For the doomsaying that PC gaming is in it last throes, game publishers keep releasing games. Several publishers including Infinity Ward and Crytek blame piracy for low sales of their PC games, Call of Duty 4 and Crysis respectively. Thus publishers are packing their games with more and more restrictive and complex DRM, a surefire sales pitch to increase sales.
Electronic Arts released a PC-port of Mass Effect last month and users are already complaining they are being locked out of the game. The company restricts the game to only be installed three times and uninstalling it doesn’t reinstate an install. This is a step up from the proposed DRM which would have rechecked the game’s serial number every 10 days, requiring an internet connection to play a game that doesn’t require an internet connection. After the internet backlash, EA dropped the 10-day check, but made sure Mass Effect was still to difficult to be worth purchasing.
The upcoming game Spore is likely to have similar DRM.
The challenge for PC game publishers is not piracy, because pirates will pirate games. Fighting these pirates becomes an arms war of technology that the pirates constantly win. Publishers waste their time and money fighting them, and alienating paying customers at the same time.
Stardock takes a different approach. Their games contain no DRM and don’t require keeping the CD in the drive to play. Users with valid serial numbers get regular updates with rich lists of new features. Obviously pirates get their hands on Stardock’s games, but the publisher makes a significant profit with a loyal fan base and, shockingly, not spending so much money.
Brad Wardell, founder of Stardock writes:
Anyone who keeps track of how many PCs the “Gamer PC” vendors sell each year could tell you that it’s insane to develop a game explicitly for hard core gamers. Insane. I think people would be shocked to find out how few hard core gamers there really are out there. This data is available. So why are companies making games that require them to sell to 15% of a given market to be profitable? If you need to sell 500,000 of your game to break even and your game requires Pixel Shader 3 to not look like crap or play like crap, do you you really think that there are 50 MILLION PC users with Pixel Shader 3 capable machines who a) play games and b) will actually buy your game if a pirated version is available?
He goes on to explain why Stardock is successful without copy-protection.
When you develop for a market, you don’t go by the user base. You go by the potential customer base. That’s what most software companies do. They base what they want to create on the size of the market they’re developing for. But not PC game developers.
PC game developers seem to focus more on the “cool” factor. What game can they make that will get them glory with the game magazines and gaming websites and hard core gamers? These days, it seems like game developers want to be like rock stars more than businessmen. I’ve never considered myself a real game developer. I’m a gamer who happens to know how to code and also happens to be reasonably good at business.
Stardock games, like “Galactic Civilizations II sold 300,000 copies making 8 digits in revenue on a budget of less than $1 million” according to Wardell. Sins of a Solar Empire was the best-selling PC game of February, ahead of Call of Duty 4 and a World of Warcraft expansion.
Stardock is not praying for people to actually buy their games. They cater to a large enough market, spend an appropriate amount to make the game, and provide an on-going service to encourage people to pay for the game rather than pirate it. People pirate Stardock games, just like they’re pirating EA’s DRM-filled Mass Effect. But Stardock is making huge profits and not pissing off its paying customers. Revolutionary.
5. Mass Effect
It’s been said time and time again: this is the first real next-gen experience. Well this time it’s for real. As assassin Altaïr, you get to navigate massive, ancient cities, working your way through lively marketplaces filled with interactive characters to kill various historical figures. And to navigate these cities, you can go anywhere at anytime, climbing buildings or running across rafters. Even chases with your targets will follow unspecified paths based on the target’s unique A.I. Maybe this next-gen experience will meet expectations. Finally.
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
So you’re halfway through BioShock but Halo 3 just came out. And then Call of Duty 4 hits store shelves. You set aside your allowance/paycheck all year to be able to afford all the games you want this holiday season. But if you keep buying these new games, will you have time to play all the games you buy.
The conflict comes from the demand for long games with fleshed-out stories filled with twists and turns. But it’s these games that frustrate me the most. A game with no story has no demand for completion. I can play Street Fighter II or Sim City 2000 as much as I want and I’ll never really beat them. And with sandbox and exploration games like Grand Theft Auto III and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the game might have ending, but you’ll only get there after 200 hours of sidequests and just, plain, fun.
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