I can't stress enough how bad DRM is for the market, really.

When your method to deter piracy is actually deterring SALES, WHILE FAILING to deter piracy, someone fucked up.

...So the CEO of a company whose software is often considered to be spyware / adware by anti-virus software is saying that ads are the way forward in PC gaming? Fascinating...

The games industry fucked itself on this one. People tend not to like having to guess at how well the game will perform on their system, given that minimum requirements have been systematically reduced to "will install and load". Even recommended doesn't guarantee you a good time.

DRM has never done anything to stop downloads. It never has, never will. By pulling absolutely comically moronic stunts like limiting installs and requiring online activation they make the situation worse.

Bleeding customers dry (if you don't buy 'protection' on EA downloader you'll have to pay for the game again after 6 months if you want to reinstall) won't make them like you.

Releasing shoddy products that need multiple patches to work well won't make people like you.

The industry has done nothing to stimulate the market in years, look at how fractured the digital download space is. The response most seem to have is "We won't adapt or change, we'll just go to the closed systems of consoles instead, because we can exert more control over that market".

Y so srs, u gaiz?

PC gaming model is not fucked. I mean, just take a look at all the goodies we're going to get in the upcoming period. Fallout 3, Dragon Age, Stalker Clear Sky, and so on and on... We're entering in to the Great Golden Age of the PC gaming, and it's here to stay with more that 255 million PC machines sold each year worldwide. People who have problems with keeping their PC's up to date at low cost should thank their own ignorance for buying 250 bucks piece of shit at the local grocery store. Some people just don't have what it takes to be a gamer, but hey! they can always resort to button mashing on consoles. Super Smash Bros. Brawl awaits them eagerly.

If you have problems with DRM, just pirate your shit. Hell, I remember the days I bought 7 copies of Planescape: Torment to give away as birthday presents to my friends, back in 2000. They still thank me for it. On the other hand, I pirated Mass Effect and Spore and have no intention on punishing myself or inflicting pain on others with the original versions of the games. If you really think that developers deserve support, think again. Who do you really support when you buy three-times-activation crap?

Besides, ATI and nVidia are having the time of their lives. Maybe they should start caring... no, wait.

Also, in before someone says "draconian" while talking about DRM

So many answers, so little time.

1) DRM - it does nothing but punish those who legitimately purchase the game, and does absolutely jack shit to protect the game from piracy after the first week at the very, very most. Sins of a Solar Empire has proven that DRM does nothing positive. No online registration, no security software installing in the background, no entering stupid product keys. Just give us the damned game and let us install and play it.

2) Building games around bleeding edge hardware - Having beautiful graphics and highly intelligent AI mean nothing when you have to spend thousands of dollars in order to play the game at decent framerates. Forget appealing to the "hardcore" PC gamer who upgrades their PC once a month, give the rest of the gaming crowd a game they can play on a real gaming PC, one that we can actually afford!

3) Good game first, pretty graphics second - having the best looking, most intelligent, most complex game means nothing if it's unplayable from the start. Give us something that's fun to play and has REAL replay value (not that collect-a-thon bullshit) that we can invest money in, instead of "play it once and put it on the shelf".

4) Give us a reason to buy - on the one hand, we've got a game we can't return just because we don't like it, and can't trade in when we're done with it. On the other hand, we've got a means to play the game completely free of charge. All that crap about it being " the right thing to do" goes out the window when you realize how much $60 can get you. Give us a reason to invest, an incentive to trust you with that $60. Give us something cool that pirating can't.

Says the guy responsible for countless spyware-related PC deaths.

Tell me about the PC gaming indistry been f*cked up, here in Mexico PC games are sold at almost 200% its real price. Why will I pay $95 USD for Rainbow Six Vegas 2?

Personally I think there's nothing wrong with the PC market. Piracy hurts it, but in the end it's merely an indication of popularity.

slapme7times:

Yes, because absolutely no PC gamers buy games. The 11 million WoW subscribers, 15 million Steam users, hundreds of billions made by Blizzard, the 2 million copies STALKER sold, all a lie.


You're a fucking retard and "HD Console" is a fucking laugh when you're comparing it to PC.

YA HD consoles that run like crap look worse than the PC versions run slower and on slow ass cheep hardware.

and they only do at low HDTV res like 720 p or 1080p.

Looks the ps3 RSX based on old ass nvida 7800 series PC and xbox 360 gpu that has likw only 48 stream units!.

when i can get a ATI 3870 with 320 stream units and 512mb texture memeory the entire amount of a xbox 360 and ps3 total memory for like $150 and the 512 mb memory is just storing pretty GPU DATA!>!>!


then i get to pay $10 extra on every game that goes to microsoft for there loss on all the console crap! =$10 more for maps and crap you get free on PC again towards microsft on like all games... FUN!!!>!!>

No dude i think you guys are the morons.