What are the benefits of a DRM free game on steam?

[C1REX]

Steam has a few DRM-free games like Baldur's Gate and Cyberpunk. What are the benefits of not having DRM in a game?

Would such a game work without the Steam client on another PC?

Also, why do some people hate certain DRMs and are okay with others?

[Ogami]

DRM free games on Steam can usually be started without the client just from the game exe in the installation folder.

[Anonymous Helper]

Originally posted by C1REX:

Steam has a few DRM-free games like Baldur's Gate and Cyberpunk. What are the benefits of not having DRM in a game?

Also, why do some people hate certain DRMs and are okay with others?

Because some DRM are both more intrusive and restrictive than others. Like requiring access to system core files and require you to be always online. Some may even hamper or entirely prevent modding of the game. Some DRM like Denuvo also degrade performance of the games it's integrated in. It's possible that if DRM server goes offline for any reason, you can't play the game and if DRM is discontinued and it's not removed from the game, the game becomes entirely unusable. DRM offers 0 benefit for the end users but imposes plenty of disadvantages.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by C1REX:

What are the benefits of not having DRM in a game?

Well, I did notice that the games that my mother has on her box are actually all DRM-free, so I changed the shortcuts to the respective .exe -- which means the games should still be running despite Steam dropping Win7 support.

[C1REX]

Originally posted by Anonymous Helper:

Originally posted by C1REX:

Steam has a few DRM-free games like Baldur's Gate and Cyberpunk. What are the benefits of not having DRM in a game?

Also, why do some people hate certain DRMs and are okay with others?

Because some DRM are both more intrusive and restrictive than others. Like requiring access to system core files and require you to be always online. Some may even hamper or entirely prevent modding of the game. Some DRM like Denuvo also degrade performance of the games it's integrated in. It's possible that if DRM server goes offline for any reason, you can't play the game and if DRM is discontinued and it's not removed from the game, the game becomes entirely unusable. DRM offers 0 benefit for the end users but imposes plenty of disadvantages.

I recently played Lies of P that includes Denuvo.
It performs extremely well and it works offline.
Are there different versions of Denuvo?
How is Denuvo worse that steam’s own DRM that also affect performance and need online authentication?
From what I know Capcom is using DRM called Enigma that includes Denuvo.

I see some real benefits of having a DRM free game but I can’t see much difference between different DRMs. All seem to have online authentication and some minimal impact on performance.

[videomike_Ultimate_Plushie]

The second is a good question. I see people defend steamworks while they ♥♥♥♥ on every other DRM. It's like they only really care about performance and shouldn't even be discussing DRM as a word, since they don't actually care. If you hate Denuvo's operating code for it's poor performance when added to a product fine, but then it being a DRM shouldn't even enter your lips since you don't care about steam.

DRM is just a form of forcing the software to have on-board ransomware for said software. Never buy games with DRm and should you find you did, refund immediately. It does nothing but hurt the operation of the game to no benefit at all to you.

[C1REX]

Originally posted by videomike_Ultimate_Plushie:

. Never buy games with DRm and should you find you did, refund immediately. It does nothing but hurt the operation of the game to no benefit at all to you.

The list of DRM free games is sadly very short.

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam

GOG has a bit more but still missing a ton of big games.

[miakisfan]

You are going to find that out of those for the removal of Denuvo and DRM don't exactly tell the whole truth ... just enough to get you to believe that it is wrong.

The whole reason for DRM like Denuvo is to prevent the pirating of games ... not to degrade performance or be ultra intrusive.

I have a number of DRM games on my library list and I can tell you that I have had ZERO issues playing any of these games. As for DRM forcing people not to be able to mod their games is likely that they don't want certain games modded.

I also find that I don't get any viruses, malware, or ransomware from said DRMs. You would think that something accessing my system core files would actually do something bad to my computer yet it has never happened as of yet nor do I expect it to.

Just like how intrusive some DRMs can be so can the gamers themselves as well. It goes back once again to the pirating issue. I wouldn't want someone kicking around my game either without my permission.

AS I always say when I see someone dying to get DRM out of a game my first thought will always be they are trying to pirate it. There is no other explanation ... especially from personal experience versus what is said about DRM.

Like I have said over and over ... until pirating games goes the way of the dodo bird I will stand by them being in games. I'll be more than happy to stand with the people wanting DRM out of games when that happens.

[sumolagann]

Originally posted by miakisfan:

You are going to find that out of those for the removal of Denuvo and DRM don't exactly tell the whole truth ... just enough to get you to believe that it is wrong.

The whole reason for DRM like Denuvo is to prevent the pirating of games ... not to degrade performance or be ultra intrusive.

I have a number of DRM games on my library list and I can tell you that I have had ZERO issues playing any of these games. As for DRM forcing people not to be able to mod their games is likely that they don't want certain games modded.

I also find that I don't get any viruses, malware, or ransomware from said DRMs. You would think that something accessing my system core files would actually do something bad to my computer yet it has never happened as of yet nor do I expect it to.

Just like how intrusive some DRMs can be so can the gamers themselves as well. It goes back once again to the pirating issue. I wouldn't want someone kicking around my game either without my permission.

AS I always say when I see someone dying to get DRM out of a game my first thought will always be they are trying to pirate it. There is no other explanation ... especially from personal experience versus what is said about DRM.

Like I have said over and over ... until pirating games goes the way of the dodo bird I will stand by them being in games. I'll be more than happy to stand with the people wanting DRM out of games when that happens.

The pirates get better performance and no malware (unless the crackers put malware), and the ability to play offline. Paying customers should have the same or better experience. I don't think much beyond the initial 3 or 6 month release window would help sales at all, so at least get rid of whatever drm after that. As for online games, idk the solution. All scoreboards and games with anti cheat are always compromised anyways

[tyl0413]

Exactly that, you can run without Steam, never need to sign in, never need to update, etc.
You can just run it like it is currently forever.
All games that have GOG releases at the very least should be DRM-free on Steam too.

[C1REX]

Originally posted by sumolagann:

The pirates get better performance and no malware (unless the crackers put malware), and the ability to play offline. Paying customers should have the same or better experience. I don't think much beyond the initial 3 or 6 month release window would help sales at all, so at least get rid of whatever drm after that. As for online games, idk the solution. All scoreboards and games with anti cheat are always compromised anyways

Is this performance difference even noticeable? Lies of P has Denuvo and amazing performance. It also works offline and has working mods. Capcom is using their own Enigma DRM that includes Denuvo withing it and their games are considered well optimised.

[sumolagann]

Originally posted by C1REX:

Originally posted by sumolagann:

The pirates get better performance and no malware (unless the crackers put malware), and the ability to play offline. Paying customers should have the same or better experience. I don't think much beyond the initial 3 or 6 month release window would help sales at all, so at least get rid of whatever drm after that. As for online games, idk the solution. All scoreboards and games with anti cheat are always compromised anyways

Is this performance difference even noticeable? Lies of P has Denuvo and amazing performance. It also works offline and has working mods. Capcom is using their own Enigma DRM that includes Denuvo withing it and their games are considered well optimised.

it depends on implementation and your hardware, I have noticed it on dmc5 by framerate loss/smoothness because they originally accidentally released it drm free, I had an older cpu at the time. stuttering seems to also be a thing sometimes on some.

[Pierce Dalton]

Well, evidently the main benefit is being able to play them in case your ISP dies.

[C1REX]

Originally posted by Pierce Dalton:

Well, evidently the main benefit is being able to play them in case your ISP dies.

100% of my steam games with different types of DRM work offline just fine. Many people mention this problem with DRM but I couldn't trigger any problem while being offline.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by C1REX:

Originally posted by sumolagann:

The pirates get better performance and no malware (unless the crackers put malware), and the ability to play offline. Paying customers should have the same or better experience. I don't think much beyond the initial 3 or 6 month release window would help sales at all, so at least get rid of whatever drm after that. As for online games, idk the solution. All scoreboards and games with anti cheat are always compromised anyways

Is this performance difference even noticeable? Lies of P has Denuvo and amazing performance. It also works offline and has working mods. Capcom is using their own Enigma DRM that includes Denuvo withing it and their games are considered well optimised.

Capcom doesn't use Enigma in everything. They only recently tried it in Revelations.

[Pierce Dalton]

Originally posted by C1REX:

Originally posted by Pierce Dalton:

Well, evidently the main benefit is being able to play them in case your ISP dies.

100% of my steam games with different types of DRM work offline just fine. Many people mention this problem with DRM but I couldn't trigger any problem while being offline.

Yes, I've heard they work offline but it's for a limited time. I've never conducted any tests myself, though.