Valve's Gabe Newell Says Piracy Is a Service Problem

[ThunderCavalier]

So, how many people want to be that the game comes out on December 21, 2012, and is so fricken amazing that the entire world cannot sustain the awesomeness that is Half-Life 3 and blows itself apart?

Because that would be an awesome apocalypse.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

The "24 x 7" threw me for awhile. I think it's 24/7

I thought to find HL3 details. Just kidding, Honestly, I just wanted to Gabe to say for the very least, "Yes, atleast one person is working on it and we think he kinda has some idea of what he's doing."

Seriously, I imagine six guys in a room drawing dicks half the time trying to figure out how HL3 is gonna go.

 

[Phishfood]

I still don't understand region locking. Publishers are out there willingly decreasing the available market that can buy from them? Even from an idiot marketing standpoint that makes no sense. A dollar is a dollar no matter where it comes from (well, sorta).

There are a few issues.
1) Legal issues.
Example: Germany has some weird law about showing human blood. Hence any game has to be modified for Germany (TF2 'Party Mode'). Each region probably wants an item approved by their OWN panel.

2) Tax issues.
Every region has its own tax rates and such that have to be complied with.

3) Distribution.
This day and age, really not a biggie - but sometimes the reason for different release dates and such is simply a matter of physically moving the product.

4) Market stealing.
Because of the whole tax thing, it can be cheaper to buy from another country. The UK government does not want us buying all our games from somewhere with 4% tax, since then they don't get the 20% tax.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Dammit, Gabe! WHY DO YOU TAUNT US SO!

 

[Kathinka]

big words from the founder of the DRM that prevents me from playing many of my legaly bought games whenever i travel 100 miles west to germany.

fuck steam, seriously.

It's a publisher that decides if a game is region locked, not Steam.

"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 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable."

He's saying that piracy would go down if games weren't region locked.
Your problem is with a game's publisher, not steam.

why is everyone white knighting steam like insane? of course it's partialy also steams fault for allowing this kind of shit to happen. it might not be their idea but they are still the willing henchmen of the publishers, doing their dirtywork.

fortunately, i live in a country where downloading copyrighted material is completely legal. i shall therefore continue to torrent the hell out of every game that pulls this kind of nonsense.

if the game i payd for with my hard earned money doesn't run where i want it, when i want it, but just where our mighty steam overlords decide it is fitting that i shall be allowed to play it, but a free copy from piratebay runs without a hitch whenever i need it to, then they clearly don't want my cash.

 

[Smurf McSmurfington]

And that's why we love Valve. Well, one of the many... many... MANY reasons, really.

 

[Irridium]

big words from the founder of the DRM that prevents me from playing many of my legaly bought games whenever i travel 100 miles west to germany.

fuck steam, seriously.

It's a publisher that decides if a game is region locked, not Steam.

"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 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable."

He's saying that piracy would go down if games weren't region locked.
Your problem is with a game's publisher, not steam.

why is everyone white knighting steam like insane? of course it's partialy also steams fault for allowing this kind of shit to happen. it might not be their idea but they are still the willing henchmen of the publishers, doing their dirtywork.

fortunately, i live in a country where downloading copyrighted material is completely legal. i shall therefore continue to torrent the hell out of every game that pulls this kind of nonsense.

if the game i payd for with my hard earned money doesn't run where i want it, when i want it, but just where our mighty steam overlords decide it is fitting that i shall be allowed to play it, but a free copy from piratebay runs without a hitch whenever i need it to, then they clearly don't want my cash.

Kind of why I'm excited that GoG.com will be releasing newer games. After they proved you can sell a game with no DRM and a bunch of free stuff bundled in, Publishers seem to be signing up with them to release newer games on the site.

Newer games, no DRM, bunch of extras. I may be in love.

 

[UltraDeth]

Speaking of Half Life 3, there's something I want to get off my chest. We all remember the shocking ending of Episode 2 and I think Valve are a little uncertain on how to open a possible Episode 3. I like the Half-Life games *granted I don't think they're masterpieces*
but I think it's safe to say that Valve might have written themselves into a corner

 

[Nickompoop]

No story about Half Life 3?
Put it in the headline!

But, seriously Valve, you're awesome. You're like the antithesis to Ubisoft.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Just gonna slap yer another 'agree' in this thread.

When you've got customers, waiting in countries, wallets at the ready, desperate to throw money at you, and you decide you'll make them wait 3-6 months, knowing that at any time they can hop online and pirate it NOW...for FREE. Then you condemn them for not loving you enough.

I still maintain, get a list of advertisers who want an international audience, get THEM to place ads between the shows, and then you could show US/UK shows without the region locks (once you've sorted out the legal bits about what can be shown here and there, which again, is outdated nonsense, when you're talking online, where you can type 'monkey fucking an iguana' and get a hundred video links (probably)).

Lastly, we want to BUY stuff, not rent it til you decide you're bored of hosting the servers.

By Steam's actions, many of us trust them to do the right thing and release some kind of unlock code should they ever decide to kill off Steam. (and if they didn't you can be sure the hackers will have it busted in a week).

 

[FamoFunk]

You know, I've never, ever bothered to find out what Gabe looks like.

I'm in total shock...

 

[mad825]

Gabe, keep talking.

Steamworks is still restrictive.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Meanwhile in EA/Ubisoft "Yo Dawg, we heard you like DRM so we put a DRM in your DRM so you can rage while you rage."

 

[boag]

He definitely has the right idea overall, though some of the sounds a little hypocritical.

Steam, after all, is essentially a region-locked service.

Something which has been discovered more than a few times by people that have purchased things while in a different region, and then found they don't work when they try and play them at home.

I personally am quite uncertain about my steam games collection;

I've moved from country to country quite often. Now, as it happens my entire steam library comes from one country...

But that raises the obvious question; What will happen if I move again? Is the EU one region? Or if I move say, back to the Netherlands (or Germany, which might happen if some of my stranger plans become a reality), or even back to Australia...

Will my games still work?

I mean, it's all well and good to say these kinds of things, but the service steam provides is not without issues, and some of them directly contradict what Gabe Newell is saying.

A friend of mine can access his entire library, bought while he lived in the US, in China.

I should note that he has mostly VALVe games, and several others, most of them indie titles. Whether certain publishers sell region-locked games on STEAM is entirely up to them.

Doesnt the Chinese Goverment have some really strict rules about videogames?

I mean, Consoles are outright banned in china.

 

[Zoe Castillo]

--

 

[]DustArma[]

How is this news? I remember reading this a long time ago.

 

[carletonman]

For those who are arguing that shipping is the huge issue in delaying games in certain regions, I counter with the fact that at the grocery store I work at, I can purchase fruit and veg from across the globe which is still reasonably fresh. If they can get a kiwi fruit from NZ to Canada in a timely fashion, I earnestly doubt it would be that hard to move a shipping container of games.

 

[MrGalactus]

I love that no new info is a story