Denuvo DRM - It works, and you're going to get more of it

On the other hand, they sell a lot more. We don’t know where the point of equilibrium is, so it’s hard to say if prices should go up or down based on a nearly stable profit rate.

Based on what data? You may well be right, but I haven’t seen any such thing that would imply that volume across any particular segment of the industry (save maybe “Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and GTA”) has outpaced development cost growth.

Yeah, and the funny thing is that they were MORE expensive before:

Preventing piracy hasn’t been the only point of DRM in decades. It’s in the name - Digital Rights Management. They’re making sure their digital rights are managed according to their interests, and who the fuck cares about consumer rights, right?

Revenues are way larger than they were, a lot more consoles are sold, record sales, gaming is mainstream, etc. It just feels like games sell a lot more. You’re free to look for the hard data if you want. ;)

I like to think that they at least try to care about consumer rights, because if they don’t, they might be sued into oblivion.

But just as a counterpoint, do you care about their digital rights when you buy their products? Or are you just focused on your consumer rights when you do so? If your focus is on your rights first, why do you criticize them for focusing on their rights first?

Why would they? They’re already cheaper than console games, which don’t have the “piracy tax” you talk about.

Game prices have been steadily dropping if you hadn’t noticed, considering they’ve only gone down in the past 10 years let alone keep up with inflation. Also, have you not been getting oodles of cheap games via Steam sales? Oh, wait…

They won’t be, because US law is ridiculously biased in favor of corporate interests, especially when it comes to copyright and digital media. The smarter ones, especially when they don’t have shareholders to worry about, will take some interest because happy consumers are better for business in the long run. But those are the ones that aren’t messing around too much with DRM.

And I have no problem with them pursuing their best interests per se. But obviously mine are not the same as theirs and when the two conflict I am going to be partisan for my interests. The issue is that they have all the power unless consumers organize as a group and that’s not really happening a lot of the time.

You sure? I could have sworn that it said something about it on Steam EULA, Maybe I misread and checked something else.
If it isn’t using it, that is great news at least.

Edit: Yup, you are right, there is nothing about it on the Steam EULA for the game, so that means it is safe to buy :-)
Cheers.

Time to pre-order on GMG :)

Now I wonder which game I checked that had it in the EULA. Luckily there’s a Wiki.
http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Big_List_of_3rd_Party_DRM_on_Steam

Meanwhile, in 1986:

3DM, the Chinese hacker group that said cracking Denvo is making things impossible, is giving up for now.

“We just had an internal meeting. Starting at the Chinese New Year, 3DM will not crack any single-player games,” Bird Sister says.

For those wondering, the Chinese New Year is next Monday, February 8.

“Cracks by overseas warez groups will still get posted on the [3DM] forum, and we will actively deal with these,” the group’s leader adds.

“We’ll take a look at the situation in a year’s time to see if genuine sales have grown,” Bird Sister says.

Damn, she’s cute. Where was I? Got distracted.

Oh yeah. Stories like this come up every couple years, new forms of copy-protection, and then they’re subsequently defeated. Unlike consoles, which are protected by hypervisors ensuring unsigned code doesn’t run, PC titles can never really be protected, because the user has root. This too, shall pass.

You mean like fire emblem fates or any blizzard expansion these days?

I hate when companies make an expansion stand alone so they can charge full price again.

I don’t think anybody is claiming Denuvo is unbreakable. The real issue is not having a DRM system pirate proof forever (although companies using them would certainly like that) but to delay the release of a hack a week to a month. Making something hard to crack fast is indeed doable. But hard. This is the first time something seems to be really working without being so strict a check that it renders many many legitimate users unable to play.

The one thing I didn’t realize is that 3DM is actually ‘hired’ (I don’t know by who… Chinese gov’t?) to do the cracking. Supposedly. Which if that was the case, did their funding just dry up and that’s the real reason for exiting?

Yes, and I’m perfectly fine with that. I’m not fine with it remaining uncracked forever, because I don’t feel games are ephemera; they are worth preserving.

It is literally impossible for my eyes to roll any harder.

Good grief, dude.

That’s the silliest and most absurd analogy I’ve seen in a long time.

Rachel Brown absurd? Say it ain’t so!

She always seemed so rational when discussing Steam/DRM/etc. What happened, Rachel? :(