[skocznymroczny]

Well, Steam also started by strongarming players into it if you want to play Half Life 2. Also Steam is still strongarming players by Steamworks integration. Half of AAA games use Steamworks, and if you don't want to use Steam, you can't play the game, even if you buy a boxed copy.

[govg]

Asking genuinely, what are these AAA games that require Steamworks? None of the big publishers require use of Steam (EA / Ubisoft / Activision), most of them have their own launchers that get launched anyway when you open their games via Steam.