Avalanche Boss Talks 'Always On' DRM

Avalanche boss Cristofer Sundberg says that DRM solutions like Ubisoft's "always on" protection do more harm than good. Speaking to CVG, Sundberg said that DRM like Ubisoft's does more to punish consumers than it does pirates; who considered cracking it the "ultimate Rubix Cube."

Pirates and crackers do so love to be challenged. But more than that, Sundberg noted that this kind of DRM is the sign of a "scared market" that doesn't fully grasp how much ill will it creates with consumers who simply want to buy and enjoy a game without hassles.

"Games have become a luxurious form of entertainment and piracy has scared the market to start implementing ridiculous DRM solutions that only limits the consumers that actually PAY for their games, not stopping the pirates," he told CVG. "As PC sales constantly dropping, they are a small group of very dedicated PC players who deserves a game designed for them and I strongly believe that PC games and console games are two completely different games.

Sundberg wants PC gamers to be treated fairly with an experience that is of the same quality that console players enjoy without afterthought ports and security solutions that do nothing but aggravate consumers.

"If we constantly keep on delivering console ports and not games design for the PC player, the PC market will suffer from bad sales, piracy and bad DRM solutions, continued Sundberg. "I strongly believe that most PC players are online players and online games are so much easier to design that we both protect the developer against piracy - and the consumer against a limited game experience. I wish that future PC projects are treated just the same way as we would treat Wii, PSP or DS - they are treated as separate projects in order to deliver a different but equally entertaining experience to all players."

The PC version of Avalanche's Just Cause 2 used no DRM, according to CVG.