"As far as DRM goes, most DRM strategies are just dumb," said Newell in an email to gamer Paul Reisinger, which was then picked up by GamePolitics.

"The goal should be to create greater value for customers through service value (make it easy for me to play my games whenever and wherever I want to), not by decreasing the value of a product (maybe I'll be able to play my game and maybe I won't)," he added.

DRM, or digital rights management, has recently become a subject of intense controversy in the PC gaming field. High-profile games utilizing DRM to restrict overall installations, such as EA's Spore and Mass Effect, have been criticized by users and industry figures alike.

Valve requires its boxed games to be activated online initially, but allows for an unlimited amount of installations over a product's lifetime.

"We really really discourage other developers and publishers from using the broken DRM offerings, and in general there is a groundswell to abandon those approaches," concluded Newell.