Stalker 2 has... Draconian DRM.

[Kiju]

"Zomg, I'm not buying this game because it has piracy counter-measures. BAAWWW!"

Please people, grow up. If you don't like this little bit of information, then I suppose it's too freaking bad for you, you'll just have to get it the legitimate way: money.

Half of the people who said they won't buy it because of their DRM probably wouldn't buy it anyway, only to download it from a piracy site later on down the road.

Me? I'm still going to buy the game. I mean c'mon, it's freaking STALKER! One of the greatest FPSRPGs in existence! How can such a little catch actually create such a big hype-crusher? They could always just not make it at all and called it a day. If you want stuff like this to stop, then get off your fat butt and try to figure out a way to stop the piracy.

TL;DR

Be happy with what you're getting: A game made with an obviously high-quality brand name, and stop complaining about little problems.

 

[Chezza]

Reading the quote from the developers I would throw a wild theory that we may be receiving a nice feature for the price of DRM. I do not have any proof to back it up but, knowing the brainstorming many of the mod, game and plain stalker communities come up with it is possible GSC are pursuing an ever updating game.

For example, MMO elements without being one. Perhaps new quests and events are added or altered, maybe you will have the option to join another players game/world (limited players though). Developers aren't stupid enough to throw DRM without being confident it will sell damn well regardless of the hateful move. And before anyone throws the mass piracy in Russia argument just know the game sells more all over the world than Russia itself.

Other minor thoughts to back up my mini MMO theory, it is possible the offer (sometime ago) for the public to create their own missions and submit it to the developers for a chance to be used in the game is to reach their massive mission/quest demand for the ever living, updated mini MMO game??

Think about it

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

You know, the most pirated pc game of all time was Call of Duty: Black Ops at around 4.27 million downloads. Many publishers would love sell that many copies. But STALKER is a bit of a niche game and would never have that many people download it. I don't see why that would think that they would need such an invasive DRM. You don't see Activision use DRM like this. Never thought I would put Activision in a positive light.

 

[sheogoraththemad]

Oh dear, yet another company tries to save their game from pirating. HOW DARE THEY WANT TO EARN MONEY?

I can't really see how screwing over their loyal customers and fans is a good business strategy either, don't get me wrong Developers need to eat too but when I buy a game I want play it anywhere and any time even when the internet is down or something like that. it seems a little unfair when I buy a full priced game and most of the content is on the net.
And I'm not sure but it sounds like this is going to make modding harder too and that a shame.

 

[GideonB]

Me? I'm still going to buy the game. I mean c'mon, it's freaking STALKER! One of the greatest FPSRPGs in existence! How can such a little catch actually create such a big hype-crusher? They could always just not make it at all and called it a day. If you want stuff like this to stop, then get off your fat butt and try to figure out a way to stop the piracy.

My internet is spotty at best, and I don't want to lose progress in a single-player game just because I can't connect to a bloody server

I do buy games legitimately and I'm ok with the always-on DRM if it's willing to go halfway and just do that check-back bs every 2 - 3 days or so instead of requiring your constant connection to a server.
STALKER isn't an MMO. I don't want this always-on crap unless its an MMO or requires online connection THAT badly.

 

[Vern]

Yeah, I have to jump on the bullshit bandwagon. I've bought all three STALKER games retail, and loved them. They were flawed, and at times almost unplayable. But they were great, atmospheric games, some of the best games I've played in the last decade. But really, always on DRM is a losing argument. It will be broken, and quickly. I can't see how it can even be defended. You pay for a physical copy of a game, but the game isn't on the disc, you have to download it while you play it. When I buy a game, I expect to buy all the code required to run that game without relying on an internet connection to play that game.

I'll admit I've bought games off of STEAM, and there's no guarantee of a continuous content provider, but Valve is pretty stable and I'm sure they've made, and continue to make shit-tons of cash from Steam. I don't really think Valve will go belly up soon, and most of the games I've bought were on sale so I'm not out much. Plus they have the backups and offline mode. However, relying on GSC Game World to provide continuous always on internet support for people playing STALKER 2 allowing them to even play the damn game is hard to believe at best. STALKER is a niche market, it's a PC based, CPU intensive, harsh fucking game to play. The games are the harshest games I've ever played. The engine is unoptimized and buggy to say the least, the engine can look beautiful, but can completely destroy a computer that should be able to play it on top specs. But once you get the balance right, they're beautiful, unforgiving games. But it takes time and patience to get them to play right, that's why I wouldn't in my wildest dreams rely on a constant internet connection to download the game while I play. The STALKER series is great, but it's not popular or stable enough to ensure that the servers would be around tomorrow.

I think they're making a bad move here. One of the things that really set the STALKER series apart was that it wouldn't work on consoles. I think the Ukrainian developers had something to do with that. It was hard, depressing, and seemed impossible. And that applies to both the gameplay, and getting it to work. But it was satisfying when it did. DRM is wrong for this game. It's in a market where the people who love the series will, and have bought every installment. The pirates will pirate, that's what they do. It's in the niche where it's not a high demand game in pirate terms, it's not a huge franchise, hence not the most desirable to pirate, although it will happen. Most of the people who've played Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat and have put up with all the hassle and have been rewarded will buy it. But in steering this course they'll probably lose more sales by adding in intrusive, and almost impossible to maintain DRM.

 

[WarpZone]

Reading the quote from the developers I would throw a wild theory that we may be receiving a nice feature for the price of DRM. I do not have any proof to back it up but, knowing the brainstorming many of the mod, game and plain stalker communities come up with it is possible GSC are pursuing an ever updating game.

For example, MMO elements without being one. Perhaps new quests and events are added or altered, maybe you will have the option to join another players game/world (limited players though). Developers aren't stupid enough to throw DRM without being confident it will sell damn well regardless of the hateful move. And before anyone throws the mass piracy in Russia argument just know the game sells more all over the world than Russia itself.

Other minor thoughts to back up my mini MMO theory, it is possible the offer (sometime ago) for the public to create their own missions and submit it to the developers for a chance to be used in the game is to reach their massive mission/quest demand for the ever living, updated mini MMO game??

Think about it

Interesting theory. You're certainly an optimist. "MMO Elements" as you call them are just content drops. You can do that with DLC (which actually is the preferred business way to do it since everyone pays again for content that should have been in the origial game in the first place.) Massively Single-Player could theoretically justify the server/content paradigm, but I think if there was anything like that in the game, they'd be shouting it from the rooftops as a selling point, not keeping it a secret.

I guess time will tell, but I seriously doubt anything like that will be in the game. Even if it is, I would rather have a single player game that's just actually good and I can just play the goddamned thing offline, on my own terms, without logging in.

Now everyone who was gonna buy Stalker 2, go buy an extra copy of Witcher 2. That'll show 'em.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

I completely disagree with this post, in every way.

The DRM of this game - in fact, almost all DRM - is ridiculous, in my opinion. Sure, it might not seem like a big deal to you, but that doesn't mean it's not a big deal to other people. Just because the developers didn't spend much time on it has no bearing on anything whatsoever. The point is that they're adding a system in that is becoming an increasing problem to legitimate consumers, and we, as consumers, should show the company that we don't like how they're treating us. Sure, it might not be the battle that you would choose, but on't think for one second that other people haven't chosen carefully. This is one of the biggest mountains in the PC gaming industry today.

Well yeah, obviously its a big deal for some people, I kind of realised that. It usually isn't a big deal to me. Isn't the point of debate to show people your point of view in an effort to make them see things how you see them??? I don't really get what you're trying to say there. I was giving my opinion and you have challenged it so now I'll reply, thats how these things work isnt it?

I completely agree that DRM is ridiculous, it never helps against piracy, and it only serves to make the legit customers experience slightly more irritating. I am completely on board with this. However, the key word is "slightly". Any problems that may arise from the DRM? Use a crack. And its likely you won't experience any problems at all. In this case, it depends on their servers (which yes, will make the chances of problems more likely, but still, just use the damn crack if you have any.) It makes no sense to me that someone would decide not to buy an entire game because the technicalities around getting the game to play have a few pointless additions. To me, its like refusing to buy a DVD of a movie you like because the DVD Menu system on the disk is confusing to use. It's just making a big deal out of nothing.

There will always be DRM because a lot of game development studios are run by monkeys, and there will always be cracks to circumvent it. It's really as simple as that.

 

[Robert Ewing]

I've never been interested in STALKR. Perhaps it was for the best. If I had played the first, I'd want to play the second. Now I just don't want to play any of them.

 

[V8 Ninja]

On one hand I can kind-of see where GSC is coming from; they're a company that makes games that appeal to a certain type of video game player and that appeal isn't particularly large compared to almost everything else. GSC needs all the money it can get.

...But on the other hand GSC makes games that appeal to that subset of players very well. And the problem is that subset of players absolutely loathes DRM. So yes, this is a stupid move on GSC's part. Let's see of they turn this around later on.

 

[Dandark]

If you asked me just last night whether or not I would of pirated the new STALKER game then I would of instantly said "No, I love that series, my PC can hardly run it but it's so much fun. I would only buy it since it's less hassle and I feel the developers deserve it."

Now I may have to pirate the game just to run it. My labtop has been having trouble recently but before that I could run Clear Sky on pretty decent settings. If I have to download stuff as I play, with my terrible connection, then I won't be able to play what im sure will be a good game.

I may actully pirate this, it would be the first game I have ever actully pirated. I usaully wouldn't do it since I find it so damn annoying to actully do but I am really annoyed at what they have done here.
I just hope that I can buy a new copy, then download the files so I can play it offline without needing a cracked version. I would like to pay for this game, but they are making it really difficult for me.

 

[wildpeaks]

That sucks because a good game is way more likely to get them sales than waste money developing some DRM that will be cracked on the first day.

 

[xdiesp]

The dvd is actually radioactive to ensure you won't have the physical lifespan to pass it to others.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

Jesus christ some people... Is this REALLY that big of a hassle? *****, *****, *****.. It seems every day the gaming community is heraling a new reason why the gaming industry is 'dead' to them.

So you must be connected to the internet in order to play a SP game; so fucking what? If you're a PC gamer, you're connected to the internet 98% of the day, the other 2% might be the wee hours of the morning when you IP shuts down the connection for maitenence. Whats the issue?


Boycotts, project 10 dollar, DRM, etc. etc. I've been a gamer since I could hold a controller (1990) and you know what? The industry has never been BETTER, but the community has never been WORSE!

It isn't so much the fact that I need internet to play the game, it's that I also have to hope theirs doesn't fuck up too [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98927-Ubisoft-DRM-Authentication-Servers-Go-Down]. And in the off chance that the company for whatever reason goes under, hope that they release some kind of patch to go around this DRM or else you will be forced to utilize the very thing they are attempting to stop just to play the game in the future.

 

[Zaik]

I would never openly advocate possibly illegal activities or anything, but if someone wanted to make a point against this, their best move would probably be to wait 20 something hours after release, when someone's snatched the necessary files and are freely passing them around.

Seemed to me that it worked wonders on Ubisoft's attitude.

 

[ruben6f]

I guess this also means no mods since some game files are in the servers.

 

[Dandark]

You know what really urks me about this though? The vanilla games are not even that great on their own. They are really good games and I enjoy them immensely but the best part of STALKER games are when the modders release their versions. I still play Clear Sky a lot today, because of the Total Faction Warfare mod. I don't even take part in the faction wars most of the time, it's just that the mod improves the game so much in other areas as well.

 

[WarpZone]

The thing is, it was a game I was quite looking forward to and was planning on purchasing when it came out. They essentially lost a sale right there. It makes me understandably a bit frustrated with the whole situation, especially considering games that don't have DRM (EDIT: Or have a DRM-less option), like the Witcher 2, can still sell quite well (about 1 Million copies well [http://www.wbj.pl/article-55824-the-witcher-2-nearly-1-million-copies-sold.html])... -_-

This is what I'm talking about.

If the game were good, the wouldn't NEED the DRM. And they know it.

Therefore, if they put the DRM in, it's because they know the game isn't going to be any good.

 

[Chezza]

Reading the quote from the developers I would throw a wild theory that we may be receiving a nice feature for the price of DRM. I do not have any proof to back it up but, knowing the brainstorming many of the mod, game and plain stalker communities come up with it is possible GSC are pursuing an ever updating game.

For example, MMO elements without being one. Perhaps new quests and events are added or altered, maybe you will have the option to join another players game/world (limited players though). Developers aren't stupid enough to throw DRM without being confident it will sell damn well regardless of the hateful move. And before anyone throws the mass piracy in Russia argument just know the game sells more all over the world than Russia itself.

Other minor thoughts to back up my mini MMO theory, it is possible the offer (sometime ago) for the public to create their own missions and submit it to the developers for a chance to be used in the game is to reach their massive mission/quest demand for the ever living, updated mini MMO game??

Think about it

Interesting theory. You're certainly an optimist. "MMO Elements" as you call them are just content drops. You can do that with DLC (which actually is the preferred business way to do it since everyone pays again for content that should have been in the origial game in the first place.) Massively Single-Player could theoretically justify the server/content paradigm, but I think if there was anything like that in the game, they'd be shouting it from the rooftops as a selling point, not keeping it a secret.

I guess time will tell, but I seriously doubt anything like that will be in the game. Even if it is, I would rather have a single player game that's just actually good and I can just play the goddamned thing offline, on my own terms, without logging in.

Now everyone who was gonna buy Stalker 2, go buy an extra copy of Witcher 2. That'll show 'em.

You have a fair point. Though its still possible the "Massively Single-Player" (I too like your definition better) feature could exist. Due to such early stages the company does not wish to reveal anything just as of yet, however announcing DRM is questionable then. Maybe let people blow off steam first? I am a massive fan of the Stalker games so I am unsurprisingly bias and hopeful. I hate the DRM idea, especially if we do not receive any logical and additional bonus to deal with it (selfish thinker too lol) but I know ill get the game regardless.

 

[TheSmokingFox]

Oh dear, yet another company tries to save their game from pirating. HOW DARE THEY WANT TO EARN MONEY?

Oh dear, yet another company that has decided that they are going to essentially stop me and others like me from playing their game. HOW DARE I WANT TO PLAY SINGLE PLAYER WITHOUT HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT MY SPOTTY INTERNET CONNECTION?

Don't buy it. Is that so hard?

Yeah, it kinda is, especially considering how much people want this game. Not sure why you are being 'that guy' but you are.

OT: This is a real shame, but tbh it's just going to be a whole new reason not to buy it. Like prohibition, this will be incredibly counter productive. We are going to see this game sell a tiny amount of copies, and yet it will be pirated like a m*therfucker once a working crack comes up. If i may quote yahtzee "There is non middle-finger big enough."