Steam 100% normalized digital media on PC. Physical media wouldn't have died out if this system of game distribution was not normalized on PC. Drives disappeared because publishers started abandoning physical media thanks to steam.
Normalizing digital media for cutting costs and convenience in updates or patches is not the same acting as killing it. Publishers decided that for themselves, obviously...
I wasn't talking about key codes. I'm talking about how Steam's policy is to ensure games are sold at same price across all platforms [eg: epic]. Devs can't sell a game for 30$ on epic and then 50$ on steam even though Epic takes small cut from each sales.
Because in the end, the dev selling on Steam and not on Epic gets the better value/profit/development (I'll not repeat myself why).
It's not a customer's headache that steam has to stop supporting legacy operating systems and hardwares. The problem remains. You cannot play the game on your original hardware anymore without 3rd party interventions. Relying on 3rd party hacks just to play games you purchased on a hardware the game is supposed to run is straight up ridiculous. And this is why GOG remains superior.
Same applies backwards If I want to run a physical FIFA 98 on Win 10/11. It will never work without wrappers, 3rd party software, or PC emulation that will be needed...
Valve made proton not for customers but for their own benefit. And I wouldn't blame them for this. They run a business after all. The push for steam os started because Microsoft attempted on selling games on windows store and this would mean publishers might move away from steam. Fortunately for them, Microsoft sucks, so it has been a non-threat for them ever since.
Valve made proton for their ecosystem to work. They don't sell Proton for benefit. Regarding publishers, "might move" is not the same as "they will" move.
Of course Steam doesn't force DRM on games. Neither do they force "no DRM policy" like GOG does. This will always make GOG the best platform out there. And Steam launcher in itself is a layer of DRM in the first place.
The conclusion is, DRM was never forced by Valve, period. If publishers are opting for DRM then that's on them, even if Valve offers it as an option.
In short term, DRM issues mean nothing since games are accessible. In long term it will cause catastrophic damage to game preservation. And the fact that movements like stop killing games are being actively pushed aside by court shows how corrupted the gaming industry is.
I'm no DRM expert, but DRM was in gaming for a long time. Nobody wants it, but most publishers wants to protect their products in a way or another, for the good, the bad or the ugly.
