PC game piracy not a big issue for Valve and Steam - interview
(hx) 02:26 AM CEST - Sep,16 2010
- Post a comment / read (1) According to Valve's head man Gabe Newell,
piracy rates of games on Steam are 'low enough that we don't really
spend any time [on it].' Newell said they have other issues that are a
higher priorty such as 'the stability of DirectX drivers or, you know,
the erroneous banning of people.'
PC Gamer: Do you have a good sense of piracy rates with Steam games?
Gabe Newell: They’re low enough that we
don’t really spend any time [on it]. When you look at the
things we sit around and talk about, as big picture cross game issues,
we’re way more concerned about the stability of DirectX
drivers or, you know, the erroneous banning of people. That’s
way more of an issue for us than piracy. Once you create service value
for customers, ongoing service value, piracy seems to disappear, right?
It’s like “Oh, you’re still doing
something for me? I don’t mind the fact that I paid for
this.” Once you actually localise your product in Russia and
ship it on the same day that you ship your English language versions,
this theoretical hotbed of piracy becomes your second largest- third
largest after Germany in continental Europe? Or third after UK?
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