Blizzard: DRM a 'losing battle'
Gamers 'will want to be' connected to Battle.net while playing StarCraft II.
Fighting PC game piracy with restrictive copy protection is "a losing battle", Blizzard has said.
In recent months some publishers have begun using digital rights management (DRM) that requires players have an active internet connection at all times.
Ubisoft's new DRM system forces PCs to be connected to the internet in order for games to work - even single-player games.
Earlier this year gamers reacted angrily to the strict DRM used by Ubisoft in the PC version of Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5. Attacks on verification servers made it impossible for some gamers to play their new purchases.
StarCraft II developer Blizzard is taking a different approach.
StarCraft II, due out on July 27, requires a one-off activation and a registered Battle.net account. Once completed, players will be able to get started with the game's single-player campaign in offline mode.
Blizzard hopes the new and improved Battle.net service, which connects players from across Blizzard's stable of games, will be attractive enough to convince would-be pirates to buy the game.
"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 so they can stay connected to their friends on Battle.net and earn the achievements on Battle.net," Frank Pearce, Blizzard co-founder and executive producer on StarCraft II told VideoGamer.com.
"The best approach from our perspective is to make sure that you've got a full-featured platform that people want to play on, where their friends are, where the community is," he added.
"That's a battle that we have a chance in. If you start talking about DRM and different technologies to try to manage it, it's really a losing battle for us, because the community is always so much larger, and the number of people out there that want to try to counteract that technology, whether it's because they want to pirate the game or just because it's a curiosity for them, is much larger than our development teams.
"We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology."
Last year it emerged that StarCraft II will lack LAN support, a move that angered some veteran fans of the series.
Blizzard said the decision was taken to "safeguard" against piracy.
Head over to our hands-on preview of the game's single-player campaign to get the skinny on StarCraft II. For the rest of our interview with Frank Pearce, head here.
User Comments
TruthDealer
he said starcraft 1 sold 11million copies. and now starcraft2 needs to be online to be able to play with friends. its always about the money.
NOT ALL PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD HAS THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY OK? Most are not rich spoiled kids whos parents give them what ever they want.
NOT all Players has their own Computer, most play on internet cafe with their friends.
Thats why there is piracy because many cant afford the game.
for me? this is a discrimination to all staraft1 players who cant afford the game.
DISCRIMINATION INDEED.
wannabefree@ MrGames
As for the connection, we now play in a place with 10Mb/1Mb ADSL. NOT enough to support 30 people playing through it.
And yep, I still hate Blizzard. Like Infinity Ward, they promised a lot (hey, DRM is not the way!) and then they epic failed. Yeah, epic fail is not what a 1971 born person would say, but they so *****ing epicly failed.
wannabefree
MyOpinion@ MrGames
You said:
"The reason they removed LAN play is not because of North America or Europe, its to do with the Asia market and programs like Hamachi, allowing people to pirate the game and then still play online via a separate service. Which is where the majority of the piracy takes place anyways."
Do you really think Blizzards technology will change anything? In a few weeks there are enough LAN-cracks available which will allow the Asian people to play via Hamachi. Who suffers? The honest customer who is not able to play on LAN with his friends, because they bought the game legally and don't have a crack.
btw. I bought the game if you want to flame me now. But it was kind a hard decision, I wasn't sure because of their anti-piracy politics which I really don't like.
anon111
PS. I'm quite sure offline single player will be provided by the scene. Don't worry.
MrGames
The reason they removed LAN play is not because of North America or Europe, its to do with the Asia market and programs like Hamachi, allowing people to pirate the game and then still play online via a separate service. Which is where the majority of the piracy takes place anyways.
Also, Steam requires you to log in to go into Offline mode. Furthermore, I'm sorry you live in such a backwater area that you aren't connected to the internet the majority of your gaming time.
If you and your buddies all meet up in a singular area where there isn't a connection, you might want to consider switching the area you play in. A 4 port wireless router costs what? $40? Grab one and hijack someones Wi-Fi if there isn't a physical connection around.
If you really want to boycott the game, and all the others that will do the exact same thing over next decade over something so simple and integral to daily life, then be my guest. But you'll end up hating everything instead of enjoying yourself.
Bloodstorm
Actually wait UNTIL the game comes out to analysis Battle.net THEN bitch on an internet forum, ok?
wannabefree@ slingblade123
Oh, and Steam gives you the opportunity to play offline and LAN. Blizzard is not going to stop piracy because of it.
wannabefree@ slingblade123
slingblade123@ wannabefree
Sorry, we know you don't like these services because they actually force you to buy the title if you would like to play multiplayer. You're no big loss to Blizzard to begin with. Enjoy your pirated single player.
slingblade123@ wannabefree
wannabefree
Way to disrespect your customers, Blizzard. C&C4 devs could say that their protection scheme wasn't DRM as much as they wanted. It was still DRM. And so is Battle.Net.
I'm not buying it, and I'm not buying the game. And you'll only cause more piracy with that decision. Idiots.
wannabefree
Your stupid (greedy?) decision to strip LAN off the game cost you a lot of sales, Blizzard. Me and all my friends amongst them. Congratulations.
Nxs
"We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology."
Last year it emerged that StarCraft II will lack LAN support, a move that angered some veteran fans of the series.
Blizzard said the decision was taken to "safeguard" against piracy.
:D