MattDizzle

Ok guys i'll make this as simple as i can.

Piracy is having a massive impact on getting PC games funded and green-lit (approved for production), more and more people are gaining acess to always-on broadband and the software required to pirate any game, software or movie they wish. Due to the unique way in which the internet is decentralized and tends to treat censorship or intrusion in any way like a body treats an infection (Contain and replace), i dont see this stopping any time in the future, or at least the next 10 years.

At the same time the costs associated with making a video game have skyrocketed, gamers demand bigger worlds, more accurate animations, gone are the days when it was a 2d bar with buttons and text speech. So the income has simultaneously been cut, while the costs continue to skyrocket.

So, now ubisoft ( lets just say, for example) has 5 options:

1. Stop making niche games, Il2 and Silent hunter are not popular, they are made in europe and sent over here to what i am sure is a pitiful audience, maybe a tenth the size of the latest assasins creed game. They have chosen not to do this. Somewhere deep down they covet that EA money, but have chosen not to do this.

2. Charge $250 for silent hunter 5- 1939-1945 edition. Its simple math people, they need to get more money from less people to even have a hope of staying afloat, or expanding. They have chosen not to do this, kind of. (see 4)

3. Make piracy a pain in the ass. This is the dreaded DRM, if they can delay the first pirate a week before a copy hits bittorrent, thats money in the payroll account. You'd be stupid not to try. In the olden days of 2005 they used invasive and ridiculous software to do this (Starforce), today they use something no more invasive than a steam account. I support the online option 100% and have had no problems with it after more than a week of gameplay. Not a single disconnect or CTD. Releasing a "buggy" game from the box and already having a patch ready to go is also a great method. Offline pirates cant fix their game until they spend yet another week figuring out how the hell to get the patch working. Ubi has done this

4. Copy GabeN: (episodic gaming) Remember how i said they need to make more money from fewer customers? This is simply financially unavoidable, so to make it more realistic to your budget they break a massive ridiculous game into several smaller, but still substantial games. If they keep delivering a quality product than spending 200+ on a game, albiet over a period of a few years and several titles, makes sence. I'll be buying whatever they come out with for SH5 in the future. So far it looks like this is the direction UBI is going in.


PS: Bitching about DRM and every issue like this is a joe everyman vs evil corporate overlord just makes us look like a market not worth pandering to, and they will never bother to make sims anymore at all. They could go all EA and just release Joe Xtreem's Pro ATV 2011. it would sell like a storm and they would bank, but those games are horrible. I cant promise anything but this appears to be something called "Ethics" and "pride" that i've never seen a corporation exhibit before.