It’s not always a duck

If it quacks like a duck…

It’s not always a duck.

And at least a few of the big dogs on the porch agree – starting with the 1 ton gorilla on the block, Blizzard.  Frank Pearce, the executive producer for World of Warcraft and co-founder of Blizzard, confirmed that Starcraft 2, which is due to ship this July, will not require the same “always on” digital rights management (DRM) system that Ubisoft uses. The game will require a single online activation using the Battlenet servers and that, apparently, will be it. Hopefully, the industry will take not just a note, but the whole symphony from Mr. Pearce’s handbook:

“We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology.” – Frank Pearce, executive producer, World of Warcraft

The Blizzard exec said, “If we’ve done our job right and implemented Battle.net in a great way people will want to be connected while they’re playing the single player campaign…”

Even better news is that there are indeed some development studios that feel the same way – Avalanche Studios (Just Cause, Just Cause 2, The Hunter) being one of them. Cristofer Sundberg, Avalanche Studios co-founder said, “Games have become a luxurious form of entertainment and piracy has scared the market to start implementing ridiculous DRM solutions that only limits the consumers that actually PAY for their games, not stopping the pirates.”

While we here at No Prisoners, No Mercy hope that the rest of the industry follows lead of Messers Pearce and Sundberg, we aren’t going to bet the proverbial farm on it.  Money talks, or so they say, and until the bean counters, be they executives, investors, or both, SEE that DRM bites that hand feeds it, the path blazed by backward thinking companies like Ubisoft is likely to look more appealing.

In the end, however, the song made famous by The Mills Brothers is likely to ring true: You always hurt the one you love.  While the “one” game publishers should love in this case are the consumers, what will change their mind is what they do love most of the time and that is the bottom line.

Expecting “always on” DRM to thwart game piracy is like handing a chef a sledgehammer, daring him to break some eggs with it, and hope that hammer gives out first.  Avalanche exec Sundberg called DRM the “ultimate Rubik cube” for game pirates.  Blizzard Boss Pearce called it a “losing battle”.  Yet still publishers insist on DRM schemes that hurt the consumer more than the target at which they are aimed.  The two likely situations seem to be that game publishers think gamers are apathetic enough to continue to put up with the treatment, or investors are stupid enough to believe that such extreme measures work.  While the former of the two is more likely, we really hope we are wrong, and you will see the pig for what it is – vote with your wallet.

The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team