Denuvo severely impacted GTA5 performance until another patch tried to address it
Is there any evidence?
I disagree with this totally, as some one who pirated games for a while but could afford to buy them if they werent available pretty much day 0 I would buy it as would most of my mates who were doing the same thing. Once Steam took off and sales etc came in then i stopped pirating.
People who are going to pirate regardless are not the point of drm as they will never buy its getting the people who would buy but pirate which is and delaying a release for 4 weeks is more than enough to get enough of them to buy to make it worth it.
Yeah, I doubt that money is being spent just in a hunch by publishers. I’d bet there’s solid data on increased sales due to avoiding launch window piracy.
If the DRM would remove itself after four weeks, I would be happy with it. But it won’t, and we gamers will probably be inconvenienced in some way because of it.
They tell me that Securom used to be “the industry standard” and now, years later, it creates a problem for Windows 10. That ought to tell DRM fans something.
It won’t be 100% of them, I’m sure, but it’s a factor. It’s a combination of them being hyped for the next big game which makes them want to play it RIGHT NOW, and a drm that delays the pirate version for enough time (and not wanting to pay the price for the game, of course).
It basically depends of how cheap they are. Some of them fall down from the horse with a good GMG discount offer, others need a heavier discount (usually of some other cdkey site that use Eastern European keys), other get to wait until the eventual super cheap Steam offer.
The fact it’s used on MGS and the game seems to run really well seems to be finally some vague proof that indeed it’s not affecting performance, though it’s still not certain.
The problem with this stuff is that money that could be spent to pay developers is instead paid to these guys who invent new ways to create unneeded complications.
The Witcher 3 came out entirely without DRM, and you can see how POORLY it sold. Yeah. Whereas Lord of the Fallen, uncracked till last month, was quite the flop.
So, are these things really needed and do actually affect sales in a tangible way?
Since you can’t roll back time and try a different strategy, that data literally can’t exist. And if it exists it is a fraud and false advertising.
Of course that won’t stop them for trying.
That’s not true. You can do comparative analysis of sale curves in products with DRM and without DRM and see if the spike down on DRMed games after the launch window (and after pirate copies are available) is sharper than in non-DRMed products, thus implying a higher percentages of sales over the total of the product existing in periods where games are DRM protected versus the same period in games without protection. With enough data of comparable games (overall sales on the same order of magnitude, similar genres…) you could get pretty strong statistical evidence.
I have ot seen it, and I don’t know if it exists, but I guarantee you these analysis are being made. But this data (whatever it says) can be obtained without a time machine.
I would bet that there are shareholders insisting that something be done, ergo something is done. I doubt it being effective is the primary concern, but I am also sure that the DRM companies can run numbers that look like their product does something. People believe plenty of things that aren’t actually true.
That would be great, except, then they cant sell you the same product 2-3-4 times.
Lasting appeal of a game depends on MANY factors, including post-release support, patches, communities driving the title, sales and so on. There’s way enough complexity to mess the statistical evidence.
So, yes, gathering a lot of data could expose some evidence, but this is something so complex and so easily manipulable that it is GUARANTEED that it will be used maliciously to drive a certain agenda.
The fact that this data is only accessed and built by those who want to sell you the thing is the guarantee that they’ll find evidence to prove whatever they want.
(if anything, the “evidence” I get the most from forums is that those who pirate the games are finding ways to go to the gray-market, like buying russian MGS keys via proxy for about 20 dollars)
I’m not talking about lasting appeal. I’m talking about behavior in the first month versus the first week or (at most two) on protected versus unprotected games of comparable budget, genre, marketing muscle and review scores. And not looking a tdifferent number osf sales between games, but at different shapes of the sales curves. It is obvious protection only affects one week or two tops, but those are the highest revenue weeks by an order of magnitude.
I’m talking about data gathered by those who buy the thing, not those who want to sell it. You think a big publisher would spend millions on licensing DRM without studying it’s profitability first?
And thats $15 revenue when before would be nill. Enough people like this and you’ll get a nice bump in total revenue. How much? I have no idea, but as long as it’s more than 5% it’s probably worth it for them.
It’s a simple equation. DRM works if it brings more sales because of it that it loses sales because of it AND if the difference in revenue between those won and lost sales is bigger than the licensing cost of the technology. That’s why it’s super important that DRM does not harm legitimate users. But in this case, if indeed the DRM scheme does not hamper performance nor inconveniences legal owners, the group of people that won’t buy DRMed games will tend towards zero (there is an ideological factor, so obviously it won’t reach zero). With a relatively small number of gained sales (given the overall sales of the games) the licensing cost is offset and you have extra profits.
I’m not for or against DRM, but I think stating that it doesn’t work might be naive in the absence of data (because that assumes the publishers don’t have data either, and I find that hard to believe).
They certainly can (without DRM), otherwise GOG would be out of business.
As I said before, I’m sure the publishers gather some sort of data. That doesn’t mean that the data they gather is accurate or that the conclusions they draw are correct. For that matter, it doesn’t mean that the conclusions that are drawn necessarily translate into appropriate action. And most publishers are responsible not only to management at the company, but also external shareholders and similar.
Yes, but that doesn’t give strength to the contrary argument, it just doesn’t make the conclusion bulletproof. The fact that people who clearly have much more information than us choose a path of action should give pause to easy criticisms like it doesn’t work, unless we can provide contrary information/data.
Otherwise you are dismissing the behaviour of professional (publishers) based on nothing.
When someone with a direct bias asserts something implausible that contradicts my personal experience of how the world works and simple logic without presenting compelling evidence to support their position, you’re damn right I am going to dismiss it. And not based on nothing.
I am not dismissing their behavior based on nothing, but rather personal experience and simple logic. You are the one assuming they have some sort of special insight and knowledge that they have neither publicized nor demonstrated in other behavior. And hey, maybe they have it. But the only thing we can safely assume from action alone is that there is some sort of impetus to that action. Assuming that it is the correct, rational response to accurate and complete data is never a safe assumption when human beings are the actors.
Denuvo is proving to be a winner.
In a posting on her blog, 3DM forum founder ‘Bird Sister’ (also known as Phoenix) has revealed the frustrations being experienced with Just Cause 3.
“Recently, many people have asked about cracks for ‘Just Cause 3′, so here is a centralized answer to this question. The last stage is too difficult and Jun [cracking guy] nearly gave up, but last Wednesday I encouraged him to continue,” Bird Sister explains.
While games pirates everywhere will be willing Jun on to complete what 3DM ultimately believe will be an achievable task, Bird Sister isn’t optimistic about the future. In fact, she paints somewhat of a doomsday scenario.
“I still believe that this game can be compromised. But according to current trends in the development of encryption technology, in two years time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play in the world,” she adds.
…in two years time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play in the world…
Oh, oh good heavens no…what a shaaaaaammmmeee…