[Phaid]

Originally Posted by ADan

For a definite answer you might want go to Deadalic's forum page and start the Harvey thread with your inquiry here:

http://forum.daedalic.de/

Hope this helps.

I think I might do that eventually, thanks!

[Phaid]

Oh no, no, NO!! Browsing the forums, I've just found out the game will use Steam DRM.
http://forum.daedalic.de/viewtopic.p...t=1152&start=0

Why? Just... why? I was so excited, now I'll think twice before deciding to buy it at all.

[ozzie]

Well, I presume Deep Silver plans to use DRM for all its future products because it's the same with Risen 2, sadly.

[aries323]

Steam is actually, to me, the least intrusive way to play a game. There's an offline mode, which means that you can play the game offline - after you've activated the game through Steam.

On top of this Daedelic Entertainment and Deep Silver/Koch Media also has the game out on Steam which means more sales as pr. this quote:

Daedalic Entertainment hat geschrieben:
Ohne Steam können wir das Spiel nicht releasen!
Wir sind erstens nicht der Publisher des Spiels bei Steam.
Zweitens gehen wir mit sehr hoher Sicherheit dieses Jahr pleite, wenn unsere aktuellen Spiele wieder nicht bei Steam erscheinen. Uns haben von sieben Partnern, 5 Partner bei A New Beginning international verarscht. Vertrag gemacht, Loka integriert und dann haben sie uns nie bezahlt. Die englische Loka von ANB hat mehr Geld gekostet, als alles was wir eingespielt haben. Wir haben mit ANB ca. 2.000 Einheiten international verkauft. Nur im Vergleich, Amesia und Machinarium haben je weit über 400.000 Einheiten über steam verkauft. Im Falle von DSA sind wir sehr sehr froh, dass wir nun mit Koch Media eine Chance haben, dass Steam uns nicht wieder sagt, dass unsere Spiele (wie Deponia) keine Sau interessieren. Außerhalb von Deutschland ist Steam der Abstand wichtigste Partner - und er bezahlt auch seine Rechnungen

Eventuell erscheinen Deponia 2 und andere Titel in Deutschland ohne Steam.
Wahrscheinlich sogar

It is German, but the message is this: They'll go bankrupt if they don't release it on Steam. Steam pays the bills (to them) on time while 5 out of 7 partners for A new beginning has sort of -ehm- not done this. (to put it mildly). A new beginning sold 2,000 copies while Machinarium for example has sold over 400,000 copies - on Steam alone. I'll encourage you to buy this game - even if it uses Steam. Yes, there is a (small) chance that in 20 years time, you might not be able to play it again. Many games from the 1980's and the 1990's won't work or take a considerable amount of work to to get to play on modern systems.

And to me, as said, Steam is the least invasive drm-system, practically no drm at all. You'll need to activate the game via Steam - then you can play in offline mode.

[aries323]

Forgot the source to quote:

http://forum.daedalic.de/viewtopic.p...st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Another ting to consider is this:

EA is demanding that Mass Effect 3 players and gamers use their Origin service, both for single player and multiplayer. And for activating the game - and probably also for delivering DLC in the game. And I think - whether we like or not - that this is the way games will be delivered in the future. The big guys like EA and Ubisoft will probably make it if we don't buy some of their games. The little guys like Daedalic probabli will suffer if enough people won't buy their games - because of their game being delivered via Steam.

[ADan]

Originally Posted by aries323

Steam is actually, to me, the least intrusive way to play a game. There's an offline mode, which means that you can play the game offline - after you've activated the game through Steam.

On top of this Daedelic Entertainment and Deep Silver/Koch Media also has the game out on Steam which means more sales as pr. this quote:



It is German, but the message is this: They'll go bankrupt if they don't release it on Steam. Steam pays the bills (to them) on time while 5 out of 7 partners for A new beginning has sort of -ehm- not done this. (to put it mildly). A new beginning sold 2,000 copies while Machinarium for example has sold over 400,000 copies - on Steam alone. I'll encourage you to buy this game - even if it uses Steam. Yes, there is a (small) chance that in 20 years time, you might not be able to play it again. Many games from the 1980's and the 1990's won't work or take a considerable amount of work to to get to play on modern systems.

And to me, as said, Steam is the least invasive drm-system, practically no drm at all. You'll need to activate the game via Steam - then you can play in offline mode.

Hold it!

Seriously. I've seen this and although it's supposed to be a quote, it is in fact not a quote. (If you try to analyze the style you might recognize that is is not up to snuff regarding what Daedalic would provide).

This is someone who wants to come across as (wittily) sarcastic. I think it's an epic fail in that respect.

The Steam thing is certainly just a decision that was made by the publisher. Please take your gripes there.

[Malachit]

Actually that's a quote Daedalic CEO Carsten Fichtelmann made on Facebook.

[ozzie]

That seems to be the case, yes.
Don't have a facebook account, so I can't see the original quote myself.

[ADan]

Woops, my bad.

I saw this as a quote on the Daedalic site and while it couldn't be found anywhere on the site as an original by someone called "Daedalic" I assumed that it was a fake.

I don't "do" Facbook either.

[Fien]

Apparently, the quote is on a non-public facebook page. Which explains the informal style.

[aries323]

I don't have a problem with Steam or Origin or other such services. And I know that the publisher decides these things. And my spider sense is telling me that if we want to see adventure games in the future, Steam could be a way to go.

[Fien]

Yeah, the choice between no Steam and no Daedalic is a no brainer. Still, it bugs me that even the retail version will have to be activated on Steam. Or so I read...

[German]

Hallo Adventure-Treff Community,

ob dieser intensiven Diskussion versuche ich nochmal einige Dinge aus unserer Sicht klarzustellen. Die Hintergründe sind einfach zu kompliziert, um sie in 1-2 Sätzen zu erklären. Wo soll ich anfangen?

Die Märkte und die Art und Weise wie Computerspiele verkauft werden, haben sich in den letzten fünf Jahren rasant verändert. Eine sehr große Anzahl von Pleiten nicht nur deutscher Publisher und Entwickler, sondern weltweit, zeugen davon, dass es schwerer ist, mit Offline-Spielen Geld zu verdienen, als man das eventuell üblicherweise annimmt. Im übrigen ist es mindestens genauso schwer mit Online-Spielen Geld zu verdienen. Auch das erfordert ein hohes Maß an Erfahrung, guter Vermarktung und Content, der letztendlich von Spielen in ausreichender Weise genutzt und bezahlt werden muss. Wir haben im deutschen Markt die "Luxussituation", dass wir noch einen sehr stabilen und lukrativen Handel mit Boxenspielen haben (er ist aber auch rückläufig). Der Anteil des physischen Handels ist deutlich größer, als in jedem anderen Land der Welt (diese Aussage gilt für PC-Spiele, nicht für Konsolenspiele). Früher (noch vor fünf Jahren) konnte man bei einem in Deutschland produzierten Adventure gut 50% der geplanten Einnahmen im Ausland erzielen. Es gab starke andere Adventuremärkte wie Frankreich, Russland oder die USA. Hinzukamen Märkte, in denen zumindest ein bischen etwas ging, wie beispielsweise Polen, UK, Italien, Spanien. Heute muss man feststellen, dass nahezu alle anderen Märkte entweder tot oder nahezu unmöglich mit Boxenprodukten zu bedienen sind. Die Verkaufszahlen sind unglaublich schlecht. Lokas für Adventures lohnen sich nicht mehr. In den USA erscheinen, aufgrund einer sehr sehr selektiven Auswahl nur ganz wenige Computerspiele im normalen Boxenhandel (Madden, Sims, Starcraft 2 und - ja das wars eigentlich fast schon). Ketten wie WalMart, BestBuy, Target oder GameStop fassen Adventures einfach nicht mehr an. Nur eben in Deutschland oder vielmehr in den deutschsprachigen Ländern gilt das nicht. Hier funktioniert der Handel nach wie vor. Genau daher kommt ja auch das Zitat von Tim Schafer, dass Adentures nur noch in unserer Erinnerung, unseren Träumen und in Deutschland existieren. Und genau darum ist Steam so wichtig. Kein Land, kein Kontinent und kein Handelspartner ist in der Lage weltweit Kunden zu erreichen und so effektiv im Kern wirklich gute Spiele an interessierte Kunden zu verkaufen. Und keiner behandelt einen so fair, sofern man denn überhaupt Partner von Steam ist und sie ein Spiel selbst unterstützen. Unser Problem ist, dass alle anderen Online-Händler in der Welt zusammen nur 10-20% von dem ausmachen, was Steam bewegen kann, wenn sie ein Spiel wirklich pushen. Unsere These dabei ist, dass wir ganz fest glauben, dass z.B. Deponia sehr viel auf steam verkaufen würde, wenn es denn draufkommt. Wir werden steam das Spiel in drei Wochen auf der GDC final vorstellen. ANB und Edna Bricht Aus haben sie abgelehnt (nach dreimaliger Vorstellung) mit der Begründung, dass sie meinen, dass ihre Zielgruppe das Spiel nicht interessiert. Wir können jetzt darüber diskutieren, ob die Übersetzung nicht optimal ist, ob unsere Spiele technisch nicht immer perfekt sind. Entscheidend ist, der Auswahlprozess bei Adentures ist sehr willkürlich. Auf Steam gibt es sehr viele Adventures. Viele davon erreichen unserer Meinung nach nicht ansatzweise die Qualität z.B. eines Deponias oder Ednas. Und es gibt sogar einige Adventures, die immer wieder wie bei Adventures halt üblich über einen langen Zeitraum regelmäßig gekauft werden und Titel, die schier unglaubliche Stückzahlen auf steam verkaufen. Wenn wir einmal so einen Hit hätten, könnten wir zehn Deponias entwickeln. Also versuchen wir irgendwie zu überleben, bis es endlich klappt.

Bei Das Schwarze Auge: Satinavs Ketten hat uns unser Partner Koch Media gefragt, ob wir Steamworks integrieren können, damit wir den Titel besser vermarkten können. Auch Koch Media hatte es in der Vergangenheit schwer bei Steam. Nachdem sie aber mit Dead Island einen Superhit hatten, ist es leichter geworden.

Unsere zukünftige Strategie könnte so aussehen. Wir releasen digital weltweit mit Steam und anderen Partnern und es gibt 2-3 Länder, wo wir eine Boxenversion ohne DRM verkaufen. Das ist im Prinzip der Plan für Deponia 1+2+3 und Harveys Neue Augen. Die guten Verkäufe zum Start bei Deponia werden uns wenig bringen, wenn wir den Titel nicht international ausrollen können. Dann schreiben wir am Ende eine schwarze Null und bleiben weiter abhängig von Umständen, die hohes Frustrationspotential haben. Wieso? Ganz einfach, wir haben Deponia jedem relevanten deutschen Investitons-Partner seit Spätsommer 2008 vorgestellt. Und alle haben das Spiel abgelehnt. Da waren Unternehmen dabei, die ein Adventure-Flop nach dem anderen releasen oder releast haben, uns aber mit Deponia ausgelacht haben. Dann versucht man es halt irgendwie selbst. Mit der Hilfe unseres Vertriebspartners Eurovideo konnten wir es dann schließlich beweisen. DANKE! Deponia ist der erfolgreichste Start (gemessen an den ersten zwei Verkaufswochen) einer neuen Adventuremarke in Deutschland in den letzten zehn Jahren. Der Markt ist viel schwerer und schlechter als vor fünf Jahren. Trotzdem hat das Spiel sich zum Verkaufsstart besser verkauft, als alle großen Adventurehits der letzten 10 Jahre (Black Mirror, Dreamfall, Geheimakte Tunguska, Jack Keane, Ankh, BouT, Edna, TWW usw.). Bereits nach einer Woche kann man feststellen, dass kein Partner, dem wir das Spiel angeboten haben, damit Geld verloren hätte. Ganz einfach deshalb, weil die Erstauslieferungsmenge nur im geringen Maße oder gar nicht vom Handel retourniert und damit dann auch bezahlt wird. Oft weiß man erst zwei Jahre später, ob sich ein Titel gerechnet hat. Für Adventures ist es aber wichtig, ob das Spiel sich auch über einen langen Zeitraum gut verkauft. Das ist noch nicht klar. Insbesondere bei den oben genannten Titeln gilt, dass sie allesamt erfolgreich waren, weil sie sich sehr sehr lange ordentlich verkauft haben.

Zurück zu Steam: Genauso wie es scheinbar Kunden gibt, die uns sagen, wenn wir eine Steamaktivierung haben, dann kaufen sie unsere Spiele nicht, gibt es genauso Kunden (auch in Deutschland), vor allem weltweit, die inzwischen nur noch Steam nutzen. Diese Kunden erreichen wir alternativ (außerhalb Deutschlands) gar nicht. Wir haben also die Wahl zwischen der Pest oder Kollera. Bei The Whispered World lief so einiges schief beim Steam-Release (keine Demo, falscher Preis, keine Werbung und fast ein Jahr nach dem englischen Box-Release usw.), trotzdem hat das Spiel kontinuierlich auf Steam verkauft. In einer Bundle-Verkaufsaktion letztes Jahr im September hat das Spiel in NUR ZWEI TAGEN rund 6.000 Einheiten verkauft. TWW ist ein Spiel aus unseren frühen Tagen. Ich möchte jetzt nicht darauf eingehen, warum wir wenig bis gar nichts an den Steam-Verkäufen verdienen. Was man aber sehen kann, ist dass Leute über die ganze Welt verteilt das Spiel kaufen. TWW kaufen Leute aus Indien, Skandinavien, Dubai, Südafrika, Korea, Osteuropa usw. Spieler in diesen Ländern können wir nahezu nur über Steam erreichen.

Unser Ziel ist es, dass wir einmal die Chance haben, eines unserer Spiele selbst dort zu platzieren und dann auch wie in Deutschland einfach die Chance haben mit kreativen Ideen, PR und Marketing den Abverkauf SELBST zu unterstützen. Und wenn uns das gelingt, dann werden wir dort sicher auch erfolgreich werden. Nehmen wir ein anderes Beispiel: Den französischen Film "Ziemlich beste Freunde". Er läuft im Moment mit unglaublich großen Erfolg in den deutschen Kinos und vor allem völlig überraschend für sehr viele Leute. Das ist in sofern ein guter Vergleich, weil Kinos bzw. der Verleiher den Mut hatte ihn einzukaufen. Nur wenn Steam einen unserer wirklich guten Titel mal ausprobiert und selbst ernst nimmt, dann können wir beweisen, dass es sehr viele Leute gibt, die unsere Spiele mögen. Natürlich gibt es auch Leute, auf die das nicht zutrifft. Völlig OK. Unsere Spiele sind anders (komisch).

Darum würden wir uns freuen, wenn Ihr DSA, sofern Ihr es gekauft hättet (ohne Steam) auch mit Steam kauft. Und wenn Ihr höflich die Steam-Petition unterstützt, damit man in Seattle merkt, dass es doch Leute gibt, die solche komischen Spiele haben wollen. Selbst wenn Ihr unsere Spiele nicht mögt, dann unterstützt uns trotzdem, weil Ihr damit Unternehmen wie King Art mit BouT oder Animation Arts mit ihren episodischen Eigenentwicklungen unterstützt. Und diese Firmen haben es einfach verdient, dass ihre Spiele eine internationale Chance bekommen, weil sie mit dem gleichen Herzblut Adventures entwickeln, wie wir.

Please sign: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=2502739

Beste Grüße und schönes Wochenende

Carsten Fichtelmann

http://www.adventure-treff.de/forum/...466829#p466829

[Fien]

An interesting post by Carsten Fichtelmann. I had it translated by one of those infamous online translator thingies, with a little help from me cause those botsies tend to go crazy with the more complex sentences. The English is of course pretty bad, but hopefully intelligible for the most part.

Hello Adventure-Treff Community,

whether of this intensive discussion I try again to clarify some things from our point of view. The background is simply too complicated to explain in 1-2 sentences. Where should I start?

The markets and the way computer games are sold, have changed rapidly during the last five years. A very big number of bankruptcies of not only German publishers and developers but worldwide, testify to the fact that it is more difficult to earn money with off-line games than one usually thinks. For that matter, it is at least as hard to make money with on-line games. Also, this requires a high degree of experience, good marketing and content which must in the end be used and paid adequately by games. We have the "deluxe situation" in the German market that we still have a very stable and lucrative trade with boxed games (however, it is also declining). The part played by physical trade is clearly bigger than in any other country in the world (this statement refers to PC games, not to console games). In the past (only five years ago) one could with an adventure produced in Germany achieve a good 50% of the planned income abroad. There were other strong adventure markets, like France, Russia or the USA. In addition, markets with at least some sales, for example Poland, UK, Italy, Spain. Today one must conclude that nearly all the other markets are either dead or impossible to serve with boxed products. The sales figures are incredibly bad. Localisation of adventures is no longer worthwhile. In the USA, as a result of severe selection, only very few computer games are released in the normal boxed trade (Madden, Sims, Starcraft 2 and - well, that’s about it). Chains like WalMart, BestBuy, Target or GameStop simply don’t touch adventures anymore. Only in Germany or rather in the German-speaking countries this does not apply. Here retail trade still functions. This is precisely why Tim Schafer said that adventures exist only in our memory, our dreams and in Germany. And for this very reason Steam is so important. No country, no continent and no retail partner is capable of reaching customers worldwide and selling really good games so effectively to interested customers. And nobody treats one so fairly, provided one is a partner of Steam and support a game themselves. Our problem is that all the other on-line retailers in the world together produce only 10-20% of what Steam can accomplish when they really push a game. Our position is that we firmly believe that, e.g., Deponia would sell a lot on Steam. We will present the game to Steam in three weeks at the GDC final. They rejected ANB and Edna Bricht Aus (after three presentations) on the grounds that they think their target group is not interested in the game. Now we can discuss whether the translation is not optimum or whether our games are not always perfect technically. But of crucial importance is that the selection process of adventures is very arbitrary. There are a lot of adventures on Steam. In our opinion, many of them don’t have anything like the quality of a Deponia or Edna. And there are even some adventures which are bought regularly over a long period, as is usual with adventures, and titles which sell almost unbelievable numbers on Steam. If we had one such hit, we could develop ten Deponias. Thus we try to survive somehow, until we finally pull it off.

Concerning Das Schwarze Auge: Satinavs Ketten, our partner Koch Media has asked us whether we can integrate Steamworks, so that we can market the title better. Koch Media too had a hard time with Steam in the past. After they had a superhit with Dead Island, however, it has become easier.

Our future strategy could look like this. We release digitally worldwide with Steam and other partners, and there are 2-3 countries where we sell a boxed version without DRM. This is, in principle, the plan for Deponia 1 + 2 + 3 and Harvey’s New Eyes. The good sales at the start of Deponia will bring us a little if we cannot roll out the title internationally. In that case we write at the end a black zero and remain dependant on circumstances which have a high frustration potential. Why? Quite simply, we have introduced Deponia to every relevant German investment partner since late summer 2008. And all of them rejected the game. Among them companies which release or have released one adventure flop after another, and yet laughed at our Deponia. Then you try it somehow yourself. With the help of our distributor Eurovideo we could prove it in the end. THANKS! Deponia has been the most successful start (measured by sales in the first two weeks) of a new adventure market in Germany during the last ten years. The market is much more difficult and worse than five years ago. Nevertheless, the game has sold better at its start than all big adventure hits of the last 10 years (Black Mirror, Dreamfall, Geheimakte Tunguska, Jack Keane, Ankh, BouT, Edna, TWW etc.). Already after one week one can conclude that no partner that we offered the game to would have lost money on it. Quite simply because the Erstauslieferungsmenge is returned only in a small degree or not at all by retail, and therefore is also paid. Often one knows only two years later whether a title has counted. However, for adventures it is important whether the game also sells well during a long period. This is not clear yet. In particular for the abovementioned titles counts that they were all successful because they have sold well for a very long time.

Back to Steam: Just as there are apparently customers who tell us that they won’t buy our games if we have Steam activation, there are customers (also in Germany), above all worldwide, who use only Steam. We do not reach these customers alternatively (outside Germany) at all. We have the choice between the plague or the cholera. With The Whispered World some things went wrong with the Steam release (no demo, wrong price, no ads and almost one year after the English box release etc.); nevertheless the game sold continuously on Steam. In a Bundle-sales action the last year in September about 6,000 copies of the game were sold in ONLY TWO DAYS. TWW is a game from our early days. Now I do not want to go into detail about why we earn little to nothing on the Steam sales. What one can see, however, is that people over the whole world buy the game. TWW is bought by people from India, Scandinavia, Dubai, South Africa, Korea, Eastern Europe etc. We can reach gamers in these countries almost only through Steam.

Our goal is that we get the chance to place one of our games there, and then also like in Germany simply have the chance to support sales OURSELVES with creative ideas, PR and marketing. And if we manage this, we will certainly become successful there as well. Take another example: The French film “Intouchables” (Ziemlich beste Freunde). It runs at the moment with incredibly big success in the German cinemas and absolutely unexpectedly for a lot of people. This is a good comparison in so far that cinemas or the distributors had the courage to buy it. Only when Steam tries out one of our really good titles and takes it seriously, we can prove that there are a lot of people who like our games. Of course there are also people to whom this does not apply. Completely OK. Our games are different (humorous).

This is why we would be glad if you would buy DSA, provided that you would have bought it (without Steam), also with Steam. And if you support the Steam petition, so that one notices in Seattle that there are indeed people who want to have such humorous games. Even if you do not like our games, support us anyway, because then you also support enterprise like King Art with BouT or Animation Arts with their episodic developments. And these companies simply deserve that their games get a chance internationally because they develop adventures with the same passion as we.

Please sign: http: // forums.steampowered.com/forum .... php? t=2502739

Best regards and have a nice week-end

Carsten Fichtelmann

[Phaid]

So... essentially, what it comes down to is they have their hands tied - they can't rely on boxed copies to provide a steady stream of income to keep them afloat anymore. To make matters worse, Valve turned out to be (pardon my language) assholes who kept rejecting Daedalic's games repeatedly while allowing pure shovelware to be sold on Steam.
What that means is the only way for Ddc's adventures to appear on that particular distribution channel for sure is to use Steam DRM. Now, that just reeks of Valve abusing their nigh-monopolistic dominance in the digital distribution market, they're forcing more and more developers and publishers to adopt Steamworks that way.

When given a choice between buying Daedalic's games with Steam DRM and seeing the company's downfall, I'll choose the former... but wow, that's a terrible situation they and their fans have found themselves in.

Originally Posted by aries323

Steam is actually, to me, the least intrusive way to play a game. There's an offline mode, which means that you can play the game offline - after you've activated the game through Steam.

You can't be serious. Have you ever purchased a retail copy of a Steamworks-enabled game? It's a nightmare to install!

When you buy a title utilizing a DVD-check or a one-time activation, it comes down to inserting the disc in the drive, istalling and at worst going online for literally two seconds for the *.exe to verify.
You can install your game offline, that's very important. Very often, a patch is released which removes the disc check/activation completely.

So-called "Steam activation" requires that you:
- have a fast internet connection
- are online for the whole installation process, which might take hours (why? read below, please)
- accept the fact the disc you purchased if full of useless, encrypted data, you'll never install the game from it without connecting to Valve servers, which defeats the purpose of getting a boxed copy
You have to follow these steps:
- go online
- insert the disc
- install Steam first
- log in to the client
- wait for the client to update
- wait for the files on the disc to decrypt first
- wait for the installer to copy the decrypted files (if at any point your internet connection drops for one second, the installation will be aborted! I learned it the hard way)
- once it's done, Steam will begin downloading data which aren't on the disc, but are necessary for your game to run, very often, that's hundreds of MBs, over a GB or two in extreme cases
- I strongly recommend that you verify game cache once this process is finished, Steam tends to corrupt game files while updating them sometimes - which leads to even more downloading (do I really have to point out that it can take hours if you're on a slow connection?)
- when the installation is finished, you can go offline, sure, but notice in order to do that, you have to be connected. Offline mode flat out refuses to work for a legion of Steam users when it's needed, that is, if your connection suddenly drops. Period.
- icing on the cake: even if you switch Steam to offline mode, Steam DRM'd games require that you launch the client first and keep it running in the background AT ALL TIMES. If you don't do that, your game won't launch.

Of course, if you decide to download the game from Steam instead of "activating" the disc version, many of these steps can be skipped, but equally many still remain, like the ludicrous requirement to have Steam running in the background.

[ozzie]

Originally Posted by Phaid

To make matters worse, Valve turned out to be (pardon my language) assholes who kept rejecting Daedalic's games repeatedly while allowing pure shovelware to be sold on Steam.
What that means is the only way for Ddc's adventures to appear on that particular distribution channel for sure is to use Steam DRM. Now, that just reeks of Valve abusing their nigh-monopolistic dominance in the digital distribution market, they're forcing more and more developers and publishers to adopt Steamworks that way.

It's not quite Valve's fault that Daedalic has to use Steam as DRM. It would be possible to have a DRM free retail copy and still be on Steam, maybe even offer Steam key as a bonus for the DRM free copy, just like Amnesia did.
I think it's publisher Deep Silver who demands Steam as DRM. They're also doing it with Risen 2. And while I wouldn't say that the people behind Steam are "assholes", I would say that their behaviour is irresponsible.

[diego]

3 songs can be heard on the official site. It sounds rather nice.

[diego]

So, the game is postponed until June 22nd. Hmm, does these new screenshots indicate there will be two playable characters?

[jhetfield21]

maybe....it's nothing new certainly so it's possible.

[Schneckchen ^.^]

Originally Posted by aries323

Steam is actually, to me, the least intrusive way to play a game.

Steam is ok but least intrusive by far is GOG. And now that they're starting to offer newer games as well, including the Whispered World, there is hope.