RoseLegion: I suppose it just seems odd to me - sans data - to advocate for the expenditure of money/time for the creation, roll out, and support of DRM. Maybe it's just my perspective but it seems more like gambling than risk mitigation.
DRM has been around for years but I've still yet to see any research on it providing a meaningful protection of or improvement to sales (I've looked and you're not the first person I've asked).
Pheace: It's just impossible to measure this. You can't even accurately compare sales of 2 games in the same genre to eachother, or sequels like COD 3/4/5 etc, and that's when you don't even take into account piracy. Given how many factors influence a games sales from price, to quality, to time of the year, to what state the relevant genre is in atm, to whether it catches on or not because of a random Youtuber or what not, to what competition it has at the time of release, etc etc etc...
The only realistic way to say game X would've sold Y if it had not used DRM vs when it did is if you have an alternative universe where everything was exactly the same except one released with DRM and the other didn't.
Aside from that there's little doubt that sales are lost because of piracy, and yes, no doubt that there are also sales gained because of piracy, and unless the internet suddenly becomes 100% controlled it's just not possible to say how much it is affected and in what way the benefit goes and even then it probably still differs per game and price point etc etc.
Cue "Games as a service" which puts control of your game back in the publishers/developers hands.
Right so we have a situation where there may be a net loss in sales. And where DRM if/when it works as intended may result in increased sales. And those increased sales, if indeed they happen, may be enough to pay for the cost of the DRM (or might be a net profit beyond it, or might be a net loss, likely somewhat case by case).
Meanwhile it's certain that DRM negatively effects paying customers (not all but enough for things like this conversation to occur, people to download cracked versions of games they've bought, etc etc) and that while it may mitigate piracy (certainly does in some cases but again case by case and usually it's mostly a delay of weeks/months rather than an actual prevention) but does not prevent it.
So it's balancing the certainty of a negative experience for a selection of paying customers, and a loss of a selection of possible/probable paying customers, in exchange for a stack of "maybe". As I said that seems very odd to me.
Even "games as a service" (which seems like marketing speak for "I've already got your money bro" in many cases) doesn't fully prevent this as there are mods and cracks out even for some games that require external dev/publisher servers to run. This next bit is anecdotal but I personally have no doubt (because I've heard people say as much more than once) that the "you don't own anything, just pay us and cross your fingers" business model has soured some people on gaming (I know folks who've just given it up) and others on digital gaming (I presume it's a minority but I know of folks who've gone pure analogue for their gaming now).
Side note to be clear here, just as my comments about DRM are regarding privet use not commercial, my comments about "games as a service" are about products that would/could otherwise be an actual purchase not a license, meaning that they don't apply to MMOs, or free to play games, both of those types may or may not be good games or treat their players well (case by case basis) but what they're offering is different enough to be an 'apples to oranges' comparison in my estimation. In other words I don't consider them an invalid or poor business model per se, but I personally am generally disinterested in them for the most part (after having tried out several examples of both).
Another example of the service vs ownership thing is the trend in audio books toward license and DRM use rather than actual sales. I read a lot of books, and as well as loving the library I buy a lot of books. Within my book purchases audio books used to be majority because I have dyslexia so my reading speed is not great.
A couple of years ago I had set aside several hundred dollars to subscribe to a "book of the month club" type of service in audio books, I started by looking at major publishers I was aware of and at clearing houses like amazon. When none of them offered me the option to actually buy a product I simply put away my wallet and used my time/money on other things.
The world is full of things to do, and even in entrainment alone (or just gaming for that matter) there is more content than a person could ever experience in a lifetime.
Money is often a hassle to get as most jobs aren't stress free fun.
My responsibility when buying a product is paying for it.
Considering the above and the years I've spent buying and using DRM infused products, and spending money on licensed rather than purchased things and the ultimate conclusion I've come to is that - especially in the context of my fun and relaxation time - I'm going to choose the options that don't punish me (by adding additional hassles and burdens/restriction on my use of my purchase) for what other non-specific people might be doing and the possible harms to income that those things may or may not be having on balance.
Some aspect of it is perspective I'm sure, but I just can't bring myself to spend either my limited time or money paying for things someone else has done, especially with no proof that it will even be a net gain - let alone a guarantee of continued financial solvency - for the people making these products. It's supposed to be a fun way to unwind after all :)
Khatie: This discussion has a lot of meaning for us, as developers. Thanks to everyone who weighed in.
It should be apparent that we appreciate GoG and its players very much; we are happy to have our games here and look forward to Banner Saga 3 joining the platform this summer.
Thanks for following the discussion and for taking the time to let us know that you are :)
I'm happy to have backed Banner Saga 3 on KS and shared some fun times with everyone on Discord.
Really looking forward to getting my copy here on GoG and loading up my BS2 saves, thanks for bringing the game here for a day one release.
