Most of it is because BattleNet has no offline mode cause it’s focused on multiplayer games and not single player games. Activision claims this is an “anti-piracy” move, which OC3D backs up in that none of the recent COD games have been cracked at all.
Shit.
The reason I got Mirror’s Edge on PS3 back in the day was not dealing with EA Origin DRM. Fortunately, that went to GOG later on and I was then a happy camper.
For maximum profit, expect this to be a timed exclusive and have a ton of complaints with people that have bad internet.
Guess what? The PS4 and PS5 games don’t require internet to install the disc version, or to be constantly on to play the game.
Remember the last time this happened?
I highly doubt the offline mode will add much when BattleNet gets it. DRM claims another victim on PC.
The same is true for Diablo 3.
Diablo 2 had an offline mode, LAN and online. You had to create a character for offline and a separate one for online (plus, even when playing online you could still play by yourself).
Yet Activision Blizzard made Diablo 3 online-only, regardless if you play alone or with others. Might be because they didn’t want players to cheat or force them to use the real money auction house because the drop rate for legendary items was so low at the beginning. Well, guess what: there were still dupes on the RMAH. So much for preventing cheating.
In addition to that, there IS an offline mode for the console versions. Activision Blizzard not allowing PC players to play games with singleplayer mode offline makes no logical sense.
For SimCity, yeah. But it could still happen with scheduled downtime on BattleNet, however brief it may be. Imagine a speedrunner being kicked from the game as soon as server maintenance happens. That would attract a LOT of attention if it was WR pace.
Such is “as a service”. You don’t own anything (just a license that allows you to play the game/watch the movie/listen to the music, that comes with a physical copy of the media), but now companies also want to restrict your access to it.
I am having a little chuckle that Toys For BoB have done both the Spyro remaster and now a new Crash Bandicoot game. Back on the ps1 there were demos for each others games on their discs, and in the Spyro remaster the was a trailer hidden in it for a Crash game. Used to be sort of friendly rival studios making fun platformers and now they are both made by the same people.
I have to get back to Spyro, really good games. I would like to try the new Crash but the always online DRM really puts me off, it would not impact me but it is wholly unnecessary for the type of game it is.
I was hoping that the big media companies learning that DRM isnt really important (in maintaining profits up during covid) would pass that info along to the game devs…
They don’t care about preservation unless they can sell it over and over again. But even then they still don’t put the effort in to get rid of bugs. Or promise a more polished version than gets released (Warcraft 3 Reforged for example).
An example for doing a shitty job at preserving old games is Silent Hill. iir Konami released the HD collection with unfinished code.
They also canned the Silent Hill P.T. demo (along with the game) and for some time PS4 consoles popped up on ebay and sorts that still have the demo installed. (the same was true for Flappy Bird for phones, different company though)
To get into the online aspect of video game distribution: Sony announced that soon you won’t be able to buy digital versions of PSP, PS Vita and PS3 games from the store. afaik you’ll still be able to download the content you already own but who knows when that option will disappear?
Requiring a constant internet connection makes sense for some games (MMOs for example and anything with an online-multiplayer in general).
But making it a requirement just because of some DRM? Dear publisher, go fuck yourself.
This whole online-DRM bullshit ain’t even new. Remember when Microsoft backpaddled with the “always on” feature of the XBox One that would have required you to let your console connect to the internet every day/few days to verify that you’re allowed to play the games that should have been tied to your account? (Sony dealt quite the blow regarding “sharing video games with friends”).
No idea if they sneakily included it anyway. The results about that topic regarding the Series X are 50/50.
In an era where games come with Day 1 patches and playing online requires an annual subscription, who doesn’t have their console connected to the internet? And who (okay, except for laptops maybe) doesn’t hook a PC (that they intend to use for gaming) up to the internet?
Some may have it, but quality of internet if you’re out in the middle of nowhere may be pretty bad, especially if you’re on the edge of LTE coverage. Know of a few people in Alberta where cell tower coverage is bad, and they try to game on it.
However, they’re banking on this to defeat piracy but it’s failing miserably for single player games.
Also, perfect example: You have the new AYA portable PC console, but you’re in Taiwan and you need to travel to the Chinese mainland. You get PWNED the moment you connect to a Chinese network and the spyware can’t be removed. Having an offline mode means you can still play your games.
