Valve may have miffed some fans with their handling of the L4D/L4D2 release scheduling, etc, but they're still champions of the PC gamer's cause. Yes, Steam itself is DRM, but it features an offline mode. It also features a friends list, store, library, and other useful parts.

Beyond that, most PC gamers have been at least nominally aware of Valve's hidden Portal2/Ep3/Steam-for-OSX teases. That's the kind of thing that only a developer with fans can do. If they had none, no one would be caring or going out of their way to decipher content buried within another game's updates.

Ubi should be taking notes, rather than harming their own sales and alienating would-be customers.