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Crytek: Crysis Patches Prove Abundant Piracy, Consoles Are 'Very Good DRM Technologies'
by Chris Faylor, Aug 28, 2008 1:00pm PDTWhile some argue that piracy can increase game sales by letting players take a "try before you buy" approach, Crytek business manager Harald Seeley isn't one of them.
Based on downloads of the last Crysis patch, he argues, there were "a lot more active [Crysis] players than there were unit sales."
And since those pirates are still playing the game months after release, Seeley reasons that "then they were a sale that didn't happen but probably would have had it not been possible to obtain the game illegally."
Crytek, the studio that created the hardware intensive Far Cry and Crysis games exclusively for PC, has repeatedly stated that the upcoming Crysis Warhead will be its last PC-only game due to the abundant piracy of PC games.
But just because Crytek is no longer developing PC exclusives, that doesn't mean the company will abandon the platform. "We want to continue to provide our fans in the PC world a rich and engaging experience," Seeley explained to EDGE Online.
"But that doesn't mean we can't also release the same title on consoles. It takes nothing away from the PC gamer if the game is also available on another platform."
"Console technology has advanced a great deal since we released Far Cry," he continued. "Our teams have since found it very exciting to push the boundaries of what most people today consider possible to do on those platforms, both technically and artistically."
In addition, Seeley expressed his belief that things will be better on consoles as "consoles themselves are, in one sense, simply very good DRM technologies."
"Consumers welcome and pay for [consoles], in order to receive the benefits that come with them, such as the healthy variety of games which are able to prosper in such a protected environment, and the greater ease of installation, use and reliability."
Comments
Yup, keep telling yourself that if it makes you sleep better at night. Nevermind the "loaning" of games to friends. Or how about the used game market? How are those sales working out for you? Then you've got the people who have a couple 360's, one modded and one not modded for use on live. That's still cheaper than a decent gaming rig built from the ground up.
I'm not arguing in favor of piracy, nor against the fact that PC games are often obtained without purchase. Seriously though, if these devs think console DRM is "very good" then I'll have some of what they're smoking please.
I honestly don't know why the piracy and DRM card needs to be played to justify expanding your market to the consoles. As a company wanting to get as much return on its investment as possible, Crytek would be silly not to.
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I think that while things like people loaning games out and buying used games is indeed an issue in so far as sales are concerned, I think the fact that consoles turn the whole matter into a brain-dead operation causes more sales. Even with used games consoles just sell so much more because all the average Joe has to do is drop the disc in the thing and he's off.
And if the game sucks well, you can always sell it back and get some money back. Or even bring it back, depending on the return policies. I don't know what it is now but at one time GameStop would take any opened console games back for store credit, but not PC games for obvious reasons.
I think the sheer number of impulse purchases on the consoles more than negates any lost sales due to loaning or renting or used games. But I'd secretly love it if the industry disagreed.
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