Steam's DRM was inspired by an exec's nephew and his trusty CD burner

Burned: Valve's founding chief marketing officer, Monica Harrington, recently shared her account of how the company became the leading provider of digital PC games. Harrington pushed for stricter authentication measures after discovering how young players were more than willing to pirate their games. Harrington has a somewhat contentious relationship with Valve's origin story. In 2024, she said that her name had been erased from the company's history despite her contribution alongside Gabe Newell and her then-husband Mike Harrington. Now, the businesswoman has shared some juicy behind-the-scenes facts about Valve and Steam during a recent GDC video session. One interesting tidbit highlighted by PC Gamer relates to Steam's online DRM, which was allegedly enforced because of Harrington's experience with her nephew's piracy habits. After receiving a $500 check for school-related expenses, the young gamer thanked Harrington and said that he was going to buy a new CD-ROM burner with the m ... Read full article.