| Squilliam said: They implement the HDCP for media companies, even though they barely get any use on PCs. But they don't seem willing/able to help out PC developers by implementing the same type of seamless content protection for PC games. Why can't they help implement a system which makes it easier to people who pay for their games to play them and harder for people who don't. They could you know, make it the reverse of the current situation. They have a perfect opportunity to get AMD/Nvidia to implement hardware content protection right into the video cards themselves. It doesn't even have to be harsh, all it needs to do is give the pirates a worse experience than the people who pay for the games. They could do something simple like deny any future DX11+ features for people who have pirated games. If they can keep the hardware of the Xbox 360 encrypted, im sure they could do likewise for the PC games and make it a complete PITA to bypass. Make people click 100 UAC screens or something to show how keen they are to pirate the games. Im sure if someones willing to take that punishment they deserve to not pay for the game or something. Im not an online gamer, im a single player gamer and really the PC is suffering for a lot of these kinds of experiences. I hardly play my PC anymore because the PC is a shadow of its former self and a game platform to me and pretty much its all down to piracy. The games cost more to make but the number of people paying for them seems to be dropping. |
I had a big response to this written out the other day, but didn't end up posting it (was writing it at work and got distracted). I might repeat some of what others have said by now, but I'll try and reiterate what I was going to say:
- Implementation of systems like HDCP require effort from all parties involved. For a system like the PC which has for a long time been open and any efforts to close it off are going to be met with significant resistance to the point where the effort isn't worth it. Even if everyone agreed to do so, all it takes is a poor implementation on a single piece of hardware (or software) and everything is compromised.
- Systems like HDCP are inherently flawed. You cannot develop a system where both the content and the key are given to the person you are trying to keep out (just like all DRM) and expect it to work.
- Implementing protection into the video card isn't going to help when the executable is accessable and can be easily reverse engineered.
- HDCP is a good example of why this wouldn't work anyway. HD movie piracy from Blu-ray/HD-DVD sources occurs before HDCP even comes into play (see previous point).
- Consoles (aka "closed systems") aren't immune from piracy. They might have lower piracy levels, but I have not seen any figures indicating if this is true or not.
- It only takes 1 person to go through the hassle of getting past the copy protection before its all over. Systems like this have consistantly shown to not stop piracy but annoy the legit buyers who end up with quirks in the system.
- I'm not convinced that piracy is the cause of PC gamings "decline". I think various factors including MMOs (more on this in a second), consoles being easier and perceived as more social, and general costs of PC gaming (especially for keeping up to date with the latest games) are just as likely to be notable factors.
- As to the point on MMOs. In 2008, the PC gaming industry was valued at $11 billion (up from $10.7 billion in 2007). WoW alone accounted for over $1 billion of this number, with thier 11.5+ Million subscribers. To put this into perspective, there more people who play a single PC game than 1/2 of the entire PS3 install base. Many (most?) of these people, who would have purchased numerous PC games during the year, are now buying few to none. While I don't have any figures on hand, one I heard about 12 months ago was there was approximately 35 million MMO players world wide. I don't know how many PC gamers there actually are, but if we assume the market is a similar size to say 50% (random number) of the console market, this is potentially 50% of PC gamers now tied with with MMOs and no longer making purchases of other games.
- Piracy is a social problem*, not a technical one. A social problem requires a social solutions and no amount of technical barriers are going to stop it without compromising the product being sold.
*As a software developer, I don't see piracy as the real problem. The real problem is companies with a business model of trying to sell a product of infinite supply as a supply restricted product in a market where everyone has readily available access to duplication tools. This isn't to say I'm against copyright completely, but there needs to be an overhaul in both laws and business models to bring them up to speed with technology and social norms.
