I'd be playing Empire: Total War right now if it weren't for STEAM. Same thing goes for Dawn of War 2.
I own every Total War/Dawn of War game, and every expansion. But I refuse to purchase Empire: Total War/Dawn of War 2, because of STEAM. I resent being forced to install third party intrusive software that does nothing but track me like I'm some sort of sexual predator and stink up my computer. I should not be forced to log into a system on the internet to play a SINGLE PLAYER game.
I don't mind connecting to a service to play multiplayer games... whether it's a match up of SOASE, or a session of whatever MMO I happen to be playing at the moment. But I seriously resent having to communicate with them and have my start/end times logged alongside my IP address and registration information every time I choose to play the fucking game, just because some asshole somewhere is worried that they will lose $20 from a pirate who quite frankly is going to steal the game despite whatever efforts they take anyway.
Now, a one time registration? Sure, whatever. That's fine. A program I have to update through that I can turn off when I don't need it? Sure, that's fine. In other words, Impulse? Sure. It's not trying to crawl up my ass and make sure I am who I say I am every two damned seconds. STEAM? Hell no.
If anything is going to kill PC gaming, it's STEAM and their ilk; every piece of shit greedy corporate stooge that doesn't trust or appreciate their customers. I'm still not worried though, I think that once we hear the death rattle of the huge gaming conglomerates as their DRM chokes them to death for not being logged into the system, then we will have a new group of publishers who are more sane, and the indie game companies will take their place as the new breed of gaming corporations... and then 5 years later... this shit will all go down again. The gaming industry is like the fucking Cylons - this has all happened before, and will happen again.
/rant
I'm afraid you are going to be forced out a PC gaming, if you stick to those particular guns. Steam is by far less intrusive than many copy-protection methods (Look up Star Force, Securom) and offers some benefits besides. I'm a Steam user, and I'm openly biased, but I see little difference between Steam and, for example, Impulse. (GASP!) Both are digital delivery services, marketplaces, and copy protection schemes. Steam is also far and away less clumsy and more useful in the social/friends aspect than, say, Games for Windows Live, which is yet another "third-party" product you need to install, create an account for, and log into in order to play many single-player games.
And then there is Ubi Soft. You need a 100% constant internet connection to their servers in order to play singlplayer games. Their servers crash? Well, your game shuts down, not so much as an auto-save before you are kicked. From what I hear, C&C:4 uses the same scheme.
And don't worry too much. Empire: Total War has easily been the worst of the series. The AI is lacking, Forts are so terribly implemented that you are literally better off defending an open field, and the naval combat is actually not all that fun. I still go back to Rome, Medieval 2, and even Shoun, from time to time, though.
About Steam killing games, It seems to me that digital distribution is PC gaming's most thriving area. Look at the growth, since Steam opened as nothing more than a digital download service for HL 2 and Counterstrike. Look at the other's that have appeared, like Impulse, or Gamers Gate. And look at all those publishers who now casually carry digital download products in their stores. Combine this with company's like EB and Gamestop, who are phasing out boxed PC games on their shelves, and you will see few alternatives.
Tl;dr: Steam is a form of DRM. It's a less invasive a form of DRM than many, and offers it's customers incentives that their competition does not. To use a crude analogy: At least Steam is buying me dinner before hand, and paying for the cab home afterwards.
-Louist.