Gaming Not-Roundup: An Easy End to Videogame Piracy? You Wish

As we've become painfully aware over the past couple of weeks, game publishers will do just about anything if it means pointing an over-sized foam middle-finger in piracy's direction. But, with EA's recent decision to plunge a grimy claw into an old wound that was finally beginning to scab over, another lesson has been hammered into our collective conscious: DRM doesn't work. It alienates legitimate customers and pushes budding pirates right over the edge.

However, there are other, much more viable methods of thwarting thieves, most of which are only now heaving themselves upward and making awkward, Bambi-esque strides into the limelight. Thus far, however, only one such anti-piracy tool has proven itself stupidly lucrative: the subscription fee.

During this week's Activision Analyst Day event, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith mused about a possible Guitar Hero subscription service -- part of the publisher's plan to "monetize" the series. In addition, he noted that Call of Duty could fall under a similar, dollar-shaped banner.

Taken on its own, I see no problem with this pseudo-announcement. In both cases, a subscription service would have us lazing in a warm tub of new content with minimal hassle, and, as WoW has kindly pointed out, PC piracy of those games would slope off drastically.

But try ka-ching-ing a few more subscriptions onto your bank account's emaciated form and suddenly, this idea doesn't seem quite so dandy.

Blizzard currently has lifeguards and a series of diving boards stationed around its money vat because WoW is at the zenith of the MMO industry. More importantly, though, WoW is occupying the tippity-top all on its lonesome; no other MMO even comes close. And there's an obvious reason for WoW's totalitarian rule: it's the best. People flock to the game for a good time, and gladly part with $15 every month because -- let's face it -- Age of Conan and games of its ilk definitely aren't slurping up WoW's audience like they once hoped. The majority of WoW's frothing masses get their MMO -- and in many cases, gaming -- fix from WoW and only WoW. Their money is for the Horde.

Two or three subscriptions, though? That's a line only the hardest of the hardcore (and also the too-"busy"-to-cancel lazy) are willing to cross. Even if a plethora of subscriptions siphoned from your wallet the exact same amount of money as paying for individual updates, I'd wager that you'd still be reticent to flash your cash. Why? A single purchase is next to nil. It's an impulse buy. But a subscription fee just screams "commitment," and that's when our brain's little red light flashes to life.

That single negative threatens to obscure any and all positives a subscription-based industry might bring with it. However, all is not lost.

If publishers were to place all of their subscriptions under one, semi-cheap banner -- like a monetized Battle.net or SOE's Station Access, but with every game the publisher offered for a single fee -- customers might not be so overwhelmed by swarms of subscriptions. But even in such a condensed form, the majority of people would probably stick with one publisher -- one commitment -- likely fragmenting the market in the process. If the industry keeps consolidating, though, fragmentation may not be an issue. Really, Activision, EA, and Ubisoft already provide the majority of games we play these days, so a movie industry-like structure may not be far off.

And, of course, we haven't even touched free, ad-supported titles -- which could snugly ride shotgun with subscription-based programs -- but that's another article altogether.

So, what's your opinion on subscription fees? Where do you think they should stand in the fight against piracy? Are they the solution, or will they only lead to unnecessary complications?

from: MyDailySecurity.com


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