Posted March 09, 2015
Geralt_of_Rivia: I can tell you what will happen when GOG allows regionally restricted movies. There will always be some guys who circumvent the current control mechanics. At the moment it is merely an IP check which can be easily circumvented with a proxy or a VPN. As soon as the studios can prove that people outside of the allowed region are buying the movie they will scream bloody murder and drag GOG to court. Of course they will choose a country/city where the judges often rule in favor of the content industry.
There they will tell the judge that GOG contractually agreed to sell their movies only to specific countries (they show the contract as proof) and that GOG has violated the contract by insufficiently checking the buyers country and demand that GOG implements better protection (in other words: DRM). With a good lawyer they will most likely get a decision in their favor. And with a court order to implement DRM to uphold its contract GOG can not say 'No' to DRM any more.
That is a possibility, yes. A very scary one, I will admit. There they will tell the judge that GOG contractually agreed to sell their movies only to specific countries (they show the contract as proof) and that GOG has violated the contract by insufficiently checking the buyers country and demand that GOG implements better protection (in other words: DRM). With a good lawyer they will most likely get a decision in their favor. And with a court order to implement DRM to uphold its contract GOG can not say 'No' to DRM any more.
But it's a risk that has to be taken, sooner or later. And which store would you prefer taking this risk? GOG, the only store that has stood up to most - or at least some - of its principles for 7 years, or a new one, which, if all the other current business are anything to go by, will dump all its principles in less than 2 years?
Look, I don't know what the statistics are, but something as successful as GOG sticking to its guns for such a long time is kind of unnatural in the business world.
It's a gamble, but then again, everything is a gamble. I say the odds are more in our favour with GOG than with anyone else. And if we lose... look, we're gonna lose eventually. Do you seriously expect your grandkids will be buying their games DRM-free in here?
Not unless GOG becomes this huge, monolithic unstoppable force that miraculously didn't devour itself in the process. And for that to happen, we'll have to take the gamble.