Gabe Newell on DRM @ DevelopOnline.Net

magerette

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On the always controversial topic of DRM, developer site Develop Online posts a short excerpt of Valve co-founder Gabe Newell's speech at the GDC about the ongoing issue of copy protection in games. Newell, whose company also owns the digital distribution site Steam, states DRM can be a negative that diminishes the value of games:
Speaking last night at the Game Developers Choice awards – where he picked up the Pioneer Award – Newell cited what he saw as a central problem with DRM.

“One thing that you hear us talk a lot about is entertainment as a service,” he said.“...It informs all the decisions we make, and once you get into that mindset it helps you avoid things like some of the Digital Rights Management problems that actually make your entertainment products worth less by wrapping those negatives around them.”

Newell’s comments were greeted with cheers from the packed crowd looking on at the Moscone Convention Center – cheers that, tellingly, resonated from the developers and industry luminaries in the room.
The article goes on to talk about some of the problems Ubisoft is facing following it's new stricter DRM policies:
Newell’s criticism of DRM comes in the wake of a new row regarding Ubisoft’s “always-on” DRM technologies.
For the PC edition of Assassin’s Creed 2, customers need to play with a stable and constant net connection – which sends continuous data to Ubisoft verifying that the game is genuine.
Criticisms have centred mainly on how Ubisoft is basing tough security measures on temperamental net connections. Spotty net connections on the user’s end – or even just a router that needs a quick off/on – will prevent players’ access to the game.
More information.
 
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As people now know about Ubisofts DRM in particular. Its not only on your side the problem is... but also on the providers side, UBIs in this case.

For the second sunday in a row Ubis server, in regards to Silent Hunter 5, is down and it makes the game unplayable.

I do not know if AC 2 have had the same problem this weekend.

(Yeah, i can as well get out of the closet. I like sub sims to... :) )

(The DRM servers seems to be have been down between 1930 and 2130 CET)
 
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If anything was specifically designed to drive people to pirate sites, then this stupidity is it!!
 
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As someone else put it: this is a scheme that scares away people who are willing to pay $50 or $60 for a new game in order to go after people who probably aren't.

All else being equal, I'd have expected to see ACII near the top of most PC gaming charts at least through March. It's currently popped up to 4th on Steam, which is not terrible, but I can't help but think it would be out-selling Bad Company 2 and Chaos Rising if not for the DRM. It's being outsold by the Batman: AA and Just Cause bundle that's currently on sale for $22 as well.

I'm willing to pay for games, and pay full price to get certain games on release day. I'm not willing to pay even $30 for a game that I can't be confident of being able to play when I want to.

I don't mind needing to be online for something like WoW, because it genuinely needs the connection for the game to work, and crucially, it's something you pay for on an ongoing basis. If the service isn't good enough, you can stop paying for it. Ubi want all your money up-front for a service they can't guarantee will be available.

I am an ex-WoW player and a Steam fanboi - the kind of person who doesn't object to digital distribution and needing an internet connection to play a game, but even I won't go anywhere near this kind of DRM.

I just can't imagine how this is boosting sales. Pirates won't start buying games in droves because of this - they'll just pirate other games. Stopping pirates doesn't directly translate to more sales, but treating your paying customers with this kind of disdain directly translates into lost sales.

So I can't see this catching on. I'm hoping that after another month or two, they'll patch the DRM out of ACII and reduce the price so I can play it.
 
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I just can't imagine how this is boosting sales. Pirates won't start buying games in droves because of this - they'll just pirate other games.

Its been argued before that pirates will pirate regardless. Once a pirate always a pirate or get thrown to davie jones' locker.
 
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The only thing I want to hear from Gabe Newell is a release date for Half-Life 2: Episode 3.
You might find some info in his mailbox, I've heared his password is gaben :p
 
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I decided to do a check and found out Assassins Creed II has already been cracked so this DRM only hurts paying customers. I'm glad Ubisoft doesn't publish any games I care about or I would be mad about this kind of DRM.
 
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Yup. All future Ubisoft games are on the Don't-Buy list regardless of the title (and I like HoMM). I've got many many other ways to entertain myself rather than indulge the unctuous farts of a paranoid publisher.

EA games I look at title by title to see what junk they've attached. So far, nothing I'm interested in.
 
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This online check might very well work in towns.

In rural areas, it doesn't.

Someone at Ubisoft believes that only townspeople play games.

By the way, I recent read a rather serious article about the availability of broadband (especially in rural areas) here in Germany; it listed Germany beyond the top 10 or even below. In the chart, Germany wasn't even listed.
 
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I just can't imagine how this is boosting sales. Pirates won't start buying games in droves because of this - they'll just pirate other games.
Games sell most in first few weeks on the market, so Ubi is trying to stop warez groups from making a crack as long as possible. I'm sure they know all their games will eventually get cracked..

Btw, Ass Creed 2 isn't cracked yet, you can play pirated version, but you can't finish it.
 
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And in their eagerness to stop pirate from playing it, they made sure no one else either could play the game during the first weeks! :)

Hm another novel idea for Ubisoft to consider. If the game is pirated during the first weeks after the release, why not NOT release the game during these weeks. In that case nobody will play it and they can start their cash flow once that hype diminish and the pirates moves on.

And in regards with Silent Hunter 5 the workaround to play the game is pretty easy. You can play the game. Ubisoft says that you can't because you have to do some stuff outside the game, during gametime, to be able to do it. I am not sure if AC2 share those similarities since they share the copy protection scheme.

I do not know who wins in this DRM affair. But surely is that Ubisoft have lost alot of customers, and the pirates who never bought the game in the first place, will not buy it now. They loose on the customer base they have in the future.

I think however that Ubisoft will realize this pretty quickly and stop making pc games altogether. However. Its rather cheap today to have a modded XBOX standing by outside of the grid playing games so that way may be blocked rather quickley.

The only way to do games is like stardock does. How big is the BUYING customer base and make games for that segment. The pirates will never buy and a pirated game is not a lost sale. In some cases, sure, but in most cases people that copy games do it in magnitudes and they have alots of games to play. As it is so easy to copy, you start to collect and brag. Not collect to play. Perhaps i am wrong… but… :)

Oh… well. Me i am stupid enough to buy everygame i play. I like the no hassle plan and having them online to buy with fast internet connection… there is no excusre. If now only publishers realizes that the digitial world is without bounderies and one way to make sure a lost sale doesn't occur, is to realize it world wide at the same time… but thats wishful thinking.

Oboy. now my head hurts. Thinking to much.
 
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Hm another novel idea for Ubisoft to consider. If the game is pirated during the first weeks after the release, why not NOT release the game during these weeks. In that case nobody will play it and they can start their cash flow once that hype diminish and the pirates moves on.

Are you suggesting space-time manipulation? :biggrin:
 
Well, they could have avoided the AC1-style leak by releasing the game digitally first, as soon as it's ready. The boxed version comes out once it's been printed and shipped.

ACII has not been cracked yet. The game performs many of its functions server-side like an MMO. Pirates will have to intercept a lotof packets and do a lot of busy-work to make a functioning crack.

I just read a review of ACII that gave it a 5 because the combination of instability and the Online Services platform made the game more or less unplayable. If it crashes while you're synching saves, you lose progress. If your internet goes down for a second, you lose progress.

No thanks.
 
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Most of the money games earn comes from people who buy boxed games at the opening night. So I don't think releasing the game digitally first is an option.
 
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Step 1 : Buy the game
Step 2 : Download a crack
Step 3 : Go to official forums and thank Ubisoft for their fantastic game
Step 4: Go to any torrent site and thank Skid-Row or whoever crack it and comment that "they rock"
Step 5: Enjoy the game
 
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Step 1 : Buy the game
Step 2 : Don't know how to crack it
Step 3 : No need to crack it anyway
Step 4 : Go to Radon Labs and thank them for the fine game
Step 5 : Go to the official forums and tell everyone that "they rock"

;)
 
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I bought Silent Hunter 5 - because I'm into the genre.

But I actually feel stupid for supporting this crap - and I should have been able to do without this game.

The thing is, though, that the developers are kinda powerless in terms of this Ubisoft crap - and they're ultimately the ones most hurt by our lack of support.

The subsim genre isn't exactly "flooding" the market ;)
 
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