14 DAY TRIAL // Is loyalty to a developer possible when it comes to videogames? This is one of the questions which will be answered when Dragon Age: Origins, the BioWare developed middle fantasy RPG, arrives later in the year. A certain segment of players have always been attracted to games from the company because of the strong stories which they delivered and because of the clear yet complex gameplay features which they challenged the players with mastering.
Mike Laidlaw, the lead designer on Dragon Age: Origins, believes that loyalty will likely not deter piracy. He told Destructoid that “Piracy is always a problem, for all media. Certainly offering people editions of the game that include bonus items do help encourage them to purchase the title rather than pirate it, as do options like additional content that check for valid copies of the game, these measures help because they don’t penalize the legitimate users of the game by adding additional steps to install or launch, for instance”.
Electronic Arts, the parent company of BioWare, has long relied on tough copy protection measures, like SecuROM, to limit piracy. Their efficiency was limited and most games were cracked and offered online in just a few days or even before the release date while customers who bought the videogames sometimes has issues with the copy protection programs. Now it seems that EA has changed its positions and is aiming to offer DRM free products while encouraging players to pick up legitimate copies through incentive programs.
Dragon Age: Origins, which is set to be released on November 3 in North America and three days later in Europe, will probably carry no DRM measures but BioWare have made it clear that they will be releasing patches and additional content which will only be available to those with an original copy of the role playing title.