14 DAY TRIAL // Elemental: War of Magic, the latest release from PC developer Stardock, has been launched without any DRM attached, with the Chief Executive Officer of the company saying that the piracy problem can be solved through a registration process tied to the delivery of patches.
Stardock is one of the companies that firmly believes in the future of the PC as a gaming platform and has taken the line that piracy cannot be combated through ever more complex Digital Rights Management systems, like those that are now included in games from publisher Ubisoft.
Demigod, a strategy game previously launched by Stardock, was plagued by widespread piracy that affected the game experience of those who legitimately bought the title.
Brad Wardell, who is the Chief Executive Officer at Stardock and one of the fiercest opponents of DRM, has stated, “Unlike some games where you do the quest and if you fail, someone else has to clean up the mess, in our game, you are the one to have to clean up from adventurers who unleashed evil on the world.”
He added, “You will be able to literally build your own world with your own quests and monsters.”
Stardock hopes to battle piracy for Elemental: War of Magic by launching a constant stream of updates that will only be available to those who register their game with the Impulse system.
The move will mean that those who have pirated the video game will not be able to enjoy the game to the fullest and will essentially be stuck with the retail version of Elemental.
Elemental: War of Magic is a very ambitious project, aiming to allow the player to create complex game worlds and narratives on their own and allowing them to use content created by others to populate their own games.
The new game has been described as being a spiritual successor to Master of Magic.