The misconception of pc gaming wiki mistaking pc store as drm.

[jacob2232 0]

There is a big misconception of this website mistaking pc store as drm even though there is a clear difference between a pc store to distrubute and buy games and drm. 

For example pc store is to buy games, kept in your libary forever, installing and playing as many times as you want on how many different PCs/laptops you want no matter the era playing them fully offline without any issues, whereas drm is requiring always online connection being limited on how many different PCs/laptops a game can be installed on in a day and in total as a whole among many other issues. In which most games since the steam era started are 98% drm free thanks to valve making drm obsolete while yes some new games implements drm such as 3rd party drm denuvo or enigma being the most popular use case when drm is implemented but even there in most some of these new games is removed some point after the game was releasead for example in the case of square enix it is usually 6 months or with other publishers takes slightly longer but it still removed and sadly in some older games drm has not been removed yet but it is very few of them. Also every game on steam when has no 3rd party drm can be run without the launcher running in the background by creating in the game folder steam_appid as it was shown with this reddit post thus it can be stored for example in usb pendrive to preserve it even further.

In my opinion, pc gaming wiki should change how drm is listed because of it some people creates misconception about pc store as an drm which should not be the case.

 

[Aemony 152]

Hi,

PCGW already makes that distinction where possible, however the incorrect DRM tracking stems from editors assuming that a specific store-provided DRM option is used for a game at the time the article was created, which is often months or years before the release of the game. The intention is for editors to always follow up and validate the claim upon release, if possible.

The ”store DRMs” that we supports refers to those store-provided DRM options, e.g. Steam DRM for Steam, EOS/EGS based DRM for Epic Games Store, EA’s DRM for EA App, etc. So they do not technically refer to the storefronts themselves, but the clients/underlying platform used to enforce said DRM.

This is also why PCGW support flagging a DRM such as ”DRM-free*” (with a star/wildcard), in scenario where digital distribution releases (e.g. Steam games) requires a few manual steps to ”access” its actual DRM-free nature (e.g. steam_appid.txt for some Steam games).

PCGW also note the ”default store DRM” assumption discrepancy over on the DRM-free lists: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games

Basically, there’s not a lot PCGW can do in this regard than what we already do.

P.S.: That Reddit thread is inaccurate and only concerns games that uses the Steamworks API but does not use Steam DRM to protect the game. Such games don’t have a dependency on the Steamworks API client — they only have a dependency on knowing the Steam App ID which the embedded Steamworks API should engage in. These are supported and tracked on PCGW as ”DRM-free*” (star/wildcard) due to the manual methods involved. For games actually protected by Steam DRM, the method will have no effect at all.

[jacob2232 0]

3 minutes ago, Aemony said:

Hi,

PCGW already makes that distinction where possible, however the incorrect DRM tracking stems from editors assuming that a specific store-provided DRM option is used for a game at the time the article was created, which is often months or years before the release of the game. The intention is for editors to always follow up and validate the claim upon release, if possible.

The ”store DRMs” that we supports refers to those store-provided DRM options, e.g. Steam DRM for Steam, EOS/EGS based DRM for Epic Games Store, EA’s DRM for EA App, etc. So they do not technically refer to the storefronts themselves, but the clients/underlying platform used to enforce said DRM.

This is also why PCGW support flagging a DRM such as ”DRM-free*” (with a star/wildcard), in scenario where digital distribution releases (e.g. Steam games) requires a few manual steps to ”access” its actual DRM-free nature (e.g. steam_appid.txt for some Steam games).

PCGW also note the ”default store DRM” assumption discrepancy over on the DRM-free lists: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games

Basically, there’s not a lot PCGW can do in this regard than what we already do.

P.S.: That Reddit thread is inaccurate and only concerns games that uses the Steamworks API but does not use Steam DRM to protect the game. Such games don’t have a dependency on the Steamworks API client — they only have a dependency on knowing the Steam App ID which the embedded Steamworks API should engage in. These are supported and tracked on PCGW as ”DRM-free*” (star/wildcard) due to the manual methods involved. For games actually protected by Steam DRM, the method will have no effect at all.

I have noticed that as well recently that pcgw in recent new games makes that distinction already in place which is great, but there are many older games since steam era on this website suffers from it which makes then people confuse if this has drm or not because while yes these pc stores has their own "drm" they actually are not the usual drm because once buying the game on these pc stores for example steam valve is giving users Custom Executable Generation which creates encrypted copy of the game that then allows people to install multiple times on multiple hardware and once they logged in to steam account, they can simply play it offline without any issues launching directly from the desktop, even allowing to create backup for example by transfering game folder to the usb pendrive to then pasting it to the disc drive folder person wish the game to be installed on, double clicking game exe icon thus everything installs locally on steam. Even by valve own admission the reason why created their pc store steam is to make "drm obsolete" Source: Steam (service) - Wikipedia .  

[jacob2232 0]

23 minutes ago, Aemony said:

Hi,

PCGW already makes that distinction where possible, however the incorrect DRM tracking stems from editors assuming that a specific store-provided DRM option is used for a game at the time the article was created, which is often months or years before the release of the game. The intention is for editors to always follow up and validate the claim upon release, if possible.

The ”store DRMs” that we supports refers to those store-provided DRM options, e.g. Steam DRM for Steam, EOS/EGS based DRM for Epic Games Store, EA’s DRM for EA App, etc. So they do not technically refer to the storefronts themselves, but the clients/underlying platform used to enforce said DRM.

This is also why PCGW support flagging a DRM such as ”DRM-free*” (with a star/wildcard), in scenario where digital distribution releases (e.g. Steam games) requires a few manual steps to ”access” its actual DRM-free nature (e.g. steam_appid.txt for some Steam games).

PCGW also note the ”default store DRM” assumption discrepancy over on the DRM-free lists: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_DRM-free_games

Basically, there’s not a lot PCGW can do in this regard than what we already do.

P.S.: That Reddit thread is inaccurate and only concerns games that uses the Steamworks API but does not use Steam DRM to protect the game. Such games don’t have a dependency on the Steamworks API client — they only have a dependency on knowing the Steam App ID which the embedded Steamworks API should engage in. These are supported and tracked on PCGW as ”DRM-free*” (star/wildcard) due to the manual methods involved. For games actually protected by Steam DRM, the method will have no effect at all.

My proposition is perhaps adding for example a new tab on the left side near the drm tab inside the pcgw page of the game showing in what pc store the game is published in and on the right is what type of drm use for example "requires always online connection", "limited use on installing only 5 different pc in a day" etc., this would make way more intuitive experience because beside this issue everyhting else is great surrounding this website.

[Mastan 16]

On 11/20/2025 at 11:43 PM, jacob2232 said:

My proposition is perhaps adding for example a new tab on the left side near the drm tab inside the pcgw page of the game showing in what pc store the game is published in and on the right is what type of drm use for example "requires always online connection", "limited use on installing only 5 different pc in a day" etc., this would make way more intuitive experience because beside this issue everyhting else is great surrounding this website.

All that info is already provided via icons and text, any specifics are mentioned in notes.

Examples:
Activation limit: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Mirror's_Edge
Constant Internet connection: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Battlefield_2042

Description of all DRM types: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Digital_rights_management_(DRM)

 

Custom Executable Generation seems to be obsolete btw:

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Digital_rights_management_(DRM)#Custom_Executable_Generation

[jacob2232 0]

1 hour ago, Mastan said:

All that info is already provided via icons and text, any specifics are mentioned in notes.

Examples:
Activation limit: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Mirror's_Edge
Constant Internet connection: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Battlefield_2042

Description of all DRM types: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Digital_rights_management_(DRM)

 

Custom Executable Generation seems to be obsolete btw:

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Digital_rights_management_(DRM)#Custom_Executable_Generation

My overall point of this thread was to make a clear disctinction between pc store and a drm, because there is a clear difference between the two. Even a lot of people here on this website has pointed out that issue the website has when it comes to pc store mistaken as drm.