New Stardock Tech 'Throws Goo on DRM,' Allows Gamers to Resell Downloaded Games

Elemental: War of Magic developer and Sins of a Solar Empire publisher Stardock today unveiled Goo, a new technology that the company claims will solve common publisher and consumer complaints with digitally distributed games and DRM.

Short for "Game Object Obfuscation," Goo will let developers "encapsulate their game executable into a container that includes the original executable plus Impulse Reactor, Stardock's [suite of developer tools], into a single encrypted file."

The first time a player runs a "Goo'd" game, they will need to enter their e-mail address and serial number for online activation. The game is then tied to a user's account, with Stardock adding that "the game never needs to connect to the Internet again."

"[Goo] finally makes possible a way for gamers and publishers to transfer game licenses to players in a secure and reliable fashion," said Stardock CEO Brad Wardell.

The technology is set to debut on April 7 in an update to Stardock's digital distribution platform Impulse. Major publishers using Goo should be announced soon.

In addition, the company sent over a list of the "unique advantages" that Goo provides:

1. There is no third-party client required. This means a developer can use this as a universal solution since it is not tied to any particular digital distributor.

2. It paves the way to letting users validate their game on any digital distribution service that supports that game. One common concern of gamers is if the company they purchased a game from exits the market, their game library may disappear too. Games that use Goo would be able to be validated anywhere.

3. It opens the door to gamers being able to resell their games because users can voluntarily disable their game access and transfer their license ownership to another user.