Why Do Companies Bother with Anti-Piracy?

[Moonface]

This came to mind back when @Maniakkid25 brought up the Resident Evil 4 Remake getting Denuvo added to it. Why do companies still bother putting anti-piracy programs into their games nowadays when most of the time one of two things happen:

1. The anti-piracy software gets cracked within a matter of days so anyone who wants to pirate the game can now do so freely.
   
2. The anti-piracy software gets removed by the developers, either very soon after release or a while later.
   

Then it cases like Denuvo, it affects the performance of the games it gets implemented into and all that does is negatively effect the people who actually paid for the game. Meanwhile, those who will pirate it will probably have their hands on the game without Denuvo within a week, getting the game not only for free but also with better performance as it isn't going to be bogged down by an anti-piracy software.

I know publishers and developers don't want their stuff pirated, so I get why you would take steps to stop that in that sense but I get the impression it's such a waste of time when anyone who's going to pirate a game knows it won't be a long wait for the anti-piracy software to be circumvented. If I was gonna pirate a game, waiting an extra week or so to do so isn't going to make me buy the game instead. You never really see publishers taking steps to encourage people to buy a game at full price instead of waiting on a sale because they probably know nothing is going to change those peoples minds, yet somehow expect anti-piracy software to change the minds of the people who were never going to pay for the game no matter what.

[Monocle]

honestly, I really don't understand the point anymore. Pirates were never going to buy it from the get go so they're perfectly fine waiting for the cracks or removal of anti piracy. considering they probably pirate a ton of products their backlog is bigger than ours more than likely.

you do have those that want to "try" the games before buying them as well but it's still illegal sooooo stop it.

and yeah I'm a huge fan of emulation and getting the games for emulation without owning then it's illegal but then you have games like Metal Gear Solid 4 that you have to find a physical copy somewhere because it was never released digitally. How is there any game preservation? buying it from a scalper only helps the scalper and not the publisher.

So yeah. I'm definitely putting the onus on developers and publishers to find better ways to protect their games WITHOUT actually harming them AND yup find better ways to preserve their games. it's ridiculous that there are so many games we can't access without a specific system or having owned a physical copy only.

[Moonface]

Emulation I think is a much greyer area than piracy, simply because if you own the game already then emulating it isn't hurting anything, and then there are games where emulation is practically the only way to even get a game nowadays (expect to see that jump way up in the wake of the eShop closures recently).

I don't think having anti-piracy software in the games would be a bad thing if they don't end up causing problems like Denuvo seems to do. It must clearly do something negative to the games when it seems to be the only one I keep seeing news about developers removing it from their games later down the line. I never see stories about other softwares being removed from games to the point I can't name any other anti-piracy software that exists unless I go and Google it.

[Monocle]

They literally only do it to prevent first week or two sales. That's when they make most money. When they see the numbers dropping and then plateauing, they know they've bled it for sales and remove the drm. They're not dumb. they know it affects their games. They know it's bad for consumers. only thing that matters is that almighty money they love.

If only they'd think like a consumer instead. They'd quickly realize that the people who were going to buy it will buy it no matter what, destructive drm or not

[Moonface]

Is there any evidence that shows the difference it actually makes to sales at all? I'm curious to see but I feel like it's practically impossible to collect data on it since you either sell a game with anti-piracy or don't so there's no way to compare both scenarios with the same game.

[Monocle]

I'm sure there were a few studies done but you actually have Denuvo themselves saying that their anti piracy is meant to protect initial sales. They know that their product is harmful to the user experience and they don't care. they won't optimize it because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. buuuut... it is broken. It messes with performance so it's broken.

[Moonface]

I'm sure there were a few studies done but you actually have Denuvo themselves saying that their anti piracy is meant to protect initial sales. They know that their product is harmful to the user experience and they don't care. they won't optimize it because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. buuuut... it is broken. It messes with performance so it's broken.

Ah. Well that would line up with how most games remove Denuvo a while after launch, likely when sales have died down so much there's no need to continue trying to enforce anti-piracy on the game.

I doubt it would remotely hold up well nowadays as a method, but I just remembered how Insomniac tackled piracy of the Spyro games by having pirated copies of the third game trigger an Anti-Piracy system which would change aspects of the game: https://www.ign.com/wikis/spyro-year-of-...py_Effects

[ShiraNoMai]

That still happens these days with companies that chose not to go the Denuvo route. They'll put in little changes like that to their in-game textures and models, I think as recent as Mirror's Edge (where it doesn't allow you to run period, which makes the game unbeatable.

[Monocle]

Yeah. It's still done. if I recall, the latest series of Atelier games, Ryza, give you garbled text. Not entirely sure. I think a few of the games in the entire series do that

[Moonface]

Huh, didn't think games would still be taking that approach so recently. I decided to go looking for what other techniques games did and I think Serious Sam 3 might have one of the most hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e91q5Btl...MartinVida

I bet someone has tried to beat the entire game with that creature enabled just for the sheer fun of it. XD

[Monocle]

That's absolutely hilarious.

see, anti piracy like that I would enjoy. doesn't fuck with performance and injects humor.

[Moonface]

see, anti piracy like that I would enjoy. doesn't fuck with performance and injects humor.

Is it truly enjoyable though if stuff like that makes it incredibly difficult if not outright impossible to beat the game?

[Monocle]

I mean for challenge runs? sure. totally enjoyable.

but for others? well, should've bought the game lmao.