "basically a non-issue for Valve", according to co-founder and CEO Gabe Newell.
"In general, we think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy," Newell said. "Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem.
"For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country three months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable.
"Most DRM solutions diminish the value of the product by either directly restricting a customers use or by creating uncertainty," Newell added. "Our goal is to create greater service value than pirates, and this has been successful enough for us that piracy is basically a non-issue for our company.
"For example, prior to entering the Russian market, we were told that Russia was a waste of time because everyone would pirate our products. Russia is now about to become our largest market in Europe."
Newell's comments echo those he made at last month's WTIA TechNW conference in Seattle, where he said piracy is a service issue and not a cost one.
At the same event, Newell also said he thinks Apple will launch a living room product "that redefines people's expectations really strongly and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear".
Comments
18 comments so far...
Mmmmgrolsch on 28 Nov '11 said:
Deja vu anyone?
Imaduck on 28 Nov '11 said:
What a dude.
It basically comes down to this: don't p**s on your customers, and they won't p**s on you. Show respect, and they'll show you respect. Watch and learn EA/Activision/Ubisoft
rick_x on 28 Nov '11 said:
Interesting what he mentions about region locking, my father in law has steam in Greece and the software costs are so much higher than here in the UK and the same goes for the UK vs US. If steam is 'region free' we should be free to download from the US which has the identical digital product at the cheapest price.
ted1138 on 28 Nov '11 said:
Why don't Valve launch a new console themselves? (or use a more up to date game engine, maybe release some new games instead of coasting along on old franchises and creaming off profit from others companies games?)
brookie_2001 on 28 Nov '11 said:
It makes sense but at the end of the day you will have pirates who will pirate games no matter how good the service is. I know a couple of people who refuse to buy games and pirate them instead and each time they have a new excuse to why they do.
Toasted_PSP on 28 Nov '11 said:
I would guess this comes down to local taxes.
BenThomasFoster on 28 Nov '11 said:
Why would they, when their platform is working wonders for them. 1 billion pound revenue for valve and that was the years when some PC fanboys were thinking the PC eilte was dying nevermind Consolefags
markyR on 28 Nov '11 said:
Just as much of a none issue as Steam members having their accounts hacked and personal banking and contact details stolen!! You carry on living in denial Mr Newell, the rest of us shall retire to the real world...
Newell also said he thinks Apple will launch a living room product "that redefines people's expectations really strongly and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear".
I think he severely underestimates the power of Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony and it's fanbase, and he has drunk WAY too much Apple aide and is riding the Apple band wagon like an idiot.
Angry Birds is just so much better then Uncharted, Gears Of War etc etc etc.. could even add Portal to that list! And seeing as there is bugger all Mac support on Steam (I have one) then maybe he should concentrate on that first before stating Apple is going to 'revolutionise' gaming
badgerpog on 28 Nov '11 said:
This is also the advantage of not having to please the share holders. EA, Activision, Ubisoft etc have to squeeze the customer for every penny to make the shareholders rich. Valve make a big profit by pleasing themselves and the customers.
kakah on 28 Nov '11 said:
Valve do offer some of the best service for their games...counter strike 1.6 is no almost 10 years old yet valve still updates the game. Furthermore, their games are very flexible - allowing great control for server admins and a great platform for mods. To me valve are looking at the long game rather than trying to milk consumers in the short run - they are build long term customer relationships and hence why they have such a loyal following.
The good thing about steam is that you can play your games on any pc any where in the world - there are no locks on the number of devices/regions etc.
As a result, valve are offering value for money.
I can only think of two other developers that come close to valve in continuous support of their game with free and substantial updates long after the game is release; polyphony digital and CDProjekt (Witcher games). As an example, I have GT5 released one year ago and there have been numerous updates culminating in the spec 2.0 update, as well as bi-weekly race event updates/challenges. Contrast this to my Shift 2 from EA, the game came spring this year and the support for it was abandoned after patch 1 i.e. 2-3 months after. Similarly, CD Projekt has released version 2 of the Witcher 2 with many new features and improvements, all free. When developers create great games and support it with substantial free features, it makes you want to support their future work as well as purchase any add-ons they release.
We need more developers like these and we should support them if we want to change the direction this industry is taking.
Imaduck on 28 Nov '11 said:
Great post dude
gmcb007 on 28 Nov '11 said:
To be honest, when you go around saying stuff like this then it just lures pirates to take on the challenge. Best not saying anything about it to be honest.
Plus, didn't we have the exact same article a couple of months ago?
Imaduck on 28 Nov '11 said:
I don't think he's saying "we never see pirates, we have no problems with hackers, all our customers are morally spotless". I think he's saying that's always there but the way they run their buisness makes it not really a problem any more and certainly lessens it.
gmcb007 on 28 Nov '11 said:
Yeah I get what you're saying but these sad little pirate 'hacker' groups love things like this to skim over the details and jump straight to the attack.
Papzotic on 28 Nov '11 said:
Wrong. Every publisher has their games pirated even with good service eg. Rockstar
Imaduck on 29 Nov '11 said:
Wow, where to start Pap.....
How have Rockstar ever been a big PC name in the firstplace? They release the PC version aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages later, if ever, and it's still a console port so ...
R* aren't really on the same page as Valve. R* are kind of a huge name that's generally reasonably down to earth. They're very much seen as console developers which in itself seemingly encourages piracy sadly.
Piracy is everywhere yes, everyone gets hit by it and always will. You can't eliminate assholes off the face of the earth (sadly). The thing is, Valve don't get AS MUCH OF IT. And what they do get doesn't hurt them much due to their sales structure. They don't go around aggravating customers.
wattz3 on 18 Jan '12 said:
well not for me gabe ...games are overpriced hence the reason i use pirated games ,steams not so hard to use pirated software either u just gotta look @ smartsteam and greenluma to relise that ,i was playing dead island multiplayer (non legit) before it was released in uk
along with a lot of other titles... 
until prices drop i will continue to do so 
Balladeer on 18 Jan '12 said:
Criminals like you are the reason companies feel they can get away with backing SOPA. If you can't afford the games you shouldn't get to buy them.