Meat Boy dev: DRM hurts more than piracy

GI - Tommy Refenes bemoans misplaced priorities in light of SimCity launch woes.

[PopRocks359]

After the controversy with Assassin's Creed on the PC, I'm really not understanding why anyone would think this "online only" idea was a good one. It does nothing but hurt honest consumers and actually in some cases forces them to pirate the game to make it work.

I am an advocate of supporting the industry and I generally encourage others not to steal games (yes, I see it as stealing). However if the publisher is screwing the consumer, then how much sympathy can I possibly have? I can assure you, not very much.

Steam is DRM. That is a fact; but it is not DRM that gets in the user's way in such an obstructive manner. Take notes publishers; Valve's got it right and you are doing it wrong.

@Pandmobile

That's actually a really great philosophy and business strategy. It also falls in line with the crappy practice of the online pass. Consumers should not be punished for buying a used game. They should be rewarded for getting it new. Some PS3 games will give you a free Vita version to download. All Nintendo games come with Club Nintendo reward points. Steam is safe, convenient and is generally user friendly.

[Pandamobile]

Exactly. Valve's philosophy is that the DRM should add value, not take it away. Steam, even though it is technically a DRM platform can actually be a selling point for a game.

[ExCest]

I personally look for Steam when I buy PC games!

It's that great.

[MikeMyers]

People like Steam and Steam games have been cracked. The thing is people will not want to run the risk of having their Steam account banned for pirated games. They are also willing to pay for their games on Steam for 2 reasons. One as mentioned they like Steam and the other is the prices.

A game like Meat Boy has great word of mouth marketing. People who normally pirate games probably don't mind supporting smaller developers like this and Meat Boy isn't that expensive. Piraters can validate their reasons more for a game from a big publishers because in their eyes they make lots of money. It's not really a sound argument but I can see why they could think that way.

There needs to be a way to cut out piracy without hurting legit consumers, and so far I haven't seen any fool proof method other than going for a service fee method like a MMO game.

[Pandamobile]

You don't get banned from Steam for pirating games.

[MikeMyers]

http://www.cinemablend.com/...

"Valve may terminate your Account or a particular Subscription for any conduct or activity that Valve believes is illegal, constitutes a Cheat, or which otherwise negatively affects the enjoyment of Steam by other Subscribers."

I'm not saying they will 100% but that is in their agreement. I don't want to risk finding out.

[adorie]

Support for Valve, on my end, will continue as they treat us well and respect us.

[JackBNimble]

How is steam DRM? I could lose my internet and still play all my games in offline mode , you don't need an internet conection unless a certain game requires it.

Edit: @poprocks

Oh I see, I have just always thought of steam as just another platform to buy and run my games on.

[PopRocks359]

DRM does not mean you require an internet connection. It basically means you need to run a specific client in order to run the game. Origin is also DRM. It has nothing to do with internet connections; that's just part of DRM practices followed by the likes of EA and Ubisoft.

When you open Steam, notice how you cannot run a Steam game without shutting down the Steam client? That's basically DRM.

[ExCest]

This guy understands and is humble about his own game. That's the sign of a good dev.

[Derekvinyard13]

Sad DRM is gonna take over