Valve promises to make DRM obsolete

Valve has released an announcement claiming that updates to the free Steamworks system will now make DRM obsolete



Valve has just announced that unveils several new features to the Steam and Steamworks platforms which the Half-Life developer reckons will make DRM a thing of the past. Steamworks is a system of freely available tools for developers and publishers that allow them to make the most out of the Steam platform. Some of the new features that Valve announced for Steam were things we already knew about, like the ability for developers to make downloadable content available through Steam, which Ubisoft is already doing with a new set of weapons and such for Far Cry 2.

The other updates are much more interesting, namely a new anti-piracy feature called CEG that is being incorporated into the Steamworks system. CEG, which stands for Customer Executable Generation, is Valve's latest anti-piracy effort and works by essentially creating a uniquely structured version of a game for each customer. The benefit for publishers and developers is that the game is then pretty hard to copy as it is distinctly identifiable to a specific user, while legitimate customers are able to use their unique copy on as many PCs as they want. No install limits, no SecuROM, no StarForce, no rootkits, no nuthin'.

Valve reckons that CEG is a system that only benefits customers and publishers and has hopes that it'll be adopted by the market quite quickly. Since Steamworks is free for any developer to use, there's no reason why not.

Think this means the end of DRM nightmares? Let us know your thoughts!