Demigod developer says pirates must accept that they are thieves and stop rationalising their actions
Demigod developer Stardock has stated that the huge piracy rates suffered by its recent PC release Demigod will not result in the studio implementing copy protection DRM.
“If I wrote a post saying that Demigod sales were far below what we had hoped for and I said that the reason was due to piracy and that the answer was that we should have put some nasty copy protection on those DVDs to have prevented early piracy what do you think people would say?” Wardell wrote on the Sins of a Solar Empire forum.
“The reason why we don't put copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count.”
The statement comes after Demigod debuted in third spot in the US PC charts – a position that does not take into account its plentiful digital sales.
“My job, as CEO of Stardock, is not to fight worldwide piracy no matter how much it aggravates me personally,” he continued. “My job is to maximize the sales of my product and service and I do that by focusing on the people who pay my salary – our customers.”
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However, Wardell did find a moment to address the thousands who have pirated his studio’s game, touching on the (frankly, ludicrous) argument that you’ll often see in MCV comments – that if studios want to reduce piracy they should make games ‘better’ and should ‘stop ripping off’ customers.
“Demigod is heavily pirated,” Wardell explained. “And make no mistake, piracy pisses me off. If you’re playing a pirated copy right now, if you’re one of those people on Hamachi or GameRanger playing a pirated copy and have been for more than a few days, then you should either buy it or accept that you’re a thief and quit rationalizing it any other way.”
Comments
There's a better DRM
The best DRM i've seen is where the developers inserts multiple landmines in the game if the game gets cracked. I know for a fact EA did this with Mass Effect, FIFA Soccer 09 and FIFA Manager 08 and 09. If the original .exe code is broken then the game will give you all kinds of weird stuff like getting sacked as a manager after the first 2 years even if you've one a championship. And that was just one example.
IMO this is the best approach along with a relaxed DRM. I don't think Goo will be all that effective and I like Stardock but Demigod is a perfect example of giving the pirates an inch and they taking a mile.
Nothing and I mean nothing pisses off a gamer more than playing a broken game and waiting for another crack when playing a pirated copy. Mass Effect is a perfect example as it had it's share of problems when the game detected it was pirated.
Drm
Well said. Not only doesnt it mean that the pirated version has no restrictions but all the protection means that the used market for pc games has died.
Horay say the publishers but take note gamestation hardly stock pc anymore with limited selection and poor sales and that has to be partly due to the games being so expensive. Yes Pc games come out at £30 normally rather than £40 but I can't part ex games against them (well you can but most are worth 50p if anything at all). Hence Mass effect out for 360 and PC, but guess which format I bought it on, because after I had finished it there was still some value to it for me to get another game.
Example Call of Duty 4 worth £6 on PC £15 on 360 for the same game.
Old trick, but a good one
@Rodster: That was a technique used many years ago on the Atari ST, I can never remember the name of the game.
It was a 3D RPG and it would let you spend the first day doing everything you needed to do, but come nightfall, none of the inns wouls let you stay there. You were attacked so often during the night, you never made it to the next day.
I thought it was a great idea but it never seemed to take off.
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