this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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Ubisoft Exec Says Gamers Need to Get 'Comfortable' Not Owning Their Games for Subscriptions to Take Off::An executive at Assassin’s Creed maker Ubisoft has said gamers will need to get “comfortable” not owning their games before video game subscriptions truly take off.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Tell me how do you but a game on Steam and play it without downloading it from their servers? 🤔

Downloading a DRM-free game from a web store is not DRM no matter how much you repeat that it is.

It is, you depend on a digital storefront to have a proof of ownership and to download the game in the first place.

It isn't. The files can be copied and distributed any way you like. Same goes for GOG. A DRM-free game is a DRM-free game. It can be copied.

What's digital about physical copies?

It's still digital. It contains digital data... come on, you can't seriously be unaware of this. Is a digital camera not digital because it stores the data on a physical SD card?

Physical media has DRM too. CDs, DVDs, BluRays, game cartridges all have DRM.

Your argument that buying something means it's DRM is nonsense. Buying something from a physical shop and buying something online isn't different. They both require you to hand over money to get the game files. They're either both DRM or neither are.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Which is the only way you can own and play a game without an internet connection?

That's the only true DRM free and true ownership experience.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You're moving the goalposts again?

Downloading a game isn't DRM.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes it is as you depend on the goodwill of a digital platform. If Steam bans you how do you prove that you own the "DRM free" games you've bought from them and haven't simply pirated them?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Why would you need to prove anything? The whole point of DRM free is that you don't need to prove anything, you just run it.

By saying that you want a mechanism for proving ownership, you're essentially saying you want DRM.

If steam bans me, I run the executables that I've downloaded. Same as I would if I pirated it.

Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft can block you from playing your physical media, and yet you claim that isn't DRM, because the data exists on a disc/cartridge, rather than stored on an SSD.

You are showing a fundamental cluelessness of what DRM actually is.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft can block you from playing your physical media

Only if there's an online component to the game. If I go buy a brand new Switch and a physical copy of Mario Kart, there's nothing Nintendo can do to stop me from playing the game.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Not true. Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo can and do brick peoples systems, e.g. when they're reported stolen or someone modifies their system. You rely on their goodwill every time you use the system or launch a game.

And Switch game cartridges literally contain DRM lmao

Nice job ignoring the rest of my comment.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Tell me, how do you brick a system remotely if it's not connected to the internet? Entertain me, please!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Here in the real world, people connect their devices to the internet. This isn't 2002. People connect their consoles to the internet, and OEMs can control them.

Additionally, a lot of new games won't run on these consoles unless you have an updated system.

I see you again are not only moving goalposts, but you are also ignoring most of my comment.

You going to answer anything? Untangle yourself from all the leaps you've made?