When you buy a Steamworks game, even a physical DVD one, you can't resell it ever once it's registered. This isn't stated up front to the buyer; I can show you numerous titles that show plenty of logos of what tech. they use, but somehow fail to mention Valve, Steam, or state this registration and non-transferability requirement.
If you happen to read the fine-print of the EULA and refuse to install it because of this, your retailer will probably refuse to return it stating they don't return software due to "piracy" or some such nonsense. This is completely in violation of commercial law in most countries as it's terms and conditions presented after the sale, and destroys the Right of First Sale, in addition to other things. But Valve is a very large company with plenty of lawyers so it goes unchallenged. It's also a U.S. company so is untouchable elsewhere.

If Valve/Steam thinks you are trying to sell your account, they will permanently lock you out of games you paid for with no refund, no recourse, no appeal. One person lost $1,800 worth on his account for this. They also will do this if they think you cheated on even one of your games. They don't have to prove this; it's their word against yours and, again, Valve is a very large company with plenty of lawyers.

Retailers sell Steam-registered games, as noted above, that then install the full Steam client and encourage buying games through Steam rather than the retailers. The retailers have no recourse. A group of retailers in Britain now refuse to sell Steamworks-enabled games because of this.

That's all I have time to type right now. I'm sure there's more, but these are some of the major problems.

I prefer SecuROM to steam.

Yeah, you read that right.

I prefer SecuROM to steam.

Yeah, you read that right.

Steam is not the center of some software monopoly/government conspiracy.

@Kivan

If I worked at a publisher, I would certainly try to thwart reselling used games. That's an extra sale I could have made.

It's a huge reason why the DVD market collapsed for non tentpole titles. Blockbuster had deals with the studios to get a massive number of copies that they would rent out on a revshare basis and then when rentals slowed for the title they would sell those copies far below retail price.

If Valve/Steam thinks you are trying to sell your account, they will permanently lock you out of games you paid for with no refund, no recourse, no appeal. One person lost $1,800 worth on his account for this. They also will do this if they think you cheated on even one of your games.

Retailers sell Steam-registered games, as noted above, that then install the full Steam client and encourage buying games through Steam rather than the retailers. The retailers have no recourse. A group of retailers in Britain now refuse to sell Steamworks-enabled games because of this.

That's all I have time to type right now. I'm sure there's more, but these are some of the major problems.

Edit: The one thing I forgot. Games are priced the same on Steam as physical copies. So for $60, I can get Skyrim from Amazon, on a physical DVD, with a paper manual, sleeve, case. It's mailed to me so postage has to be paid. Or I can get it on Steam and get a bunch of bits. The profits must be extraordinary.

I am sick of steam. seriously I pay 40 euro more for an non steam version because if I am playing a game on steam it crashes every freakin 20 min annoying messages from your friends ingame,freaking ads which make you crash ingame
random people that ads you hey you got elder scrolls cool man that kind of nonsense

I hope it will be Steam only, so less people will be able to pirate it.

Seriously this anti steam hate is just [censored]. People are only hating it now because develops are starting to use steamworks instead of securom/tages/etc and thus its the new thing to hate. But theres a big difference between Steam/D2D/Origin than all the others and thats the fact that they dont destroy your PC, they are to install AND remove, they dont have hidden files that conflict with other software (lots of DRM software wont play nice with progams like Alchol or Daemon Tools). Back in 2003 when steam was released, yeah sure you could whinge and [censored] about it, but now its just stupid. its the leading Sales platform for PC Digital Distrobution and more and more compaines are dropping DRM software like G4WL and Securom infavor of Steam because thats what the consumer prefers.

The only gripes i have with steam is the price gouging but thatds the fault of greedy arsed publishers ( yes that includes you bethesda softworks) and the fact that when a game is given a midnight release. it means 10am the following day when the staff at steam wake up.

Steam is probably sick of you too.

Get a new computer or do an virus search, it's not related to Steam that your computer is constantly crashing.

I'm using Steam since 2003 without a single problem and I'm not even living in the US. 99.9% of all problems caused with Steam are related to the end user, not Steam.

I hope it will be Steam only, so less people will be able to pirate it.

Go with the future, download Steam now. Living in the past and being paranoid of innovations won't do you no good.

Is there going to be Steam Cloud for this? I would love to continue my game from both my desktop and laptop without having to resort to stuff like Dropbox.

Color me excited. Steam and DD is the future.

Steam is probably sick of you too.

Get a new computer or do an virus search, it's not related to Steam that your computer is constantly crashing.

I'm using Steam since 2003 without a single problem and I'm not even living in the US. 99.9% of all problems caused with Steam are related to the end user, not Steam.

I hope it will be Steam only, so less people will be able to pirate it.

Go with the future, download Steam now. Living in the past and being paranoid of innovations won't do you no good.

5 years ago

Why not activate cars on the internet too? They all have computers in them now. We could claim it's for security purposes, to download important updates and ensure that only the verified owner can start the car. Then we can claim we don't own the car, we license it from the manufacturer. After all, every time someone buys a used car, that's a lost sale.

Bethesda is the last company that needs Steamworks to prevent resales because they offer long-term value and replayability. That's how to stop resales: make a great game!

It's probably going to need steam yes. What's wrong with that?

Personally, I found Steamworks to be less annoying than GFWL

Is there going to be Steam Cloud for this? I would love to continue my game from both my desktop and laptop without having to resort to stuff like Dropbox.

Steamworks games are cracked and uploaded on release day.