Paradox Interactive has slammed the digital rights software of other companies, calling such anti-piracy measures a waste of money.
"I’m so surprised that people still use DRM. We haven’t done that for seven or eight years, and the reason is that it doesn’t make sense," said CEO Fred Wester. "No one should have to purchase a product that they’re unable to install because of the DRM. There might be other reasons, like the compatibility isn’t correct, or whatever. But people who purchase a game should have just as easy a time as those who pirate the game, otherwise it’s a negative incentive to buy a legal copy.
"And I just can’t see why people are using DRM still. If you take something like Sony’s DRM, SecuROM -- it’s a waste of money. It will keep you protected for three days, it will create a lot of technical support, and it will not increase sales. And I know this for a fact, because we tried it eight years ago, and it never worked for us. Two major reasons: it costs money and it makes you lose money, and the other is that it’s so inconvenient to customers."
Thing is, DRM is only a waste of money if you sincerely believe it's about piracy -- which I don't. There's enough evidence to demonstrate that DRM does not work as advertised, but what it does do is allow publishers to exert even greater control over their paying consumers, and keep tabs on their habits. When you remember that publishers think like jealous boyfriends, then DRM makes perfect sense.
Paradox CEO Calls DRM a 'Waste of Money' [Industry Gamers]
Contest:
6:30 PM on 01.25.2012 | 
A publisher ..........
but then again we are living in a post patriot act world so its safe to assume no matter what you are doing online, multiple eyes are watching o.o
Actually, looking at the decisions these industries head made in the past, I've come to the conclusion that it's exactly that. More so with the MPAA and RPAA, it isn't about adapting, it's about not accepting that, in order to survive, you need to accept that you may have to make less money then God then usual (not to mention our economy is shit as of this moment), otherwise, both of these industries would have wised up 10 fucking years ago to avoid all this shit but no, they're willing to act like fucking babies over the fact they may not be able to snort the EXACT, EXACT, EXFUCKINGACT amount of cocaine off a hooker's ass back in their glory days, even if that meant the destruction of their own industries!
*facepalm*
Steam is hardly an intrusive DRM. Origin will scan your computer and send back details about everything to EA. SecurROM (sp?) can cause a lot of issues with the game and require support help to get through. Ubisoft implements an "always online policy" for a lot of their games.
Steam lets you activate security features similar to Origin and Ubisoft to provide security for your account, but they're completely optional. The only real DRM issue is that you can't have your account online with 2 computers at the same time. You can still play games in offline mode, however.
Something like 1 million units with 4 million DLC units sold.
@chaosmeika - Their game was released earlier than planned. This is exactly the argument that publishers would take - "see, if you'd gone with us, our testers would've found those bugs". And the publisher would've taken 85% of the profit, on a good day.
So, yeah, Paradox is right.
1. Desktop icons don't install in working condition.
2. Patches are ridiculous in the amount of time it takes to get them.
3. Offline mode can only be turned on while you are connected to the internet so you are screwed if your ethernet cord gets borrowed or the large line gets damaged.
4. Starting up a game takes so long because Steam has to start first and continue running, taking up valuable processing power.
It has gotten so bad that I don't even bother with Steam unless I have no choice like with Magicka or Terraria. Steam has been filled with more trouble than any DRM has caused me and I have little hope it will get much better.
Even physical copies of games are not free from its claws. Civilization V was purchased by me in physical form. Box, disks, bigass manual, and you know what I had to download first when I popped the disk in? Steam. And then I had to download Civilization V too. WTF?! It took me hours too. Valve really has outdone everyone else with this bullshit. Fuck Steam and fuck horrible programming teams and fuck publishers too while I'm at it.
Sorry, I got a little ranty there. You would too if you had to jump through hoops to play your some of your favorite games. I apologize for my foul language.