Fighting PC game piracy with restrictive copy protection is "a losing battle", Blizzard has said.
Blizzard hopes the new and improved Battle.net service, which connects players from across Blizzard's stable of games, will be attractive enough to convince would-be pirates to buy the game.
"If we've done our job right and implemented Battle.net in a great way people will want to be connected while they're playing the single player campaign so they can stay connected to their friends on Battle.net and earn the achievements on Battle.net," Frank Pearce, Blizzard co-founder and executive producer on StarCraft II told VideoGamer.com.
Blizzard reveals plans to speed up Diablo releases with more frequent expansions and updates as the franchise moves toward a live-service future.
All I want is a physical disc release of remastered D2 that doesn't require online check-ins.
I've lost complete interest. Too much FOMO with seasons as it is, now it's expansions? No thanks.
what fomo? everything gets reset each season and you start new characters unless you're playing on the regular servers and then you're already maxxed anway and just need to participate in the new season stuff.
i played only during launch and i found the ones in that battlepass to be absolute dogwater, the only ones that looked somewhat cool were the paid ones in the store and i wont bother with either. The game itself was just so hollow, there were no cool builds cause every synergy was just "x or y skills does more dmg or has this extra effect" almost no experimentation needed, couldnt give a rats ass about armor if the core of the game is boring af.
A strong majority of quality assurance workers at Blizzard’s Albany and Austin locations overwhelmingly voted to ratify a union contract at Microsoft, ensuring lasting protections in the workplace.
Blizzard has revealed their showcase schedule for 2026.
They're right that DRM is a losing battle.
But...
It's not Battle.net that makes me want to buy the game. It's the fact that I'm pretty darn sure that I'll be enjoying it for enough hours to make it worth my money. All the other stuff is just an added bonus. If the game is a turd, they can polish it as much as they want with extra services and what not... I still won't buy it because it's... well a turd.
As for the DRM, should it happen that it's actually a game worth paying for in itself, but the DRM makes it a pain to enjoy, then I'll look elsewhere to spend my money and see if there's a better choice. The thing is, I only have so much money to spend, so I have to make those choices and a pain-in-the-butt DRM definitely qualifies as a parameter that goes into consideration when making that choice.
In short, make a quality game with a reasonable DRM that doesn't get in my way constantly and you'll get my money. Make a turd or something decent with a draconian DRM and it's a trip to the local friendly torrent site when I'm bored out of my mind. Just remember that it was never a loss since I would never have purchased it to begin with and should you come up with the perfect uncrackable DRM, it won't magically make me go out and purchase it since... guess what? I only have so much money to spend, so I pick what I feel will give me the most entertainment for my money.
battle.net and over IP LAN is a DRM
period
People will pirate regardless of whatever retarded DRM you place on the game.
The only difference is that DRM punishes legitimate customers, while people that pirate it get around it completely.
I love how companies that are using ridiculous drm that doesn't work and simply annoys legit customers act like they aren't.