The 'next level of DRM' was always going to be online gaming or streaming, ever since WoW reached stardom.
We are gradually moving into online-only even with single-player games.
It makes sense because these are the only type of games that can't be pirated.

I'm sure there will be problems. Possible lawsuits if games get removed from the streaming service if they try to sell them to people, people hacking their game to play offline like they did with SimCity, etc. The only way to guarantee something doesn't get pirated is to make sure it says inside your head. You may not make any money, but you won't have to worry about piracy, either.

That's the tricky one, they have to make it clear it is a service where games can get removed without notice, even while you are playing it. This was also the case with OnLive.

It is not really different from e.g. Netflix or Spotify removing movies/TV series/music from their service. I don't think anyone can really sue them for doing that, as long as it is made clear it is a service and you don't receive an actual license for anything you use in those services.

This also affects pricing. I personally feel a monthly fee for unlimited streamed gaming would get a better acceptance than that you pay per game. Maybe the latter will work if you get access to a new streamed AAA game for a few bucks that would otherwise cost you $60. Sort of renting, I guess Sony system has made that clear as they have different price points giving you limited access times to the game, e.g. one day or a week. That's almost the "pay per play" model, really.

The little experience I had with OnLive, from my point of view they had a problem with pricing. If you wanted a new-ish AAA game from them, the price would be the same or even higher than buying from e.g. Steam. You could argue that that is ok because you can play the OnLive version on a device that couldn't possibly run the Steam version (as long as you have fast enough internet to that device), but apparently there weren't yet enough people who found that a good alternative (to owning either a PC or a $200 gaming console that can run that same game locally).

OnLive also had some kind of monthly pay system where you had access to a bunch of games "unlimited" (as long as those games remained in the system, sometimes games might get removed from the access list and new ones added instead), but as I recall they were for the great part lower-end indie games where the argument about not needing a $2000 PC to run it doesn't work. They were not resource-hog AAA games that'd need that $2000 PC.

If we are talking about fully streamed games which you play through a "terminal", then this is not an issue. You simply can't hack such streamed games.

SimCity wasn't really a streamed game, it was a locally-run game that for a reason or another demanded a constant internet connection to EA servers. Diablo 3... as far as I've understood, it is mostly a locally run game, but streams some data from the servers, so maybe it is a partially streamed game. Same for Quantum Break, apparently the video parts will be streamed, while the parts where you play you run locally. Quantum Break could possibly be hacked somehow to make an offline version where it streams those videos from a local repository. No idea how much room all those videos would take especially in 4K resolution, maybe keep only lower-quality videos offline then.

Not to mention how time saving this will be. I can finally finish my backlog!

Yeah, look at the bright side, If we can link minds like Protoss, maybe world peace can be achieved.

Nothing will change for the average Blizzard customer then. ;)

I don't know about that. All it requires is the stripping out of all the remaining copper wire. Yes, that's a lot more complex and costly operation than that one sentence makes it seem. But it's well within the capabilities and budgets of the companies concerned. All they need is the motivation.

You've been watching too much Dr Who and Star Trek. Humans are removing themselves from their own equation. I've seen the future... and it's a 1984 science fiction film called The Terminator.

Where the hell is John Connor when you need him? He's in a lazyboy in his rat box apartment, fapping to VR porn.

Whoa, wait... I've been watching too much sci-fi?

To remove DRM from game streaming and listen to them on your PC or mobile phone, you can use this smart audio recorder for Windows, which not only enables you to remove DRM from the game BGM but also supports to decode DRM from Apple Music and Spotify. Then you will able to listen to them on any device freely. For more: https://www.audfree.com/audio-capture-win/

I've always thought that Game Streaming is an interesting proposition and might be convient for some but honestly the possibility of most games moving towards streaming terrifies me. We already have problems with digital only games just disappearing from stores with no legitimate way of obtaining them. Imagine a streaming only game. Once its gone our only hope is for someone to leak the source files from the developer. Maybe this will never happen and its just wild speculation, but as a games preservationist I'd hate to see more games become unavailable.

Dear Malware Bot,

Why would I want to only listen to my (streamed) games?

A game streaming? I could say hell no and #fckdrm.

What you put on the gaming shelf in your room then? A piece of cardboard with link to the stream? ;)
How to show your grandchilds what games did you play, when you was young, if servers would be dead then?

A family album with screenshots from streaming games is not a good solution.

I think playing streaming games is good, but only when the stream is transmitted from your local machine and not from some untouchable cloud.

Streaming's not all that new of a concept, it's just been kinda rough. OnLive was a pretty good service, but the internet speed requirements were intense, and Western internet is not half as good as it should be.

You've also got the business issue, which is probably the biggest stumbling block outside of tech issues. Companies stand to make more money from the current method of distribution (even more so with Epic Game Store/Discord trying to change the Rev split). That's why most streaming services tend to offer older-middle market stuff than the 'big games'.

Though Ubisoft's flirting with streaming is curious. I don't see it becoming a norm anytime soon.