GoG edition of The Witcher 2 is DRM-free!

[Pulsar_t]

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/17/the-w ... om-gog-co/



Great news!

[GSZX1337]

We had a thread on this a bit ago:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... +Witcher+2

Anyway, even though I like how GoG is DRM-Free, but I'll still be getting the Steam version. Yeah, Steam is still DRM, but at least Valve understands that you have to give the consumer something in return (auto-patching, SteamCloud, etc.).

[Pulsar_t]

Oops! will convert this to a general impressions thread once the game is released.

[brunoafh]

Pretty cool, but it's hard to come up with a reason not to just buy a physical copy.

[jfrost]

Pretty cool, but it's hard to come up with a reason not to just buy a physical copy.

Physical copy has DRM.

[brunoafh]

Pretty cool, but it's hard to come up with a reason not to just buy a physical copy.

Physical copy has DRM.

So? I didn't say anything about DRM. I just prefer to have a box and manual with my games.

[jfrost]

Pretty cool, but it's hard to come up with a reason not to just buy a physical copy.

Physical copy has DRM.

So? I didn't say anything about DRM. I just prefer to have a box and manual with my games.

You said it was hard to come up with a reason not to just buy a physical copy. I'd say DRM is a pretty compelling reason. Maybe not to you, but in general it is.

In fact, I'd say it's pretty hard to come up with a reason to buy physical PC releases nowadays. Physical copies are mostly worthless. They aren't like console games, in that you can bring the disc with you and play anywhere, or lend it to someone.

Most forms of PC games DRM make it difficult for you to install the game in more than one machine, or outright forbid you to. Many retail releases nowadays are using Steamworks, so you might as well buy them on Steam (unless you want some retail swag), because you won't be able to play them outside your account. Some forms of DRM, like Ubisoft's, require constant internet connection, some require authentication every once in a while.

By contrast, digital PC distribution is pretty convenient. DRM is often much more lenient than the one present in discs, you don't have to have a disc in your drive, you don't pay taxes attached to the physical product.

Not to mention that retail PC games are a dying breed; they can't be found anywhere, and if they can, they're all too frequently overpriced. On the other hand, sales are commonplace in the digital realm.

Really, the reasons for preferring DD are quite good. You might not be swayed by them, but I think you'd be hard pressed to say otherwise.

[GSZX1337]

*long reason why physical copies of PC games suck now*

Thanks for reminding me of that.

[brunoafh]

Hm. That sounds pretty lousy. I've strayed a lot from PC gaming, I haven't bought a PC game in years. I didn't know it got that bad. Why do publishers make physical copies seemingly infeasible (going by what you wrote), and allow their digital releases to be so attractive, and less restrictive of what the user wants to do with their rights to the software?

[jfrost]

There are several reasons. I think the main one is that is much more advantageous to publishers to sell a game on Steam, or GamersGate, or what have you, than at Gamestop. The director of 1c Publishing said the following:

Since 1997, when 1C’s gaming division was founded, the company worked on a model whereby a title developed and sold by 1C in Russia was then sub-licensed to our great publishing partners.

As a generalisation, retail would pay these guys a maximum of 40 per cent of what they made. So on a £29.99 game the publisher would receive about £12 (and on a sub-licensed deal, we would then only get about £4.25 of that) – minus return, write down and consignment costs.

When would we get that money? Well, payment would be by the end of the quarter.

So, let’s say £10 per unit sale goes to the publisher, £3 to the developer/sub-licensor, and it’s in your bank five months after the customer has paid out £30.

Compare that to the digital model. On a £29.99 sale, the digital partner will pay the publisher – or in many cases direct to the developer – between 60 and 70 per cent, by the end of the month following the sale.

Wow. To recap: on a sale over the counter today, we can have our £3 by the end of March, or on a digital sale, we can have £20 by Christmas.

Remind me why we should choose to go with retail and decline to let Steam sell the game?