Will ETW retail be a standalone version (no Steam install)?

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

@ BeenPlayingSinceRTW

When it first appeared Steam was an experiment that no one had to use. Now it has grown and is used by many millions of people, that doesn't happen to products with fundemental flaws.

But why is Steam used by so many? Is it because they want to use it, or because they are forced to use it? (as CA is forcing ETW customers to use it)

Valve's strategy with Steam is the same as Microsoft's was with it's OS - to force-bundle the software with purchases of other products.

If Steam truly provided benefits to users, Valve wouldn't need to pay off game developers to bundle Steam with their products and force game buyers to install it and set up Steam "accounts". There's no need for every ETW buyer to set up accounts with Steam, when the multiplayer version of ETW will not even be in beta by the time the product is released (unless Steam is providing some sort of DRM)

[Sir Beane]

But why is Steam used by so many? Is it because they want to use it, or because they are forced to use it? (as CA is forcing ETW customers to use it)

Valve's strategy with Steam is the same as Microsoft's was with it's OS - to force-bundle the software with purchases of other products.

If Steam truly provided benefits to users, Valve wouldn't need to pay off game developers to bundle Steam with their products and force game buyers to install it and set up Steam "accounts". There's no need for every ETW buyer to set up accounts with Steam, when the multiplayer version of ETW will not even be in beta by the time the product is released (unless Steam is providing some sort of DRM)

Steam is used by so many for two reasons.

1) It offers stable servers and useful matchmaking abilities for multiplayer games, as well as Steam achivements.

2) Companies like it because it provides unintrusive (mostly) DRM in the form of online activation.

Buyers of the game are forced to set up a steam account in order to stop them from being able to copy the game and give it to a friend. Steam has the advantage over other forms of DRM out there (such as Star-force) because it is not overly draconian and it does not spy on your PC.

Sega are making CA use DRM, so CA chose Steam, which also gives them a useful platform for multiplayer. Personally I think it was the best decision they could have made. I'm really just glad that CA didn't go with Star-force. If they had then we would have seen limited numbers of installs, spyware and rootkits and many other significant problems.