Don't Remind Me

The DRM debate has been around for quite some time now, and as a marketable idea, its stock has gone down dramatically in recent years. Bands, movie makers, and indie game developers are all experimenting with content distributed without DRM, and knowledgeable consumers are beginning to make a stand against the overly-restrictive nature of some copy protection solutions.

But the DRM issue has flared up again in the game community with the recent surge of discussion in the wake of EA's Spore. EA's game has suffered major criticism for its restrictive DRM solution, which resulted in an exhaustive campaign of protest on Amazon and countless other online venues. Players protested with their opinions and their wallets, and EA in turn responded with increased leniency for limited installs, a measure that some argue still isn't enough.

Not all game companies, however, are on the DRM bandwagon. Consider CD Projekt and its new web venture, an online gaming portal called Good Old Games. GOG focuses exclusively on selling old, classic games without any form of DRM at low prices, and the games offered are, for the most part, games which have been out of print or hard to find for quite a while and were procured and modified to run on new machines without any DRM or intrusive software. We recently profiled the service, which is currently in beta but is fully functional and stocked with some great software.

Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com, and Michal Kicinski, CEO of CD Projekt, were kind enough to talk to us following the launch of GOG and in the wake of the Spore controversy. The two had some strong things to say about the way the industry is going and about how services like GOG should be the model to follow.

Convincing the Man to stay his hand

Ars Technica: Good Old Games really caught the attention of our readers after the service's beta launched: it's clear that PC gamers are interested in what GOG is offering. What does GOG think gamers want?

Adam Oldakowski: We believe that the whole package that GOG.com has to offer is what gamers want; ultimately it was gamers' needs and desires that determined the direction of the site. We have DRM-free classic PC games which are hard, or sometimes impossible, to find at retail or online. We offer our gamers a lot more than just a cheap, easy-to-use and hassle-free digital distribution store; there's a huge community section with forums dedicated to every game from our catalog and a rating system that allows gamers to rate games, comments, and reviews. Every player can write a review of their own favorite game and post it on the game's page. Plus, with every game we're offering cool additional materials like game guides, hi-res wallpapers, artwork, avatars, soundtracks and more. GOG.com is the ultimate place for every fan of all-time PC classics, which is what makes GOG.com so special.

Ars: How has the service been received so far by publishers?

AO: The reaction so far has been great… for the most part. Publishers see GOG.com as an opportunity to revive some of their older but still well-known brands, although they have some concerns, especially concerning the lack of copy protection or DRM. Thankfully, many are coming 'round to that concept.

Ars: Who have you been talking with, aside from Codemasters and Interplay?

AO: As much as I would love to give some hints, I don't want to jinx anything. We are very close to signing a couple of deals, but we can't disclose anything right now. You can be sure we'll announce new deals very soon.

Ars: Has convincing publishers to accept the DRM policy been tough?

Michal Kicinski: Yep. Actually that was one of the toughest issues we faced during the creation of GOG.com. Just like most innovative projects, GOG.com needs to overcome some stereotypes and obstacles which exist in the gaming industry. It's very hard for us—entrepreneurs who work hard to make a profit—to understand the corporate approach. We are able to show publishers that selling DRM-free old games will bring them additional revenue without extra costs, and the best part is that we can handle the organizational stuff.

In this situation it's very hard for us to understand why we would receive a negative reply to our offer. It's just something that is outside of our business approach, and sometimes it can be very frustrating. It appears that sometimes it's not so easy to get through some mental obstacles and internal politics, and even if we're talking business, it's not always the business factors that are the most important. But we're very determined and stubborn in this matter.

It's all or nothing for GOG.com; if we manage to convince publishers to join our service, we'll succeed. If not, then we have to halt the project. But there are companies and people who stay true to their roots, and their products will be available at GOG.com. Now these companies are Interplay and Codemasters, but more are sure to join soon.

It would be fantastic if GOG.com would be the first thing to trigger the avalanche. We don't believe it would completely remove the usage of DRM schemes, but it could lead to restoring the appropriate relation between customers and publishers. Today this relation is far away from the motto of "customer always knows best," which might be old, but in my opinion, should still be the basis of the relationship between the seller and customer.