14 DAY TRIAL // The debate over video games Digital Rights Management solutions seems to have died down a little in the last few months, but the people at Good Old Games are aiming to resurrect it by saying that the industry should drop protections altogether and deliver a smoother experience for the end user.
Lukasz Kukawski, who is the marketing manager for Good Old Games, has talked to BitTech and said, “What I will say isn’t popular in the gaming industry, but in my opinion DRM drives people to pirate games rather than prevent them from doing that. Would you rather spend $50 on a game that requires installing malware on your system, or to stay online all the time and crashes every time the connection goes down, or would you rather download a cracked version without all that hassle?”
He added, “I know people that buy an original copy of the game just so they don’t feel guilty, and then they will play a pirated version which is stripped of all DRM. That’s not how it should be. Let’s treat legitimate customers with respect and they will give that back.”
Good Old Games sells, as the name implies, older but well-known classics that the company makes sure work on current system and most of the time the package also contains goodies like soundtracks, wallpapers and manuals.
The games do not use any DRM and players are free to download and store them on their own systems.
Kukawski believes that the use of DRM is also undermined by the fact that a lot of major launches are available via torrent before they are in store and by the fact that a lot of groups can easily crack most protections.
Developers and publishers have worked to reduce piracy by including content which requires the player to go online in order to be activated and by adding a lot of social features to the experience.