DRM News

No I’m not talking about taking a romantic walk on the beach with your significant other, which can be a very nice thing to do. I am talking about a term called ‘sun setting’. What that means is that the DRM on the game gets removed, its served its purpose, its run its course, and the publishers have decided to release a patch that completely removes the DRM from the game. Its happened before, and it will continue to happen on future games.

The point? If you don’t like DRM, just wait. In fact Josh Lowensohn recently wrote an article titled ‘How to get DRM-free PC games: Just wait’.

Gamers have long known that patience is rewarded with cheaper, less-buggy games. But does that adage hold true for the inclusion of digital rights management as well? Not always, but history does show us that time makes even the strictest of DRM less sucky.

And he’s right. Not all publishers will do this for all games, but it has been done for a number of games already. World in Conflict, which patched out its DRM completely, is one quick example. Some times only parts of a DRM is removed. For example, the removal of the activation limits from BioShock while the general SecuROM remains.

Because there are two ways to purchase games now, retail and digital download, DRM removal may happen on retail, but not digital (such as Dawn of Discovery, which had Tages removed from its retail version, but not its digital one). So you do need to keep an eye out on what is removed.

The problem is not all gamers like to wait, we are a particularly impatient bunch. The reason games sell so well in the first month or two, no matter the DRM on the game, is because we ‘just have to play the game’. Its tough to stand your ground when all your friends are raving about the game, yet you say your waiting till the DRM is removed. Fingers get pointed, names get called, laughing commences, its not a pretty site. However if you can live through the shame of it all, wait. Its not going to kill you and your computer will thank you.