Blizzard calls DRM a "losing battle"

[Jos]

Digital rights management technologies have been a contentious topic for some time now. Although nearly abolished in the music world -- at least in any form that significantly affects paying customers -- when it comes to video games many publishers still favor bundling heavy-handed solutions with titles to fight piracy. Among those is Namco, which recently called Ubisoft's controversial always-on DRM scheme a good strategy "at the moment," for lack of a better alternative.

Thankfully, others seem to have more forward-thinking views on how to confront this issue. Speaking to VideoGamer.com, Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce called DRM a losing battle and said they'd rather have development teams focused on content and cool features. According to Pearce the best approach is to make sure they've got a full-featured platform that people want to play on, where their friends are and where the community is.

You could say this is the same strategy that Valve has followed for a while quite successfully with Steam. Blizzard hopes its Battle.net service will be attractive enough to convince would-be pirates to buy the game, and there have been rumors that the company is mulling the possibility of licensing the overhauled platform to third parties. As far as StarCraft II is concerned, due out on July 27, the game will require a single online activation after which players will be allowed to play the single-player game, without being forced to have a persistent Internet connection.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/39100-blizzard-calls-drm-a-losing-battle.html

 

[Lurker101]

Or they could try focusing on quality. A big contributor to the number of people converting to piracy is due to the fact that we're sick of buying ****, half-finished, buggy, uninteresting, unoriginal games.

Most gamers are quite happy to pay for quality games, when they start to exist again.

 

[thatguyandrew92]

Lurker101 said:
Or they could try focusing on quality. A big contributor to the number of people converting to piracy is due to the fact that we're sick of buying ****, half-finished, buggy, uninteresting, unoriginal games.

Most gamers are quite happy to pay for quality games, when they start to exist again.

My god that is so truthful! Frontlines, Prototype and MW2 have burned my soul away.

 

[TorturedChaos]

Well Im glad to see at least one company has the right idea . Knew I liked Blizzard for a reason .

 

[Guest]

piracy is rampant and I have pirated many games in my lifetime. I have bought some games though.
I like the idea of selling digital content on a pay by curve.
Kind of like the sale on world of goo where you can pay what you want.
i think it should be taken a step further, as a test, use the pay what you want scheme.
Along with that have the price average out on a curve of what the first 1000 or so people paid.
Like when teachers grade on a curve based on how the class performed as a whole.

Or perhaps sell us full version games by the hour, maybe 5 or 6 bucks an hour. that way development time is not taken up with demos and drm. Everyone gets to try the full version game, without braking the bank.

Of course what we have to realize is that a consumer is stuck with the product as soon as its opened. So in essence if a game doesnt have a demo ( most don't) everyone has to end up trusting reviews or word of mouth.

All in all, I think in a few years as broadband reaches rural mountain communties and improves in speed reliability and capacity, services like Onlive will replace drm and we will never have to buy anything again. we will simply pay a couple bucks a month to play any new game that comes out across the internet.

basically I think technology, not the kind that hinders us, will move us away from drm and the word pirate meaning digital thief.

 

[tengeta]

...another lie. Just because you don't use the DRM everyone else uses, doesn't make it not DRM. Seems like everyone falls for it as usual though, so I'll call it "successful".

 

[red1776]

Or they could try focusing on quality. A big contributor to the number of people converting to piracy is due to the fact that we're sick of buying ****, half-finished, buggy, uninteresting, unoriginal games.

Most gamers are quite happy to pay for quality games, when they start to exist again.

Could you point to a scientific study that demonstrates that? Thats a load of BS. Lets see, " its a buggy, half written piece of ****,.....but I will steal it and play it!" when a game is released, you have ample opportunity to see reviews at about 50 places on the net or in magazines or by word of mouth. Like anything else, if the product is so abhorrently bad, you have the opportunity to not purchase it.
what you did accurately state is the rational thieves use to justify theft. you can debate how DRM is administered, however helping yourself to others labor and creativity (even its a lack of) is theft.

 

[captaincranky]

Could you point to a scientific study that demonstrates that? Thats a load of BS. Lets see, " its a buggy, half written piece of ****,.....but I will steal it and play it!" when a game is released, you have ample opportunity to see reviews at about 50 places on the net or in magazines or by word of mouth. Like anything else, if the product is so abhorrently bad, you have the opportunity to not purchase it.
what you did accurately state is the rational thieves use to justify theft. you can debate how DRM is administered, however helping yourself to others labor and creativity (even its a lack of) is theft.

In case you were wondering, when I take time off from here, I like to spend time lifting horse's tails, and explaining intellectual property rights to the horse's a**h***. It's more fruitful and less frustrating than trying to do the same thing here at Techspot.

 

[TomSEA]

Easy for Blizzard to put this foot forward. If you want to play with friends, you gotta go the Battle.net route or it won't happen. Unlike stand-alone games like Crysis, Spore, etc. which experienced literally millions of illegal downloads within days of their release.

 

[red1776]

A tail of morality.......

In case you were wondering, when I take time off from here, I like to spend time lifting horse's tails, and explaining intellectual property rights to the horse's a**h***. It's more fruitful and less frustrating than trying to do the same thing here at Techspot.

:haha::haha::wave:
...I just got back up on my desk chair after falling off it after doubling over in guffaw over the mental cartoon bubble. it involved you on a rickety lawn chair staked out in an open field on the south end of 'Ole paint' and a small cooler of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

 

[9Nails]

I buy all my games, but before I play any of them I first find the No-CD crack. I just can't stand being treated as the pirate for buying the game!

Now it's to the point where I flip the box over and look for the "DRM Free" label like on "Civilization 4". And I'm starting to prefer Steam for distribution since their games just work.

 

[thatguyandrew92]

Guest said:
All in all, I think in a few years as broadband reaches rural mountain communties and improves in speed reliability and capacity, services like Onlive will replace drm and we will never have to buy anything again. we will simply pay a couple bucks a month to play any new game that comes out across the internet.

Actually you have to pay OnLive's monthly fee, then you must pay for the game.

 

[Guest]

So Blizzard says DRM is a losing battle to try and make you think they don't care about piracy yet they removed lan from Starcraft 2 because they know having lan support opens the door for tons of piracy. It is easy for a company that makes mostly multiplayer games to not care about DRM since most of the value in the game is going to be playing other players online.

 

[Guest]

Very true indeed!

AND maybe there should be, in all games, a possibility of buying the game after downloading it from say a torrent. You download it, install it, test it, and like it. Now from this point on it has to be very easy to complete the deal. Who wants to go buy the game and reinstall it? A Link in the game to buy it, pay with paypal or visa, and immediately receive a full cd key automatically.

I'd like this option.

mrgnome.wordpress.com

 

[PanicX]

@captaincranky: LMFAO

TomSEA said:
Easy for Blizzard to put this foot forward. If you want to play with friends, you gotta go the Battle.net route or it won't happen. Unlike stand-alone games like Crysis, Spore, etc. which experienced literally millions of illegal downloads within days of their release.

Crysis Warhead and Spore both used DRM methods that are nearly as bad as they can get. How much did this help their cause? How can you rationally justify the DRM scheme they used when it CLEARLY DID NOTHING to stop or slow copyright infringement by your own admittance? The only accomplishment there was in actually harassing their real customers... would you call that sound business strategy?

@red1776: While I agree that Lurker101 is trying to justify his own copyright infringement, I think you misinterpreted his statement. He's not intentionally downloading buggy software, or insulting good software to rationalize his downloading, but has rather been burned many times by paying over inflated prices for beta quality games and justifies his actions according too past grievances.

In my own opinion, this article is a total red herring or utterance of double think. While I agree with his statement about the effectiveness of DRM, online activation and server verification for multiplayer is indeed DRM. Albeit it a more user friendly version like steam, it still has its own drawbacks.

 

[Badfinger]

DRM and such costs $, and it's passed to the customer...
In most cases without a demo/trial copy to download and play, I won't buy a game at release.
Too many sites devoted to reviews though too, but sometimes you just need to see the interface, and they hide that in preview screen shots/trailers almost ALWAYS?!?

Diablo 3 is gonna kick *** of course, so I have long ago pre-ordered.

In the past, games have come with completely unsmooth control, hth did those get out of testing phase?
Let alone a few that were totally ruined or at least made tremendously annoying by obvious bugs not fixed before release, the expansion to Titan Quest and it's RUBBERBANDING comes to mind, they went out of business on that one, one of the best games ever, except for that.

 

[Richy2k9]

hello ...

that issue is quite hot & sensible LOL. I agree with blizzard that it's better to concentrate on the content & quality rather on the protection, anyone can say that most Blizzard games are worth the money.

now considering a DRM-free game versus a stripped down version (like LAN play) can be as bad as DRM, that protected good or bad games have been pirated, all i can see is the hypocrisy behind our comments.

if someone says i download games (& whatever else), don't come with the pretext that it's because it's too bad or too expensive for a bad product, i'll agree with that if you dump it quite soon after, therefore making everything full version demos.

but if you keep using the said product, finish the game & loved it, shame on you, you just stole it! will you buy a full version after finishing a game that has no MP or real replay value !?

to those who say that piracy doesn't hurt the business for they make a lot of money, yes it's partly right, for they do have to keep higher prices for legit owners who are also a victim.

if piracy is eradicated, as a developer i would sell for quality & quantity not for maximum rip-off.

when i was younger, i didn't know what piracy was, but never had a legit software, why!? in my part of the world it was impossible to find an original piece of software & had no Internet to order.

but now, i go on the steamy site & alike & buy most games i've finished in the past & i don't do downloads except legit ones. I listen to music online & even pay for some services. I watch TV in HD on Satellite & Buy original blu-rays.

I play on the PS3

I bought Diablo II & LOD off ebay, got the codes & went downloading them on Blizzard's site, i can say i was the happiest guy that day. No i have the wify supporting me in this total reconversion so it's all good for me.

Thank you Blizzard, but when will Diablo III be released (LOL!)

cheers!

 

[red1776]

@red1776: While I agree that Lurker101 is trying to justify his own copyright infringement, I think you misinterpreted his statement. He's not intentionally downloading buggy software, or insulting good software to rationalize his downloading, but has rather been burned many times by paying over inflated prices for beta quality games and justifies his actions according too past grievances.

@ PanicX, I think my post has been misinterpreted as well panic. I am not calling Lurker a software pirate, I have no idea what he does. I was commenting on the argument he said accounted for much of the piracy.

 

[mccartercar]

thatguyandrew92 said:

Guest said:
All in all, I think in a few years as broadband reaches rural mountain communties and improves in speed reliability and capacity, services like Onlive will replace drm and we will never have to buy anything again. we will simply pay a couple bucks a month to play any new game that comes out across the internet.

Actually you have to pay OnLive's monthly fee, then you must pay for the game.

What I meant was that We wouldn't have to deal with buying anything physical ever again, such as disposable media. plus with something like onlive there is no fast video card, fast processor, or fast memory needed. I could imagine being okay with spending the value of those items in games if it saved me half as much on discs and drives.

 

[gingerbill]

Lurker101 said:
Or they could try focusing on quality. A big contributor to the number of people converting to piracy is due to the fact that we're sick of buying ****, half-finished, buggy, uninteresting, unoriginal games.

Most gamers are quite happy to pay for quality games, when they start to exist again.

there's been plenty of good games out last few years , as many as ever . I'm also happy to pay for the great games they are a bargain for the fun you get out of them.

 

[Guest]

Like Steam?

Laggy, drops you to party list after almost every game, does maintenance at 8pm EST and is a hack fest?

Great idea!

 

[Guest]

The thing is any online activation turns your "purchase" into a rental, because every time you install it you have to go back to them and beg permision to do so. i bought 2 worlds a couple of years back, played it and liked it. i have been through 3 or 4 computer configurations since then. i went to install it the other day and it refused. i have to call an overseas number at international call costs to get my game to instal again. it is likely to cost almost as much as buying the game again if i get put into a queue. hence, my "purchase" was a rental cause i never really got anything for my money. i will never buy anything that requires activation again unless it is at a rental price. cause in reality thats all they are giving you.

 

[GeforcerFX]

how about you just release a Demo, then you get a taste of the campeign and multyplayer and you can choose from there. Like no games offer demos, sure we have beta but they require you had already bought the game, like L4D2 and BC2, thats $100 and i prob wouldn't have bought L4D2 right away since me and my friends didn't start playing it till after we got sick of MW2.

 

[stewi0001]

If you love a game or music, you are going to support it. Thus you would buy it.

 

[Guest]

Just for everyones information IP rights are not rights but laws in some countries not the whole world second the game and music industry really have nothing to complain about people who DL music and games tend to buy it if they like it the only "scientific study" that have been done on this have showed that sales of CDs actually drop when RIAA shut down napster.