Steamworks Makes DRM Obsolete

Valve today announced a new set of advanced features delivered in
Steamworks, a complete suite of publishing and development tools that
are available free of charge to developers and publishers worldwide.

Headlining the new feature set is the Custom Executable Generation
(CEG) technology that compliments the already existing anti-piracy
solution offered in Steamworks. A customer friendly approach to
anti-piracy, CEG makes unique copies of games for each user allowing
them to access the application on multiple machines without install
limits and without having to install root kits on their PC.

The new features also include support for in-game downloadable content
(DLC) and matchmaking. The in-game DLC support allows developers to
deliver new content as they choose (paid or free) from inside the game
itself, allowing users to make immediate purchases and experience the
new content in the same game session. The Steamworks matchmaking now
includes the robust lobby system shipped and tested in Left 4 Dead.

"Delivering this extension of services on Steamworks first
anniversary, demonstrates our commitment to continually develop the
platform to better serve the community working with these tools," said
Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "As we roll out these
features, we continue to look for new ways make PC games easier to
create and better for customers to experience.
"
Steamworks was launched in early 2008 and has already shipped in
products distributed at retail and electronically with major PC
releases such as Empire: Total War, Dawn of War II, F.E.A.R. 2:
Project Origin, and Football Manager 2009.

The Steamworks services are offered free of charge to developers and
publishers around the world. In addition to the services added in this
spring's extension, Steamworks offers support for Steam Achievements,
Steam Community, Auto Updating, Statistics, Steam Cloud and more.
Steamworks is fully integrated with the Steam, a leading platform for
the delivery and management of PC games that has grown to reach 20
million accounts throughout the world, up from 15 million accounts
just one year ago. Steam now offers over 500 applications to gamers in
every country of the world.
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