"Microsoft May Have Figured Out How To Stop Computer Game Piracy" - Sounds like Steam

[wir]

http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-may-have-just-figured-out-how-to-stop-computer-game-piracy-2009-3

Microsoft (MSFT) has a new vision for how to stop the rampant piracy of computer games. And of course, Microsoft is right in the middle of the new system.

The key change is to abandon the idea of trying to stop pirates from copying software. Instead, Microsoft thinks software should be everywhere -- publishers could even distribute some games on P2P networks like BitTorrent. But to play, gamers would need to purchase a license online. That license becomes portable, letting the gamer play wherever they are.

What we like about the Microsoft idea:

* Win for publishers: Piracy is a revenue-killer for gaming companies. And when publishers try to solve the problem themselves, like EA (ERTS) did last year with Spore, the anti-DRM crowd on the Internet goes nuts.
* Double win for publishers: Microsoft's tech will help keep a game locked up until the official launch date. "Leaked" copies of games eating into first-week sales is a huge revenue-killer for gaming companies.
* Win for gamers, too: No more worries about losing install discs. And under a licensing model, gamers can run a game on multiple PCs without running afoul of DRM locks, long a bitter complaint.
* Double win for gamers: The free-to-distribute but pay-to-play model encourages game publishers to release free demos to suck gamers in, as is now common on the PS3 and X360. And as part of the licensing system, Microsoft wants to let gamers save their games to the cloud -- start a game at home, play some more on another PC, all with no fuss.
* Win for Microsoft: Microsoft presumably has a revenue opportunity as the gatekeeper. And Windows is already by far the preferred platform for heavy-duty games over Apple's (AAPL) Mac. Making life easy for publishers will only cement that.

It all sounds a bit like Valve's Steam gaming delivery system, but that's not a bad thing.

No word yet on when these new ideas will get implemented, but we're looking forwards to seeing how it all works in practice.

[uro]

It didn't stop piracy on Steam, and I can't see it working any better for Microsoft.

[hawk]

I don't think it will work, although it is an interesting concept.

[kolle_hond]

Windows live was the one reason Dawn of war 2 was so easy to crack. No steam emulators, nothing, just one more way to pirate the game.

[Glordit]

I don't think it will work, although it is an interesting concept.

+1 Steam is cool, but requires huge ammounts of bandwith If you "misplace" or get your originals CD/DVD's stolen.


* Win for gamers, too: No more worries about losing install discs. And under a licensing model, gamers can run a game on multiple PCs without running afoul of DRM locks, long a bitter complaint.

There is the problem what if you "misplace" the DVD how do you get the game again? - By Downloading it?

[Wesley]

It all sounds a lot like Steam, but the cloud computing element rears its poster-boy head. Its a brilliant idea, but its not going to take off with the competition from Steam, which has been working for a long time now without many problems.

However, a more worrying aspect of this is the use of the internet - countries such as ours, which dont have internet widely available or with as much cap as America, will lose out on the available game content and the ability to save or even play a game without being online. Lets face it, this will work for those who can afford it. For those who cant, Microsoft should just start releasing games on digital formats, starting with SD cards or USB thumb drives - they can be copy-protected and coded, so you cant play more than one version of the game on another pc without first uninstalling the current one. If you want to play the game, plug the stick in and play after a quick authorization - can anyone else think of a better way?

[Kharrak]

It didn't stop piracy on Steam, and I can't see it working any better for Microsoft.

Steam didn't prevent piracy 100%, but it sure as hell cut away the vast majority of it. Pirate copies of games that work specifically with steam are immensely inadequate, they are disconnected from patch support and content updates (not to mention they are more often than not as unstable as hell). There is extra motivation to buy the legal game, the consumer is rewarded for it greatly.

[Bonezmann]

Well, Steam did cut away a vast majority of Pirates, but there are Steam Emulators and some of them work very well. Furthermore, by cutting away pirates, they also disable gamers without Credit Cards(like me) from buying games. So imo it's sort of a double edged sword. (Take for example Audio Surf, it's an awesome game, but gamers without credit cards can' buy it, and it's not available in retail stores.)

[Kharrak]

Well, Steam did cut away a vast majority of Pirates, but there are Steam Emulators and some of them work very well. Furthermore, by cutting away pirates, they also disable gamers without Credit Cards(like me) from buying games. So imo it's sort of a double edged sword. (Take for example Audio Surf, it's an awesome game, but gamers without credit cards can' buy it, and it's not available in retail stores.)

I know of the steam emulators... but they are STILL cut off from the content updates and patches. They just run the game in version 1.0 mode :P

The steam emulated copy of TF2 is still the archaic beta version. I seem to remember some people discussing that they found a way to update the files to a more recent setting, but that means (a) getting EVERYONE to update, and (b) it will STILL be out of date as the patches role out.

Also, the gift feature in steam is an easy way around the credit card function. Pay someone via bank transfer, they buy the game and gift it to you. I've gotten several steam games (including audiosurf) this way.

Steam is ALSO experimenting with en mass discounts and "weekend deals", which is proving to me unbelievably successful. The fact that sales for L4D (which was selling well to begin with) jumped by 4000% when it on a weekend special says something... and I kinda think that that circumvents a lot of the remaining piracy elements.