It was like a million voices … suddenly silenced!

“A great disturbance in the Force. It was like a million voices crying out in unison, then suddenly silenced.”

Yes Star Wars, uttered by the famous Alec Guinness, as Obi-Wan Kenobi. And the reason why I am mentioning this?

http://www.ripten.com/2008/02/28/gaming-trends-part-2-the-state-of-pc-gaming/

I think this document says a lot about PC Gaming and the state of Piracy! It’s not about customers having to jump through humiliating loops in order to perform, and they are. It’s not about how illegal downloaders are laughing all the way to the bank, and they are. It’s not about the pure frustration the game publishers as they desperately try anything, and they are! It’s about the will of change, continuing to do something until they find a solution!

For the Pirates that are laughing, know this, piracy has forced a change in PC Gaming.

This change could go either way, after many times of losing sales and control of their products. Something had to give, and there are two choices, Stream Gaming, or something fair to both sides of the coin.

If the Game Publisher only released games on Streaming Platforms, they could charge what they liked and they will never lose control of their products. Since the conception of the computer, that has been the dream of any software developer, and others will follow suit. Do you seriously think that Microsoft will keep releasing MS Word 2003, 2007, 2010? No, but what if they had a cloud computing model where you buy a license for Word online, and they could charge you a flat fee, per month. Instead of encouraging you to buy newer versions, that looks just like the last one, they already have you paying for a monthly subscription.

Cloud computing! They wouldn’t dare do that for the PC Gaming industry! Would they? There are tonnes of negatives with this system, but from the publisher point of view there are none, the elimination of piracy and second hand sales. Are honest gamers taking the brunt because of the action of the few?

Perhaps Gamers have a point, Games are expensive, and DRM’s have been getting increasingly more restrictive! But piracy has done nothing except make Publishers angry, and gamers went about the complaint process the wrong way. We should not steal, and use justifications like the prices are too high, or because we don’t like the way things have been done! But gamers have made their bed, and it’s time to lie in it!

It should always be the customers who have the final voice, but this time, I fear that Publishers will win out. But I can’t disapprove of Publishers for wanting the Stream model, as it is a constant cash source.

Will the Publishers listen to the cry of the customer?

I think more to the point; did the customer listen to the cry of the Publisher?