Some PC gamers view DRM as a hostile action by developers. Even worse, hackers and pirates view it as a personal challenge. According to Just Cause 2 developer Avalanche Studios, developers may be dealing with PC gamers in the wrong way when it comes to DRM. Avalanche co-founder Christofer Sundberg sat down for a quick chat with CVG about PC gaming and copy protection.
Sundberg told CVG that DRM measures like Ubisoft's current 'always-on' protection are signs of a “scared” market and they only end up hurting devoted PC gamers. "Games have become a luxurious form of entertainment and piracy has scared the market to start implementing ridiculous DRM solutions that only limits the consumers that actually PAY for their games, not stopping the pirates," Sundberg remarked.
He also said that developers were shooting themselves in the foot by not designing PC ports with PC gamers in mind. "As PC sales constantly dropping, they are a small group of very dedicated PC players who deserves a game designed for them and I strongly believe that PC games and console games are two completely different games,” he said. "If we constantly keep on delivering console ports and not games design for the PC player, the PC market will suffer from bad sales, piracy and bad DRM solutions. I strongly believe that most PC players are online players and online games are so much easier to design that we both protect the developer against piracy - and the consumer against a limited game experience.”
"I wish that future PC projects are treated just the same way as we would treat Wii, PSP or DS - they are treated as separate projects in order to deliver a different but equally entertaining experience to all players."
Just Cause 2 on PC launched with no DRM whatsoever. The game still outperformed, having sold 1.16 million copies since release.
Sega's Alpha Protocol will be launching on PC next week with a more consumer-friendly DRM.
