DRM, Anti-Piracy & COD

[Flying Colander]

I am hoping someone official can clarify how DRM will be handled in Cliffs of Dover.

I searched on DRM, Steam and Solidshield but found nothing on 1C.

At UBI, however, an Admin posted this:

"IL2 Sturmovik: Cliff of Dover (sic) will use the SolidShield DRM solution. SolidShield features a flexible activation process and allows for up to 3 simultaneous game installs.

Please note that the game will also use the Steam platform for services such as matchmaking, anti-cheat etc… So you will need a Steam account to play the game."

If one doesn't require "matchmaking, anti-cheat, etc...", why are we being required to use Steam?

Unfortunately, the UBI forum quickly devolves into an uninformative rant between anti-Steam and pro-Steam voices.

Being an off-liner, I have never used Steam. Is it really an anti-piracy tool, or just a distribution model, or both? I very much want Oleg & Company to be able to protect their investment, and to profit and thrive so they can continue the development of this extraordinary simulation.

However, I am a little apprehensive about Steam as the discussion around it are quite heated with a majority of the forum contributors ready to fore go buying Cliffs of Dover in protest.

The objections center upon:

Steam's invasive design ("users agree that Valve may collect aggregate information, individual information, and personally identifiable information")

Steam consuming PC resources in what will already be an resource intensive game

Steam's long term viability turning your purchased software into a rental. Steam Valve will eventually go the way of LucasArts, Spectrum Holobyte, Jane’s, Dynamix, Sierra, Microprose, and even Microsoft's Aces Studio of three decades.

Finally, many seem to think that DRM generally fails to protect copyright holders and only frustrates legal buyers of the software.

These all seem to be legitimate concerns.

Can someone better educate me? Official guidance would also be appreciated.

Thank you.