In the Ask Capcom forum, Evil Telephone asked some very good questions about digital rights management happenings of the day (particularly issues with Spore) and how Capcom's philosophies and strategies for the PC fit. I thought it was a good topic of discussion so I figured I'd highlight the questions and my responses (note, I didn't use the word "answers") on my blog:

1. What, if any, benefits are there for you as a publisher for putting DRM on your PC titles? It couldn't possibly be to stop the pirates. In your response to an earlier thread about DMC4 PC's sales numbers, you mentioned that, on the day it was released, it was pirated quite significantly. Was there someone in your decision-making staff that honestly though "This time it'll stop them!". This leads me to my next question...

The objective or goal of DRM is indeed to stop or at least slow down pirates, particularly around the launch window. Indeed, DMC4's implimentation was less than ideal and clearly, we failed that goal. BCR's was better (and different from DMC4's) and was effective for several weeks. That was significantly better than any other PC title we've shipped. New steps we're taking (the details of which I can't discuss right now) should be even more effective, while still remaining transparent to legitimate users.

2. Do you think of your 3 primary PC releases (Lost Planet, Lost Planet CE, and DMC4) that you would have sold fewer copies if there were no DRM or copy protection at all (outside of a Games for Windows:Live! access key). If the answer is yes, what customer base are you concerned about losing sales to?

Slightly fewer, though again, these games disc-based implimentations were easily removed because DRM wasn't a high priority in the development. They were more of a last minute effort meant to appease the business types like me and retail. A more secure implimentation would have pushed some percentage of folks who needed the game "then and there" to purchase in the absence of an illegitimate supply.

If we converted even 3%-4% of copies pirated in the first two months on sale, it'd be a meaningful boost in revenue on each of these titles. The numbers are really that high.

3. As part of the PC Gaming Alliance, do you hear word of any initiatives and/or plans regarding DRM in PC gaming?

There is a sub-committee on piracy issues within the PCGA really just getting underway and I will be an active member of it. Are there plans on that front? Brewing, but nothing I can discuss right now. It's too early and we're still gathering more members from the software side of the PC gaming world. If there are more publishers/developers who'd like to have a voice on how the PCGA will address piracy, now would be a great time to get involved.

Standing from the outside looking in, it really looks like PC game publishers in general are completely out of touch with what's actually going on in the real world. Everyone keeps slapping on CD-check service in their games like they really think it's stopping people who would pirate the game anyway.

I agree, CD checks are fairly lightweight, and relatively easily removed for anything other than a deep implimentation. There are a few new disc-based technologies on the market that at least for the moment, are showing promise though for those who wish to stay with that format. Truth be told, I would much prefer wholly network authenticated solutions (as we've used on Bionic Commando Rearmed and future titles from CEI) so people don't have to have a disc in the drive. As a player, I hate that and that's part of the reason why I love digital distribution so much.

At the same time, there are some territories (Eastern Europe, Russia, Southern Europe, specifically) whose retail channels have major concerns over online or broadband penetration rates for network authentication, that often necessitate some form of fallback in the form of disc-based protection. Frankly, I personally don't understand how anyone could have a high end Nvidia or ATI equipped multicore PC in any country and not have it connected to the Internet, but the retail realities (or at least, retail's perception of reality) for the moment still puts some pressure on keeping disc-based protection.

Again, if your goal is to preserve the first couple weeks of sales, or at least put in a speedbump (and if you're retail, that's what you really want), you have to do something.

You must have heard all the success Sins of a Solar empire is having. Sales of that game are still skyrocketing, and it has no copy protection or DRM whatsoever.

Indeed, it's nice when an exception to the rule is rewarded. That said, I'm not sure Sins' success doesn't mean normal rules don't still apply. I'd also suggest that patches that check for validity and multiplayer codes are in fact, forms of DRM... so saying that it has no DRM isn't quite accurate. Let's just say, it has a slightly different form of DRM (perhaps more elegantly designed) rather than encryption, tripwires or authentication upon installation.

In a nutshell, I think it's fair to say there are some relatively bulletproof technical solutions out there. I'm not saying they can't be cracked but in some cases they haven't yet and they're dynamic enough as to put up some real roadblocks for pirates. Hurray! Problem solved right? Nope. The problem is, that they're effectively rootkits and are onerous for consumers (not to mention potentially fraught with support issues... maybe even legal issues). In some cases, they're so onerous that we'd never put our consumers through that.

So if that's one end of the spectrum and at the other end, there's no protection, somewhere on that continuum is where an "optimal" solution exists. Optimal for whom (publisher or consumer) and where one draws that line will inevitably vary from publisher to publisher (and tolerance thereof by consumer to consumer).

I'd like to think that we will be clear in our DRM specifics by title and that they will be less restrictive than some publishers (even those with more PC experience than we have). For example on Bionic Commando Rearmed we allowed five installs and no phoning home, as opposed to some other publishers that are in the 2-3 range with relatively frequent phone home checks. That said, as compared to some like Stardock, we're likely to be more strict.

In any event, your questions are good and valid. I can understand the confusion in the current climate. There are no easy answers and I think we're all still searching for some silver bullets.