Even Dan said that it can't be run without Steam.
Any one specific pirated copy may be defective or poorly cracked, but as others have pointed out; any digital content can be pirated. Even software, which employs hardware dongles with encryption keys used upon launch and used to decrypt portions of the program, can be unlocked. The question is only how much effort it will take and how much it is worth to the one breaking it.
If the software is very expensive or very popular, it will be broken open quickly. If the software is neither of those, but is has some very effective protection system, then it will be broken for the challenge of it. One way or the other, it will be broken open, unless it has the ultimate protection... that no one cares about it. We would rather not use
that method... however effective it may be ;-)
Therefore the idea is to make it moderately hard to copy,
without at the same time making it hard for legitimate users to use it, and then try to kindly ask anyone with a pirated copy to enjoy it and consider it a taste of what is to come, so they want to become a paying customer and support the further development.
It is not even a case of "if you cannot fight them, pretend to join them". It is a fact that if someone does not want to, or cannot, pay for the product, then it is no loss for us that he enjoys a pirated copy.
