The Top 10 Game Industry Disasters of 2013
10. Online DRM
It is not clear just exactly when Digital Rights Management became a dirty phrase for gamers -- probably the first time that a publisher imposed draconian restrictions on a game using what we will call, for lack of a better phrase, creative DRM restrictions?
The problem with DRM is not that it was created to prevent games from being pirated -- hell any gamer who is not invested in stealing games will admit that successful anti-piracy helps keep games profitable, keeps the industry healthy, and that directly translates into more titles and better games for the gamers to play.
The problem is that it seems that many publishers are out of touch with what gamers want in terms of access and convenience. The same cannot be said for gamers and their understanding of what the game publishers (and by extension game studios) want:
They want to kill the used and previously-owned secondary games market.They want an iron-fist method to verify required licensing and 'ownership' -- that word is in quotes because of one of the most fragrant effects of DRM: the re-interpretation of what game ownership means. Thanks to DRM gamers no longer purchase games, they purchase the right to play a game via the limited license they pay for. The actual game media still belongs to the publisher under the modern interpretation.
Thanks to creative use of serial number based aspects of DRM game publishers like EA have enjoyed limited success in dealing with the secondary used game market by requiring codes to register a game. One-time-use codes, so if you purchase a game used, or rent it from a company like GameFly, depending on which game it is you either get a crippled game (usually single-player mode only as online requires the registration code) or it is non-functional.
Experiments with DRM that require the gamer to be online at all times in order to play a title -- one of the more visible examples of that in 2013 was SimCity 5 -- a DRM approach that has garnered massive hostility from gamers -- but not for the reasons you are probably thinking.
Since most gamers already prefer and maintain an active net connection while playing on their console, requiring it is not really that big a deal -- for most gamers. The problem is that there is an entire class of gamers who that requirement basically screws: active duty deployed military gamers -- and screwing them is not an action that the games community will tolerate.
Speaking from personal experience -- I took my PS2 and GameCube to war with me -- I cannot even begin to explain how important gaming was as an outlet, as recreation, and as a way to stay sane. It was all that and more, and if that sort of DRM had been in use?
The thoughtlessness of the decision to require online connectivity as an element of DRM fully illustrates just how out-of-touch the game publishers are. Because while nobody wants war -- and that especially includes the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who are actively participating in the process -- we honor those who stand ready to defend us, and we don't screw them for no good reason. Just saying.
DRM should be a crime. Publishers need to realize that ownership is what capitalism is all about. People move, have friends, share with their friends, and PC's and consoles die. Hard drives crash. No one should be punished for having to deal with an already horrible situation, ie: catastrophic HD failure.
DRM also creates more piracy that it stops.
I personally was sad to hear about the loss of THQ.
But thankful that the Warhammer franchise was bought over. For all of their terrible games, their Dawn of War and Space Marine IPs were solid, fantastic games!
Will Sims freeplay be a contender for 2014 given the uproar of their new update? Should be its been bsit and switch. A real time game where sims live 42 days! Disgraceful.
"The fact that the vast majority of the content that was being targeted legally qualifies as fair use under the current interpretation of the law considered"
That's where a lot of people have a misunderstanding about Fair Use. Their vids might be seen as Fair Use but ONLY a court of law can make that decision no one else can. Also Youtube isn't at fault here, they are doing only what the law says. If someone files a copyright claim against a vid Youtube has to take it down or they may face legal action from the content owner.
Youtube has been sued multiple times by companies and other people over copyright infringement. Youtube was actually going to shut down do to all the legal troubles until Google bought them.
I took a gamecube to Iraq as well. Eternal Darkness was the kind of thing that made war seem not so bad.
Considering the Steam OS, I personally think that was a very big announcement from Valve and as you can see, lots of game developers thought the same.
Linux is going to be the future, like it or not.
Great list. On a positive note for us non multiplayers The Last of Us single handedly saved the single player game 2013.
Who cares about THQ. In the long run something else will fill the void. And the Xbox one is hardly a failure as they are still selling strong and making microsoft money. They told us before that it will be a gaming system AND a multimedia system. People just need to understand that.