Square Enix Says DRM Is Here To Stay
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
Someone should tell GoG and CD Projekt Red then. I bet they feel silly for having so much success selling DRM-free games.
Actually, it wasn't the most heavily pirated game the year it came out. CD Project Red thought it was pirated 4.5 million times, but the most pirated game of 2011, the year Witcher 2 came out, was Crysis 2 at 3.9 million [http://kotaku.com/5872253/the-most-pirated-pc-xbox-360-and-wii-games-of-2011]. Witcher 2 didn't even make it into the top 5.
WarpedLord said:
Actually, it wasn't the most heavily pirated game the year it came out. CD Project Red thought it was pirated 4.5 million times, but the most pirated game of 2011, the year Witcher 2 came out, was Crysis 2 at 3.9 million [http://kotaku.com/5872253/the-most-pirated-pc-xbox-360-and-wii-games-of-2011]. Witcher 2 didn't even make it into the top 5.
Has DRM ever - EVER - prevented a game from being pirated?
In fact, aren't the most pirated games of all time those WITH DRM?
What does DRM truly accomplish, besides wasting developer resources, getting in the way of legitimate customers, and making fans angry?
In fact, aren't the most pirated games of all time those WITH DRM?
What does DRM truly accomplish, besides wasting developer resources, getting in the way of legitimate customers, and making fans angry?
Or on their asses, where they're more likely to see it.Ed130 The Vanguard said:
Apparently, they think you're hacking, sharing your account and giving away your CC info.josemlopes said:
A major difference is when a lock company goes out of business, I don't lose access to my house. And I don't go to jail for legally trying to access my house by calling a perfectly legal service like a locksmith if I get locked out for another reason. Hell, I've had the police help me get into my car when I accidentally locked my keys inside. Will they help me jailbreak my game should the company providing the DRM go under?BigTuk said:
Seems unlikely.
I seriously would like to see more research into the impact of DRM. The same companies that tout it necessary to stop pirates seem to be the ones who then blame low sales of games on piracy.iseko said:
I don't see how a DRM-free game being heavily pirated proves that the people who claim to pirate software because of DRM are lying.WarpedLord said:
It's far more plausible that the people who claim to pirate because of DRM are a very small ideologically motivated activist community, that is dwarfed both the customer base and the pirate base.
For every anti-DRM pirate, there is probably a hundred who justify piracy by opposing IP laws themselves, or by believing that it's only bad when it's done to products that they could have otherwise afforded, or that there is no need to justify it.
a pirated copy of a game should never be considered a potential sale lost, some people simply wouldnt have bought you game regardlessWarpedLord said:
if you offered someone a lamborgini for free, they would likely accept it, that doesnt mean they would have OR could have bought the car otherwise
people pirate for different reasons, some dont know any better, some dont have the money to buy games, and some simply want their shit for free, you cant cnvert those people
plus according to a little experiment done by the football manager devs
http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/11/14/football-manager-2013-pirated-by-over-10-million-people-claims-sports-interactive/
pirated copies accounted for around 176000, for a game that has sold around 1 million copies is not that bad, specially comparedto stuff like used games in the console market
i think as a game developer you will always lose soe sales, you just have to deal with it
I do think this is true in at least some cases. Some people just want free shit.WarpedLord said:
DRM annoys me because I've yet to come across a solution that doesn't put a barrier between me and the game (even Steam, which prevented me from playing Shogun 2 for a long time by forcing me to download an additional 20GB after trying to install from disc). Still, the thing is it at least kind of works. Multiplayer typically doesn't work in cracked games because the service is usually tied to the DRM. And while it would be disingenuous to argue that the DRM is the reason why, the fact remains that Diablo 3, a game with online DRM that proved near-impossible to crack wound up selling many millions more than its contemporaries. I bet a lot of publishers look at it as proof of the DRM working, rather than Diablo being popular, and they may, at least, partially be right.
I'd rather we were without DRM but I can kinda see why publishers are reluctant. Hopefully GOG continues to be successful, especially with its AAA games, to show that DRM really isn't needed.
You know, I'm not actually going to grill Squeenix for this, if only because they were honest about the issue (for once, a AAA publisher isn't spouting total bullshit) and that they recognize that they don't exist in some vacuum where consumers are just bleating goats saddlebagged with money.
I'm not uncaring; ideally we would live in a world where software piracy didn't exist, and they could sell games entirely on their merits.
But we don't and at least on that level, I can respect its inclusion, though I obtain no benefit from it as a consumer (save possibly as security for future game development).
I just hope they realize that there are some lines that shouldn't be crossed.
Always Online for example, may seem like the gold standard future to aim for in the eyes of some producers, but ultimately it's just a fool's dream; one can only demand so many concessions in practical convenience from their customers before it implodes violently (*glares at SimCity 13'*)
By that, I mean that the market will NEVER be "ready" for Always Online; just as the world will never be "ready" for mandatory biological killswitches.
I'm not uncaring; ideally we would live in a world where software piracy didn't exist, and they could sell games entirely on their merits.
But we don't and at least on that level, I can respect its inclusion, though I obtain no benefit from it as a consumer (save possibly as security for future game development).
I just hope they realize that there are some lines that shouldn't be crossed.
Always Online for example, may seem like the gold standard future to aim for in the eyes of some producers, but ultimately it's just a fool's dream; one can only demand so many concessions in practical convenience from their customers before it implodes violently (*glares at SimCity 13'*)
By that, I mean that the market will NEVER be "ready" for Always Online; just as the world will never be "ready" for mandatory biological killswitches.
Really, I always thought the better way to deal with piracy was to do what Earthbound or Spyro did. Make the game accessible to everyone, but if it detected you playing a pirated copy, introduce bugs upon bugs to the game. And even if the fixed those bugs, new bugs took its place. Since piracy is all about shortening time and money, most people will eventually just buy the game.
However, I should acknowldge that at least the person being interviewed knows how ineffective DRM is and seems to be willing to find a better solution. A far much better person is one who will listen than one who will close his eyes and scream at dissent.
However, I should acknowldge that at least the person being interviewed knows how ineffective DRM is and seems to be willing to find a better solution. A far much better person is one who will listen than one who will close his eyes and scream at dissent.
Feh. I guess at least he paid lip service to the idea that DRM shouldn't come between the player and the game. I'm not ideologically opposed to DRM (my Steam library attests to that), I just don't want it to get in my way.
Partially because SecuROM. It's pretty bad.Mr.Tea said:
But also partially because they had unrealistic expectations and blamed the audiences that bought millions of their games for the failures of the company that can be laid at the Japan side of things, effectively throwing everything good they had going under the bus in a futile attempt to trick themselves into believing that "all the bravest" was good for the company
Well, the all of the sudden is because Squeenix opened their mouths about it in the first place. Also, those are some nice ports, Squeenix has a terrible track record of late when it comes to so very many things. As someone already mentioned, All the Bravest as well as charging $15 for arguably poor ports of old Squeenix games, its difficult to see a silver lining in said company suddenly saying DRM is here to stay, deal with it. Yes, Steam is great and non-intrusive but, as is the case with Ubisoft of late, this just means Squeenix can add its unnecessary layer of DRM on top of Steam. Having had Final Fantasy VII gifted to me on Steam, I can already tell you Squeenix is testing the waters with that. So, the shit piling continuesMr.Tea said:
"It's got a red tip, come on! Someone has had to have seen my dongle!" Confuse your neighbors, making your computing friends laugh.Sleekit said: