Telltale Games Forums - View Single Post - Any chance of activation-free release?

Soultaker · 02/21/2007, 10:34 am

I can understand that Telltale Games wants to be provide the game exclusively to their customers for at least the first few weeks after release, but it is pretty well known that any protection scheme will be broken eventually, especially if a game contains no online content.

I don't know if you monitor these things, but cracked versions of all three episodes of Sam&Max are readily available and provide 100% of the content without any hassle. Ofcourse I paid for my games because I think it's fair to do so, and it's nice to be able to play them a few weeks earlier, but if you think DRM is preventing people from playing the game without paying, you're dead wrong.

However, I do worry that if I want to replay these games in a few years, it may entirely impossible, either because the complicated DRM schemes used don't work with future operating systems (there were already problems with Windows Vista) or because Telltale Games or Digital River have dropped support for the game or the DRM system (or have gone bankrupt, or lost my registration info, or for some other reason can't/won't support the game anymore). Are you willing to guarantee that the activation system will work indefinitely?

A more practical issue: will the DRM also be present on the CD version that will be shipped after the series is done? Personally, I would like to have a physical copy of the game so I know I can play it later, without having to depend on my current hard disk or your webservers. However, I wonder what the point is if it requires activation and Telltale can't support the game indefinetely. In that case, isn't everyone much better of just downloading the cracked versions of the games (since they don't rely on any support from Digital Rivir or Telltale Games) and burn those on a CD?

Or phrased differently, what do you have to lose by offering an activation-free release as a service to your honest customers later, when cracked versions are already available anyway?

02/21/2007, 10:34 am	#18
Soultaker Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 250	I can understand that Telltale Games wants to be provide the game exclusively to their customers for at least the first few weeks after release, but it is pretty well known that any protection scheme will be broken eventually, especially if a game contains no online content. I don't know if you monitor these things, but cracked versions of all three episodes of Sam&Max are readily available and provide 100% of the content without any hassle. Ofcourse I paid for my games because I think it's fair to do so, and it's nice to be able to play them a few weeks earlier, but if you think DRM is preventing people from playing the game without paying, you're dead wrong. However, I do worry that if I want to replay these games in a few years, it may entirely impossible, either because the complicated DRM schemes used don't work with future operating systems (there were already problems with Windows Vista) or because Telltale Games or Digital River have dropped support for the game or the DRM system (or have gone bankrupt, or lost my registration info, or for some other reason can't/won't support the game anymore). Are you willing to guarantee that the activation system will work indefinitely? A more practical issue: will the DRM also be present on the CD version that will be shipped after the series is done? Personally, I would like to have a physical copy of the game so I know I can play it later, without having to depend on my current hard disk or your webservers. However, I wonder what the point is if it requires activation and Telltale can't support the game indefinetely. In that case, isn't everyone much better of just downloading the cracked versions of the games (since they don't rely on any support from Digital Rivir or Telltale Games) and burn those on a CD? Or phrased differently, what do you have to lose by offering an activation-free release as a service to your honest customers later, when cracked versions are already available anyway?