DRM News

Bethesda and Obsidian’s upcoming Fallout 3 sequel Fallout : New Vegas will be switching DRM systems. Rather than using the SecuROM & Games for Windows Live combo that the 2008 release used (with GfWL essentially regionalizing the PC version to those countries the service supports), the PC version of New Vegas will be using Steamworks. That means that all versions of the game will require installation of Steam and a one time activation through the Steam client.

The switch was announced during a fan question interview on the Bethesda forums.

Will the PC retail game be able to be activated via Steam?
From @litrock via Twitter

Jason Bergman, Senior Producer at Bethesda Softworks: Yes. Fallout: New Vegas will fully utilize the Steamworks SDK. This means that retail PC copies will activate via Steam. We are also using Steam for achievements and other features (but not multiplayer, of course. FNV remains a single player only game).

Bergman went in to a bit more detail in a follow up posting just after the interview (all emphasis already in place in the original).

What does Steamworks mean to you? Senior producer Jason Bergman explains:

“Fallout: New Vegas uses Steamworks for achievements and other features (such as friends lists, cloud storage of user preferences and so on). Use of Steam will be mandatory at retail. So what does that mean? We’ve implemented Steamworks in as light and unobtrusive a way as possible. Yes, you will have to install Steam when you install Fallout: New Vegas if you don’t already have it. And yes, you will have to be online at the time of that initial install. However you can install the game on as many systems as you want (with no restrictions!), and you do not have to be online to play the game after your initial activation. Not only that, but once the game has activated on Steam, you can throw out the game DVD entirely and just download the game over Steam. If you don’t even have a DVD drive, you can just take the CD-Key from the box, enter it into Steam, and download it without ever using the disc at all.

For those concerned, this will have no affect on mod development whatsoever. Modders will still be able to create and distribute their plugins the same way they have in the past.

We made the decision to use Steam after looking at all the various options out there and decided that it provided the best, least intrusive experience for PC gamers. We think you’ll agree.”