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Bioware to combat piracy problem with more DLC

by Steven Williamson on 9 July 2008, 12:58

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Videogame developer, Bioware is set to combat the problem of piracy in PC gaming by focusing more on downloadable content for its titles, which they hope will encourage its loyal fans to buy its titles.

Whilst Crysis developer, Crytek believes that the problem is so serious that it's looking toward creating multi-platform releases rather than PC exclusives. Bioware believe that the problem is manageable:

"We're doing a lot of post-release downloadable content on all of our PC titles going forward," BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka told MTV Multiplayer. "We think it's a good thing to encourage players to make them want to buy a PC title. That's ultimately the best, most successful path to prevent piracy - to have players that want your games, want to believe in them and think they're high-quality and realize they're going to get a lot of value out of them as platforms for long time afterwards."

One industry expert, David Perry, whose creations include Earthworm Jim, MDK, Messiah , Wild 9 and Enter the Matrix, believes that the Western games industry will eventually combat piracy problem by offering games for free and take a leaf out of EA's book who will be releasing its Battlefield Heroes game free of charge and then charging for extra content, such as armour and weapons.

Source :: MTV multiplayer


HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

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Posted by TheBloodyNine - Wed 09 Jul 2008 13:44
Thats all well and good but when was the last time a “loyal customer” pirated a game? And considering pirates bypass the copy protection on new games on the day of release how do you stop them doing the same to the DLC?

I like the idea of free games, dosnt everyone, but with free games comes a lack of attachment to game accounts for online play, and an increase in hacks and cheats, if your account is free who cares if you get banned.

Also buy charging for items and guns you start to create an unlevel playing field, people with lots of money get to buy all the extra special super guns and armour and thoose with no money end up getting dominated by players with an “unfair” advantage.
Posted by kalniel - Wed 09 Jul 2008 14:12
TheBloodyNine
Thats all well and good but when was the last time a “loyal customer” pirated a game?
There's no such thing as a loyal customer in the video games business.

Also buy charging for items and guns you start to create an unlevel playing field, people with lots of money get to buy all the extra special super guns and armour and thoose with no money end up getting dominated by players with an “unfair” advantage.
Not if the total cost of all the micropayments is less than the cost of a full retail game would otherwise be.
Posted by TheBloodyNine - Mon 14 Jul 2008 08:56
Not if the total cost of all the micropayments is less than the cost of a full retail game would otherwise be.

It dosnt really matter how much the total cost of the micropayments are it will still create a two seperate classes of player, the haves and the have nots. It dosnt even have to be a case of not being able to afford the extras it maybe a simple case of not being old enough to have accounts with which ever payment method they require. Sure some kids will be able to ask parents to do it, but I know for a fact my parents wouldnt have given me more to buy guns and armour in a “free” game.

I know I bought up free games but Bioware are talking about doing this for standard games to get more people to buy more PC games, but I doubt DLC will be free for that either
Posted by kalniel - Mon 14 Jul 2008 10:04
TheBloodyNine
It dosnt really matter how much the total cost of the micropayments are it will still create a two seperate classes of player, the haves and the have nots.
How is that different from the people that have the game vs those that have not? Or those that have the expansion vs those that don't? As a gamer I think the more people that can afford to play at all the better.

It dosnt even have to be a case of not being able to afford the extras it maybe a simple case of not being old enough to have accounts with which ever payment method they require. Sure some kids will be able to ask parents to do it, but I know for a fact my parents wouldnt have given me more to buy guns and armour in a “free” game.
You're in a gaming minority if you are dependant on parents - most gamers are something like 20-40 years old, and while companies like to look to ways of expanding their market base (which they could do by offering pre-pay cards in retail outlets for example), they will usually tailor their systems to the majority market.

I know I bought up free games but Bioware are talking about doing this for standard games to get more people to buy more PC games, but I doubt DLC will be free for that either
*shrugs* I will always judge a game on its value here and now. If a game requires additional payments to be fun then I will assess whether the overall fun is worth the overall cost. If I don't think a game is fun without extra content then I won't buy it in the first place. Most of the market works the same way, so developers will always have to produce something that customers view as worth the money.
Posted by Eagle - Mon 14 Jul 2008 18:08
Bioware don't exactly make multiplayer games, so having less items and guns won't really put you at a disadvantage, maybe make the single player a little more difficult thats it. Having actual stories or areas to explore, thats more likely what bioware are talking about. Like in KOTOR1 they had an extra area that XBOX users had to download (It came with the PC Game) but things like that are what i'd expect bioware to do.

Bioware make some incredible games aswell, so have some faith.

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