BioWare to address piracy with DLC, multiplayer support
Or in short, BioWare will be tracing the footsteps of Stardock Systems in their approach to piracy. What took them so long to figure this one out, you ask? Few can really explain, but we doubt we’ll be seeing BioWare dumping copy protection in the near future. As long as Electronic Arts has something to say about anti-piracy measures, those Mass Effect woes aren’t going away. More on BioWare’s grand plan at the full story.
While the subject of piracy is age-old, it doesn’t seem to grow old enough in PC gaming. BioWare followed up on its previous comments on continuing PC-exclusive projects by saying they have a new plan to combat piracy on a whole new level. The objective is to get people to want the game so badly by providing additional value and addressing the fan’s needs.
“WeÂ’re doing a lot of post-release downloadable content on all of our PC titles going forward,” Ray Muzyka said to MTV. BioWare’s CEO says that the idea of encouraging players to buy a PC game is a good one, and that it may be the best way to prevent piracy – or at least, the loss of sales.
Stardock Systems, forerunners of that same principle, have been very successful with sales by rewarding gamers who buy a legitimate copy instead of downloading one off BitTorrent. Ironclad Games‘ Sins of a Solar Empire and Strategy First‘s Galactic Civilizations 2 have long been supported in the post-sales period with continuous updates and content.
Muzyka believes that it’s important to “have players that want your games, want to believe in them and think theyÂ’re high-quality” in the future. It’s by increasing the value of the investment that may convince a gamer that their money will be well spent after checking out with a game from their local retailer. And by doing so, they’ll be able to ensure a loyal fan base.
But will this mean that BioWare will be cleaving their ties with the infamous “draconian” DRM? Stardock Systems’ success was multi-tiered: on one hand they provided more value, and on the other, they severed their relations with StarForce and dropped copy protection altogether.
The notion that BioWare could drop SecuROM is alluring, despite the fact that it’s highly unlikely. We’re expecting BioWare’s Dragon Age debut vid to air in just a few hours’ time. Stay tuned for that and more.
Related articles:
- BioWare ‘looking at’ iPhone development, says continuing PC exclusive development ‘feasible’
- Mass Effect PC activation procedures screw over legitimate copy owners
- Mass Effect PC to have Securom installed, re-authentication required every ten days
- Sins of a Solar Empire blog: on copy protection, or the lack thereof
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