Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens isn’t convinced that DRM is the best solution for combating piracy. Instead, he proposes a new business model which would see publishers sell unfinished games and users top up the experience with optional additional downloads.
“… My initial thought is that DRM is not the answer to the piracy issue,” Cousens writes on CVG. “The videogames industry has to learn to operate in a different way. My answer is for us as publishers to actually sell unfinished games - and to offer the consumer multiple micro-payments to buy elements of the full experience. That would create an offering that is affordable at retail - but over a period of time may also generate more revenue for the publishers to reinvest in our games.
“When it comes to piracy, I think you have to make the experience the answer to the issue - rather than respond the other way round and risk damaging that experience for the user. But I may be a lone voice in that,” he added.
Four per cent of US gamers admitted to piracy as part of a study published by the NPD Group in January.
2009’s most pirated title is thought to have been Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The PC version was reportedly illegally downloaded 4.1 million times last year.