World of Goo Dev Bashes DRM

[Doug]

Mr.Carmel is absolutely right. DRM didn't stop Spore from being the most pirated game ever.

DRM also didn't stop 80% percent of Carmel's user base pirating the game either.

Erm...wha-? You do realise World of Goo does NOT HAVE ANY DRM, right?

 

[YuheJi]

I think that World of Goo only gets pirated so much because of its small size (how big is it? Under 100 Mb?). I think if devs released bigger games without DRM, the piracy rate wouldn't be quite that high.

 

[oliveira8]

I think that World of Goo only gets pirated so much because of its small size (how big is it? Under 100 Mb?). I think if devs released bigger games without DRM, the piracy rate wouldn't be quite that high.

Oh it would. Dont underestimate Pirates.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Erm...wha-? You do realise World of Goo does NOT HAVE ANY DRM, right?

The humor is lost on you.

 

[Bluntknife]

I wanted world of goo for a long time, downloaded the demo and had alot of fun with it, I just wasn't willing to pay 20 bucks for the game.
But, I didn't pirate it. I refuse to pirate indy games, so I waited and eventualy forgot about it.
Then a steam sale come up and I bought it for 5 bucks!
Now I'm happy I got a realy fun game and didn't cheat anyone out of money.
We all win.

 

[ratix2]

I think that World of Goo only gets pirated so much because of its small size (how big is it? Under 100 Mb?). I think if devs released bigger games without DRM, the piracy rate wouldn't be quite that high.

wrong as hell. world of goo got pirated so much becasue of its insanly high price. comparable games usually run around $5-10 whereas world of goo cost $15-20. one of the biggest "legitmate" reasons pirates give is the game costs too much, and while world of goo is a damn good game its not worth $20.

 

[Internet Kraken]

As much as I hate DRM, I hate pirates more because they're the reason we have this garbage.

 

[DJPirtu]

I think that World of Goo only gets pirated so much because of its small size (how big is it? Under 100 Mb?). I think if devs released bigger games without DRM, the piracy rate wouldn't be quite that high.

wrong as hell. world of goo got pirated so much becasue of its insanly high price. comparable games usually run around $5-10 whereas world of goo cost $15-20. one of the biggest "legitmate" reasons pirates give is the game costs too much, and while world of goo is a damn good game its not worth $20.

Well, maybe not to you. I actually ended up buying the game twice. (Even tough the second time was on Steam sale.)
I think saying things like "Something ain't worth X amount of money" is pretty much a presonal preference. I'm usualy exited to get my hands on any good game for the price of 20$ or less.

 

[bkd69]

Right, but if he's going to brag about DRM not being necessary he needs to light all the money on fire from those sales, particularly the Virtual Console where the game was the most popular, because you can only get their game by paying on the Wii.

Apparently not, according to the Pirate Bay. In fact, the Wiiware version led the PC version on the torrent sites by about a week ( http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_189/5768-Rob-from-the-Rich-Steal-from-the-Poor.5 ).

As much as I hate DRM, I hate pirates more because they're the reason we have this garbage.

No, they're not.

Nobody in the games industry believes that DRM stops illegal copying and distribution of games.

The first reason we have DRM is cost. The $50k-$250k to license SecuROM or Starforce is negligible in the lines of a multimillion dollar development budget, and Macrovision and Starforce offer even lower rates to indie developers with smaller expected market sizes.

The second reason is that there's no easy way to evaluate the conversion rate from an illegal copy to an honest purchase (in one instance, as low as 0.1%: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_189/5768-Rob-from-the-Rich-Steal-from-the-Poor ), so there's no way for a publisher to evaluate how much of a return they're getting on their outlay for the DRM licensing costs.

So for a trivial sum, the publishers are buying some snake oil that's promising to make them some additional sales, but along the way, they're losing sight of the fact that the only people affected by said snake oil are the (100-x)% who've paid good honest coin for a copy of their game. Some call it greed, but I think short sightedness is a more apt description.

 

[JakubK666]

So for a trivial sum, the publishers are buying some snake oil that's promising to make them some additional sales, but along the way, they're losing sight of the fact that the only people affected by said snake oil are the (100-x)% who've paid good honest coin for a copy of their game. Some call it greed, but I think short sightedness is a more apt description.

What about used game sales? Honestly, I think that's the only reason nowadays for publishers to include it. Given how DRM ties the game to a single owner, wouldn't locking out this entire market bring you some massive profit?

 

[Pumpkin_Eater]

Valve has realized what most other companies still refuse to admit: they need to compete with bit torrent to turn a profit. Torrents are easy to use, cracks are everywhere, and you can keep the ISOs on an external hard drive. If you buy a game in store you have to keep track of discs and a key with limited activations. It's a massive inconvenience, especially if they're stingy about how many activations each key gets. Steam on the other hand provides both a good distribution system and some protection against piracy without forcing any hassle on your customers. My games are permanently tied to my account so I can download and install as many times as I want to, it tells me when my friends are online, and the games are more affordable than going out to Best Buy and getting Generic Shooter 4 or RPG Quest 13: The Quest For More Money; especially if you look at the classic or indy games they have to offer.

In short, copy protection in all its forms is not what the game industry should be focusing on. It's distribution and marketing.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Right, but if he's going to brag about DRM not being necessary he needs to light all the money on fire from those sales, particularly the Virtual Console where the game was the most popular, because you can only get their game by paying on the Wii.

Apparently not, according to the Pirate Bay. In fact, the Wiiware version led the PC version on the torrent sites by about a week ( http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_189/5768-Rob-from-the-Rich-Steal-from-the-Poor.5 ).

Still not quite the same thing even by Carmel's own argument. You can't play the pirated version on a Wii. But yes, I stand corrected.

 

[Gollon]

Of course there's places for MGS4 and GTA4, but often there's mediocre games dressed up in expensive makeup, but pay for it, and when you wake up the morning after you'll realise what you have.

I'm speechless.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Of course there's places for MGS4 and GTA4, but often there's mediocre games dressed up in expensive makeup, but pay for it, and when you wake up the morning after you'll realise what you have.

I'm speechless.

In a good way?

 

[rohit9891]

He is definitely right about this.There is no need for DRM.Whether it's there or not someone will eventually crack it...
Besides I think that keeping DRM with games will only help increase piracy bcoz it's a hard hit on the game's quality with all the stupid rules.