Had to google “pinoneered”, but it say: “developed or be the first to use or apply” and i do not think valve did either.
They have an easy way for developers to implemet drm by require steam services tho.
But in my opinion it is better there are few well understood methods instead of a million uniqe ones. Incase there is a world this have to be reverse engeneered.
I used pioneered because it has the context of one of many.
A pioneer is the name you give to people who go out and explore new things.
Apple was a pioneer in home computers. That doesn’t mean they invented the first home computer. It means they were one of the first.
Edit: since you disagree, name a single player game from before 2004 with online DRM. When HL2 came out, you could not play it without it checking online each time ( they later relaxed the always online DRM). It wasn’t registration where you enter a key once and you were fine forever.