Yeah, it's nice not having a publisher breathing down your next, and requiring you to contract DRM houses before the game is even done, because they are already counting the dollars they expect to lose through piracy.
I'm amazed thease people have risen to the ranks they have, they seem to demonstrate an amazing lack of vision and buisness sense, and from what chatter i have heard from Devolopers in the gaming bizz, it's a bigger problem than i might seem at first glance to outsiders..
Now don't get me wrong, i can understand why companies would want to protect their investment from theft, but they really coulden't go about it in a worse way than they currently are, everything about their approach is flawed, including how they calculate losses (counting every single pirate download as a lost sale is so out of touch with reality, it's not even funny).
If they want more people to buy the games, they have to make it worth the customers while, make it attractive to buy instead of leeching, getting and installing the game should be dead easy, and offer perks or a good service to legit customers, in a non-intrusive way, something people can access just by having a legit CD/Online-key or some other simple proof of purchase, if you want people to buy the games, make sure the pirates are left with the feeling "i wish i had bought this, then my game would be better".
Instead they do the reverse, it is the paying customer who is left with the felling "i wish i had pirated this, the pirate version is better", and in what world does that make sense or lead to more legit customers?
All DRM does is hassle paying customers, and for what? history has proven time and time again that it doesen't work, it's not an effective anti-theft meassure, it'll be cracked within houers or days at the most, and pirates will get it regardless, all it does effectively is hassle paying customers, and cost the game sales because customers like myself will refuse to buy the game, and many others will choose to pirate it instead because the pirate version is the superiour one.
The age old "reward versus punishment" principal does work.. only the game bizz has got it in reverse, they deal out punishment to legit customers, whilst the pirates are rewarded with a free game that is also a superior product.
This is what the bizz must grasp if they want to deal with the pirate issue, buying the game must be a reward, it must be better than the pirate alternative, or it automatically becomes a punishment in comparison.
