The DRM Backlash has Begun

For the handful of people out there that read my blog here occasionally you may remember a post I did a while back about why I thought PC game sales were down.

If you didn’t, you can read it here.

In that post I complained that a game I had been watching with consideration to buy had some rather draconian DRM (copy protection) on it. At the time the game would constantly phone home which meant an internet connection was required for what is essentially a single player game. Checks like this are fine for an online multiplayer game as the internet connection is required anyway, but come on.

So, that game, Spore, has finally been released to much buzz. The buzz has mostly been about the DRM. Most reviews suggest the game is quite boring until much later in the game but most people are talking about the DRM. In fact there’s a bit of a backlash happening on Amazon. At this time the game has 1,840 reviews and 1,702 of them is for one star. The reason I know this is a backlash and not proper reviews of a bad game is that most of the reviewers admit to not actually buying the game. They are stating they will not buy the game BECAUSE of the DRM. You can see this in action yourself here.

Now, how has the piracy community reacted to this release? Are they working night and day to crack this awesome technology to thwart their disgusting desire to play the game for free? Have they given up in despair because they have been unable to crack the mighty DRM that EA has saw fit to place in spite of the potential for bad PR?

Nope. In fact, a crack appeared for the game BEFORE it was available to purchase. So, in the end the DRM only negatively affects the people who actually pay for the game. Which DRM does the majority of the time.

I’m beginning to think that this type of DRM is designed for a different purpose than to prevent piracy, since it obviously does not. I think this technology is in place to test a possible way to slow down resales of games. Once a game has been installed a certain number of times then it is a hassle to get “permission” to install it again. If potential resale customers know this then they may be reluctant to buy a resale game. Since the resale market is more entrenched with the console games I’m willing to bet it won’t be long before a “test” of this techology is unleashed on consoles. The DRM would be that games are locked to the first console they are played on. You just wait. The hard drives and online connectivity make this possible.

One interesting theory I’ve seen thrown around is to actually take advantage of the DRM to do the very thing it is supposed to prevent. Buy one copy of the game. Use the three installs you get by installing to your machine and two of your buddies, WHO DID NOT PAY FOR THE GAME. Since the disc is not required to be in the drive to play the game, return the disc to the store as defective and request a replacement. Place the unopened copy for sale on Ebay for the price you paid. Three copies of the game for free.

In my earlier post I also mention a company that has been constantly whining that their mighty AAA game did not sell well because of piracy. Many argued it was because of the high system requirements and the plain, simple fact the game sucked. Well they are about to release a somewhat sequel to it and the system requirements are much lower this time around. They basically admit that the first game was a mess of unoptimized code that wasn’t ready for prime time and this game fixed those problems. Looks like the naysayers were right that most people couldn’t play the game on their machines and didn’t bother to buy it. We have to wait to see if the game is good enough for people to buy it this time around. I’m guessing it’ll still suck and they’ll still blame piracy for poor sales.