Seriously...can't install the game?

[JakeCourtney]

Modern warfare 2 us the most pirated pc game of all time and it is steam exclusive, so no steam does not really provide a good anti-piracy protection.

That reply was sarcastic and meant that it only will make people pirate the game more.

 

[Madacian]

Ok so this thread garnered more attention than I expected. Some of you guys mistook a rant and some frustration for nerd rage. That wasn't the case at all. Was I disappointed? Damn straight. Was I throwing a fit and condemning the world? No. In fact I went to bed not long after my last post. Now I'm at work patiently waiting to get home and play.

I still believe it was a poor decision on 2K or Steam's part. I've been gaming for over 30 years and for as long as I can remember games are released at midnight on their specified release date. Not once have I purchased a game and been told I wasn't allowed to install it, let alone play it. There needs to be better communication between the publisher and retailers so that an unusable product isn't put in the hands of the consumer. It wasn't Walmart that broke a street date. They were told the product could be displayed at midnight on the 21st. Our local Gamestop also had a midnight release.

Apparently I missed some notification that this game in particular wasn't going to be available until this morning, regardless when the product was released. I don't visit the 2K forums and it appears I missed any thread here at Civfanatics that referenced such a delay. Everything I've seen advertised online, in reviews, in magazines, etc states Sept 21st as the release date. Nothing about a specified time later that morning.

Again, much to the dismay of several posters I'm not wallowing in misery and writing threatening emails to Steam or 2K. I'm just dismayed at the decisions that were made and concerned about how such releases will be handled in the future. If this is the direction publishers are going in, for DRM purposes, better communication needs to be addressed between them and their customers/retailers.

 

[Krazikarl]

Forcing software on customer's PC isn't the right direction and I'm pretty sure that as soon as a valid alternative to Steam will show up, you'll see how long it will last.

They arent forcing you to have any software - you can choose not to buy or install the game. If you want to play the game, you have always had to install some software. Its just that nowadays the software includes an anti piracy package due to huge amounts of piracy in PC games. I'm not a huge fan of it, but I understand that companies have to do something to fight piracy (which any reasonable analysis shows is a huge thing), and Steam seems a reasonable middle ground.

There are valid alternatives to Steam (companies can be like Ubisoft and have their own anti piracy stuff), but that doesnt mean that everybody is going away from Steam like you suggest. The simple fact is that Steam is simple, free to the company, and integrates a lot of other stuff (like efficient patching). Plus most PC gamers have it already. Its going to be around for a while. Deal with it.

I still believe it was a poor decision on 2K or Steam's part. I've been gaming for over 30 years and for as long as I can remember games are released at midnight on their specified release date. Not once have I purchased a game and been told I wasn't allowed to install it, let alone play it. There needs to be better communication between the publisher and retailers so that an unusable product isn't put in the hands of the consumer. It wasn't Walmart that broke a street date. They were told the product could be displayed at midnight on the 21st. Our local Gamestop also had a midnight release.

Then you havent played many big games recently. Everybody does this now if they use Steam. Somebody explained why very well above - lots of retailers always break street dates, and if you dont do what Steam does, its a mess and unfair to small venders who actually follow the rules.

A good example is Stardock, the indie developer that hates DRM. Their last two releases (Demigod and Elemental) have had MAJOR issues related to various retailers breaking street dates by days. Basically their servers were getting swamped and people were really upset because the game wasnt patched right because they were playing the game before day 0 patches were available (since they were able to play the game before it was released). Its been a consistent mess for them. Frankly, it shows pretty clearly that companies would be pretty stupid to NOT go with a system like we see here.

Companies have no way of preventing the big boys like Walmart breaking street dates. A PC gaming company isnt going to go to war with Walmart and win. So they have to take this approach.