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GDC 2009: World of Goo creators slime DRM

By Randolph Ramsay, GameSpot AUPosted Mar 23, 2009 12:28 pm PT

2D Boy's Ron Carmel says digital-rights management a "waste of time"; suggests indies forgo publisher relationships.

SAN FRANCISCO--Digital-rights management remains a touchy topic for both gamers and game makers, with some antipiracy measures even ending up in legal kerfuffles. But Ron Carmel, whose indie game company 2D Boy was responsible for last year's puzzle hit World of Goo, has a simple solution: ditch DRM completely.

You don't need DRM to stay afloat, Carmel says.

Carmel, speaking at this year's Game Developers Conference, says implementing DRM is pointless, particularly for cash-strapped indie developers. "Don't bother with DRM--it's a waste of time. You just end up giving the DRM provider money. Anything that is of interest gets cracked, and the cracked version ends up having a better user experience than the legit version because you don't have to input in some 32-character serial number," he said.

"Anybody who wants the game is likely to find it on BitTorrent sites. It's going to get cracked even with DRM, it's going to be available very quickly, so we don't see the point in having DRM. Piracy rates have been released before, and there's no difference between World of Goo and other games."

Carmel, whose talk outlined the business decisions made with World of Goo, had another major piece of advice for other indies: don't get involved with publishers. Carmel says the revenue from World of Goo came overwhelmingly from digital distribution, with retail sales accounting for less than three percent of total sales.

"Retail distribution--which is what publishers are good at--doesn't generate many sales for indie games. Go with digital distribution--you won't need a publisher for this. Self-fund your game--and when you get to retail, go for per-country flat-fee deals."

87 Comments

  • brian_13un

    Posted Oct 28, 2009 6:23 am PT

    Great

  • WHO_DIED

    Posted Jun 12, 2009 3:26 am PT

    Agreed... as aforementioned, DRM really does nothing in the long run. It annoys the legit consumer, and the product ends up being cracked and pirated one way or another. It really bugs when I purchase a game, and need to register it online just to play.

    As a matter of fact, a SecuROM disk checking utility is preventing me playing a game legimately. I have no disk emulator software operating an image file on my hard drive, and guess what? I can't play the game because the disk check utility is preventing the game from running on my PC. DRM is pointless when you consider the big picture.

  • orihimefan220

    Posted Apr 25, 2009 9:07 am PT

    yeah, i have to say drm is crap.

  • Scientist8

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 8:03 am PT

    I agree, DRM doesn't really stop anything.

  • Nomad0404

    Posted Mar 26, 2009 10:11 am PT

    Price and availability are probably the biggest factors to consider against pirates. If something becomes available worldwide at a respectable price point people are less inclined to pirate the software. It's expensive and hard to get software that gets pirated the most.

  • allie2590

    Posted Mar 26, 2009 7:49 am PT

    I agree completely. DRM or not, someone will crack the software. It's nice to hear this from developers though.

    And yes, World of Goo is a great game. I definitely recommend it.

  • a0me

    Posted Mar 25, 2009 9:50 pm PT

    World of Goo is a great game. DRM free and available on almost every digital platform (WiiWare, Steam, Direct2Drive, Greenhouse, Impulse, Mac Game Store, GamersGate, Gametree Online). Everyone should at least try the free demo: http://2dboy.com/games.php

  • Koi-Neon-X

    Posted Mar 25, 2009 10:48 am PT

    never played World Of Goo but, it sounds interesting.

  • retrofraction12

    Posted Mar 25, 2009 10:02 am PT

    drm is exspencive

  • Raven1504

    Posted Mar 25, 2009 7:58 am PT

    world of goo is great!!

  • TehEliteElite

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 8:08 pm PT

    Go 2D Boy! I'm really glad I bought World of Goo, what a great game.

  • Kravyn81

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 4:12 pm PT

    Sound advice.

  • TheBatFreak777

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 3:23 pm PT

    Great game and a great philosophy! I'm fans of 2D Boy and hope they can keep the good stuff coming...

  • mrhuntin

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 2:39 pm PT

    yea i though world of goo was great wii game

  • navyguy21

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 2:01 pm PT

    intriguing....

  • Vlad_an_impaler

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 1:15 pm PT

    Good article. And, Bjeck Below has told the truth. Just think, If it were not for DRM... games COULD be a lot smaller and cheaper once all the empty code is removed. I've never had a problem on my PC with any DRM's, other than resources (possibly) being used in the background. Piracy is a huge problem and I'd hate to see the game companies stop making these great PC games. =(

    But I'm afraid it's coming, and in favor of consoles... But if you don't feed the dogs eventually they'll turn to eat the consoles too. Also there is a sense of morality and honor which comes from NOT stealing games.

    What ruins it for me in the great MMO's is the monthly. Some days I don't want to, or can't play... but my money keeps adding up as long as I want to play at some point. (Cha-Ching!)
    Steam? Nah... my internet could be down from a storm and I can't play. Prices are ridiculous. They could use a good competitor.

  • borninvincible

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 12:36 pm PT

    interesting...

  • Death_Masta187

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 12:07 pm PT

    What we can learn from this and what happened to spore. is be educated before you buy...DRM only hurts the ones that pay for the game.

  • PumpkinBoogie

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 11:30 am PT

    I'm telling you, this guy is talking a lot of pure common sense! Especially about the DRM; frankly it's something that even big hitter developers should consider. All DRM goes is create a headache for not only users and consumers but it doesn't really do a damn bit of good for the companies spending the money to put it into their games.

    Anytime you have a game that's the most pirated of 2008 (a la Spore), not just because people didn't want to pay for the game to play it--but because actual legitimate buyers had to go the 'pirating' route just to get their DRM-locked game to play on their system....you know something has GOT to change. Nobody should have to feel like a criminal for having to take a backdoor method to make a game work that they PAID for when it should just work first time around.

  • Tiger626516

    Posted Mar 24, 2009 11:28 am PT

    I can agree. Why waste your money in trying to stop hackers from cracking your game when you can pocket that money and make more in a long run. Get a clue guys, stop trying to jack our game prices to justify the "DRM" when you can elminate the DRM and lower the prices.

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