Yeah, I posted that one as it was tangentially related to the gaming industry and potential right to resell software. Which to date it does not seem to have affected, but who in consumer land is going to fight that fight.
EULA court decisions really are all over the place, depending on region and court. Sometimes the EULA wins, sometimes not. The high profile winning ones are not hard to locate. (wikipedia)
The US do love their corporations, and considering the slants of their legal system, especially in the corporate world, particularly in the last two decades, I’ll say I’m not surprised.
Societal mores are specific to that group. So yes they are relative not absolute, but the tribe enforces them ruthlessly.
There’s a workaround that some people have come up with for Denuvo on Rise of the Tomb Raider. Steam Family Share! Someone buys the game on a legit single-game account, then through some piracy magic, the Steam account is shared by multiple people at the same time. (You normally can’t do this.) It’s a clunky half-solution that doesn’t always work, but that’s what they’ve got so far.
The game itself has not been cracked yet, and the normal pirate groups claim it may never be.
Believe XCOM2 will use it, so that is one more game on the do-not-buy list.
Nearly all games from now on will use it if they have any form of DRM, since it’s been quite successful.
Hey. Hey, Denuvo fanbois. When can we expect PC game prices to drop from $60-$90 to reflect this amazing new change? Prices always included “piracy tax”, though now that there is an absolute cure, the prices will drop to reflect this. Right? RIGHT?
They’ll drop at exactly the same speed that airline tickets did after the fuel prices that drove ticket costs through the roof receded.
What games cost $90?
I think that’s the Humble Bundle tier where you get a hoodie.
Oh, sure, I hadn’t considered special editions. :)
In fact, I paid $150 for The Witcher 3. I don’t suppose it having Denuvo would have made it cheaper though, considering CDProjekt Red prides themselves on being DRM free.
So many. So so many…
(I could make that picture as long as the day is, um, yeah, long… I added just a few to make the point.)
Yes, yes, we don’t have to buy those “extras”. You also don’t need to work or even breathe. No, you really don’t!
You know what’s “trending”, and has been for the last two years or so for Rachel Brown? The push to normalize and condition PC gamers to accept new release games costing $90.
I have not even added the additional DLC cost that all these games will have, making some of these games’ eventual total cost, about $200. I’m being reasonable. The picture illustrates only the game as it is sold or pre-sold on “day 1”.
All your picture is doing is making me hate Ubisoft. I can’t physically hate them any more.
This forum needs a “Trending for Rachel Brown” thread!
-Todd
That’s already its own tab in Tapatalk.
I don’t think it’s the DRM or piracy making the costs of these games go up, though. A lot of if is profiteering.
There is a trend I have no patience for which is the “freemium” model which ends up being primarily whale-hunting rather than actual games for normal people.
The other trend is breaking up one normal sized game with a normal-sized price into a smaller piece with the same price, but you now have to pay for all the additional day-one DLCs which complete the primary game as well.
You’re talking about special editions or editions of game’s bundled with extras and/or season passes. Ah… hah. Gotcha.
XCOM 2 doesn’t appear to use Denuvo.
While I’m happy for developers and hope this works to get them paid, there are some interesting “Be careful what you wish for” aspects to the macro economy of games pricing that may not be particularly consumer friendly. But, too early to tell right now. We’ll see!
There are no Denuvo fanboys here. As a software developer myself, I admire their technical expertise, but that as far as it goes. I still prefer DRM-free, anti-tampering-free software for myself.
That said, I don’t pirate software. Ever. And I wish everyone did the same, because then DRM-free software would be the rule instead of the exception.
DLC is the only reason games aren’t more expensive than they are. How long has $60 been the de facto only price point for AAA games? Over a decade now, while inflation continues its stately pace (thanks Obama!) and game production keeps getting more expensive.