Valve: we don't worry about piracy

By Oli Welsh Published 30 May, 2008

Overseas pirates are "unserved customers".

At Valve's mini-summit on the state of PC gaming in Seattle today, president Gabe Newell revealed that the company is not concerned about the threat of piracy in the PC market.

Responding to a question from Rock Paper Shotgun, Newell said, "When you list the things that we worry about in our business, piracy is not one of them."

His sentiments run counter to those of many publishers, who feel piracy is killing their PC games business. But, said Newell, Valve's Steam distribution platform and the service it provides its customers protects it from that.

"We've got great facilities that make it very hard for people to pirate," he said. "And more importantly, the service value of having an ongiong relationship with us is high enough that it causes people to not be very interested in piracy. It's a dangerous thing to pirate one of our games because later on, when we catch you, you lose all your games, or you can't play multiplayer."

Earlier, Valve's Jason Holtman explained why the company felt the fear of rampant piracy in emerging markets such as Russia and China was misplaced, and the problem easily solved.

He noted how famous the Russian market was for its piracy, and explained that this was a direct result of games releasing there six months after North America and Western Europe. It wasn't just Steam's encryption technology, but the ease of simultaneous worldwide releases on the platform that solved the problem for Valve.

"We know that that's the major place where this rampant piracy myth comes from," Holtman said. "Rampant piracy is just unserved customers.

"Russians have money, Russians like to play games and Russians have PCs. They love going to stores and not having to use Bittorrent sties."

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • tenma #1 4 years ago

    good. :|

    /goes back to pirating off his russian PC

  • timberwolf #2 4 years ago

    hmm... so you don't care because alot of your product isn't physical and can be deleted or locked down by you on a whim... great.

  • ChrisOTR #3 4 years ago

    Oli: Thanks for all this info. However, as I've alluded in the other two threads, I think you should be asking Valve this question:

    "What measures has Valve put in place to prevent all this DRM and anti-piracy technology from locking out legitimate consumers from playing games they bought in five years time, on a different PC, and for argument's sake, if Valve were no longer in business, and therefore Steam stops running?"

  • menschenfracht #4 4 years ago

    if Steam stops running, the world will end

  • JonFE #5 4 years ago

    Chris, I'm sure that it has been said that on the occasion of Valve going bust, they will first free the games (not sure whether that is *their* games or *all* steam games) from authentication restrictions. Given that this will not happen for the foreseeable future, their word is all they can give you right now; I cannot blame you if you think that's not enough, though...

  • Tyronne #6 4 years ago

    I do not like using sties, I prefer a gate.

  • L0cky #7 4 years ago

    It's a Freudian typo, someone needs to tidy up their office!

  • DaveLev #8 4 years ago

    hmmm... why everyone so bitter? steam is a great tool that i've used for many years, yes it used to be a pile of **** but now its great and it does help against piracy. I agree with gabe and hope valve has a long life!

  • jamespo #9 4 years ago

    Very satisfying seeing a peasant kicked out of Team Fortress for invalid Steam ID

  • ChrisOTR #10 4 years ago

    JonFE: I actually genuinely believe that would be their intention (to "unlock" things if they disappeared)... But who's going to do that exactly? The guy turning off the office lights? ;)

  • kestral #11 4 years ago

    I think he's right. And steam seems to get it right, providing benefits for both customers and pubishers /developers. Just wondering how other publishers think about Steam and the control Valve has over it, is there some kind of Steam Working Group where publishers can discuss and have input on Steam for the benefit of the whole industry? I'd guess that would be essential for industry wide support - but it might already exist of course ;)

    The bit about removing all your games surely is just scare tactics, imagine paying money for a product and then them taking it off you that would leave Steam userless within a few months if they do that too often.
    Edited by 1 at 30/05/08 @ 10:04

  • spidermanalf #12 4 years ago

    "Russians have money, Russians like to play games and Russians have PCs. They love going to stores and not having to use Bittorrent sties."

    Where are these Bittorrent sties? Farms?

  • spammage #13 4 years ago

    The future of pc software distribution and probably consoles eventually.

  • bad09 #14 4 years ago

    "Rampant piracy is just unserved customers"

    Exactly. Those in the all entertainment mediums need to realize that stamping out piracy will not necessarily result in more sales.

    Most people pirate stuff because they can't pay not won't pay. Of course there is a minority that just won't pay but have the means.

    I have always said sell it cheaper and sell more is the best way to beat piracy.

  • Vasenor #15 4 years ago

    It's not only can't/won't pay. Many of the places where piracy is rampant the official version are barely distributed or otherwise hard to find. I'd say that his "not being served" comment refers more to that.

    Heck, just look at the Eurogamer TV special they had this week where they tried to find legit games in Shanghai...

  • hiddenranbir #16 4 years ago

    While it's good their not treating piracy as the big boogy man, they're a bit full of themselves. Typical Valve!

  • canuter #17 4 years ago

    "if we catch you, you lose all your games, or you can't play multiplayer."

    That's why I don't buy games from Valve. Don't like the idea of THEM having the power to prevent me from accessing MY GAMES.

  • Sar #18 4 years ago

    @canuter

    Well if you don't pirate games then what's the problem?

    Personally I love Steam. It's cheap, quick, easy and is, in my opinion, more permanent than physical media. I've got games on Steam stretching back 10 years (HL1 etc), that I've long ago lost the cd key and discs for.

    A one time registration on Steam entitles you to a lifetime guarantee that you can download and play the game on any PC anywhere.
    Edited by 1 at 30/05/08 @ 19:03

  • craziii #19 4 years ago

    why bash a guy with a good business sense? how many of you guys prefer GFWL over steam? I doubt any of you guys are dumb enough for that. everything the gold GFWL offers, steam gives you for free. JonFE's post just free up the last bit of worry we ever have with steam, which is what happens if valve ever goes bust. steam was S*** when it came out, but it is pretty nice as of right now I dare say.

    if you got locked out for pirating, blame no one but your self.