Printing Error Shows Flaw In 'Lock-It-Up' Video Game Business Model
from the clerical-error dept
It should come as no surprise to Techdirt readers that many people within the games industry hate used game sales. One of the methods these companies are implementing to fight these sales is to force buyers of used games to pay extra to gain access to the multiplayer portion. This works by inserting a one time use code in the new copies of games. Once the multiplayer code has been used, only the owner of the console used to activate it can access the multiplayer parts of the game. If that player decides to later sell or give away the game, the new owner would have to buy a new multiplayer code from the publisher, generally $10. So far EA, THQ, Ubisoft and Activision have dabbled in this system for various games.It should also come as no surprise that such a system has a major weakness, the printing error.
Edge Magazine is reporting Ubisoft's first foray into this new system has hit a road block. XBox 360 versions of Driver: San Fransisco were shipped to North America with a misprinted multiplayer code. Reports indicate the 360 is expecting a 25-character code, but the insert only contains a 19-character code. This results in an invalid code error when trying to redeem it. In response to this unforeseen (at least to Ubisoft) incident, Ubisoft is making the multiplayer portions of Driver free for all players worldwide, at least for 360 owners. There is no word on if this free multiplayer will be available for PS3 or PC owners.
In the end, it makes you wonder how, after 30+ years of printing registration codes inside PC games, such a system could fail so badly when translated to console games.
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Filed Under: drm, one time use codes, printing error, video games
Companies: ubisoft
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Simple...GREED.. Now they deflect this utter disaster and blame piracy as the reason why they need the codes in the first place. I guess not enough blood, sweat and tears went into the code panel.
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Simple...GREED.. Now they deflect this utter disaster and blame piracy as the reason why they need the codes in the first place. I guess not enough blood, sweat and tears went into the code panel.
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Now .. if they would just include a little more creativity, re-playability, story, and enjoyment in the games ...
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Nothing really big here, just a minor error with fairly large repercussions.
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You assumption is that once it goes to the printer it is retested.
The main problem here is time and money. QA is largely considered a liability since they do not produce anything that generates income. Testing the product install/reinstall from a printed copy is a very valid test, but depending on the views of the company it may have been deemed too expensive.
I wish more companies could see the value that QA does bring and in this case perhaps it actually would have saved money by doing so.
This is all speculation in this case since we do not know what happened first hand.
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They are so obsessed over a couple of pirated copies that they'll risk their own goodwill, their own company and their own fans to get to them. At all costs.
Piracy might have an effect on their bottom line, though I have yet to see proof of it. Usually the big ticket items, the ones that already sell like hot cakes are also the ones highly pirated. So I don't really see a benefit for them to go after these 'pirates'.
Well, in any case, they have lost me as a paying customer, in fact I don't play their games at all anymore. I'm much more willing to sink my money in the Indie Bundles and in whatever game Notch is producing next, than spend one more cent on a game by a company that doesn't listen to its customers, that would much rather criminalize their customers by crippling products to the point that the pirated material offers more than the legally purchased material does.
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Well they never should have it in the first place. This what happens when you start to nickel and dime people willing to pay a premium to play your games.
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Printed Codes...
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Re: Printed Codes...
False security is far, far worse than no security.
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A keygen..
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Re: A keygen..
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Re: Re: A keygen..
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Anyone still have their user manuals anymore? In fact, I don't think games come with printed manuals anymore. Everything is online.
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;-P
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You then held up the prism to the screen, and typed in the now de-scrambled (by the prism) code. Then you could play.
I used the prism ONCE, then downloaded the fixed version that didn't need the prism each and every time I wanted to play.
Once again, paying customer having to jump through more hoops than pirates.
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it was supposed to prevent copied games. the logic being that xeroxing the manual was an insurmountable obstacle for your average floppy copier.
today you just crack the game's executable to jump over the call for the validity check/unlock code/nag screen so that the anti-copying mechanisms never come into play.
older games that you play in an emulator, like the SCUMMVM games (the old monkey island series) used to include scanned images of the code wheels that came with the manuals and worked like a kind of decoder ring to unlock the game.
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I also remember losing or damaging my manuals, meaning I either had to source a cracked pirate copy (not that difficult even in the sneakernet floppy days if you knew the right people) or, later, download a copy off the internet.
Same story as ever - DRM is broken by design, and once a single route around it is found, only paying customers are ever affected.
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Re: no we need.... CODE WHEELS....
Turn the outer ring to 'Orc' the second ring to 'Klingon', the third ring to 'Griffendorf', the final ring to 'Precious', and type in the 82 digit code in the 'WTF' box....
I'm being a little sarcastic, but those things were 'da bomb' in PRM (Paper Rights Management) for their time (as long as you didn't have a copy machine, hole punch, razor blade, and some time... or a table of the data that you could just look up the code, you know, the list you downloaded off of usenet...) Who didn't love TSR and the Gold Box series???
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Resale value
As such, I'd argue that their attempt was actually a success -- I'd be far less likely to buy a used copy of a game given their restrictive DRM and limited functionality. Of course, I'd also be less likely to buy a new copy of their games, but maybe they didn't think of that.
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How can the system could fail so badly
Easy... It was subcontracted out the lowest bidder.
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Because consoles are so much easier to use than PCs?
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Also, Mike is not the author of this post, learn to read.
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You really aren't good at grasping things, are you?
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Game manufacturer urinal trough diving
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I wonder if the revenue from secondary market consumers on other consoles buying multiplayer codes will even dent the loss of implementing this whole DRM system on the 360 and having to scrap it after the game was released?
It'd be really interesting to see some numbers on just how much money they're spending on blocking the secondary market vs how much money they receive from "core feature unlock" code purchases.
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I thought that Xbox Live Gold membership was primarily marketed as giving you access to online play.
So what are Ubisoft doing charging for online play for a used copy? (and yes, I did read the article, but it was their original plan). Aren't the game servers being run by Microsoft, so I have to pay Microsoft (not Ubisoft) to play online?
So basically people, we're being charged THRICE for online play.
First, the ISP. Second, Xbox Live Gold. 3rd, the actual game.
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New Game 59.95
Used Game 54.95
That's for newer or popular titles. Somehow these game companies feel that there are been cheated since Gamestop is not cutting them in on the action.
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> bucks off what the new game would cost.
This will have to change. Automatically, a used game is worth $10 less than a new game.
In the end, this will backfire. The only reason I'm okay with spending $60 on a game is the knowledge I can sell it for $40 after I'm done playing it. If publishers make my used game semi-worthless, I'm much less likely to pay full price.
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The fact is Gamestop is making more money selling one used game than a new one. It's all greed and fear. Gamestop knows eventually a majority of game publishers will set up digital distribution methods and Gamestop wouldn't see a dime so lets gouge now. The publishers been the stupid moron that they are are pissed Gamestop is gouging first and what some of the action.
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the cost of the new game pays for the online part, servers and bandwidth cost money
when you buy the used game, you have not helped pay for the online part
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Sounds stupid right? Now replace "car" with "anything you bought used". Sounds totally f'ing ridiculous right? Explain why games should be treated any differently to other used products.
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BMW does for a few years (but then that ends too), then they hope that you will be 'trained' to go back to them for any issues with the car and not mind the $60 oil changes.
If you sell the car private party the dealer or manufacturer does not get a cut, but chances are you will take it back to them to get maintenance as well.
(I am sure this will spur comments that only smucks take their cars to the dealer for maintenance, but the fact remains a lot of people still do).
My point here is that companies try to get your money on the first sale and as 'create opportunities' for a followup sales as well.
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Video game industry isn't offering opportunities. Simply removing already included incentives. (i.e. read purposefully hampering their product)
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"The cost of a new car pays for the factory it was built in, factories that cost money. When you buy a used car, you have not helped pay for those factories."
OK so i buy a new car that pays for the factory that it was built in and after after a few years i decide to sell it and take the money i made and buy another new car that pays yet again for that same factory. So you have an issue with what? Please don't tell me you think that the auto manufacture deserves to keep collecting off the one purchase?
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> the online part
WTF are you talking about!?! The original purchaser stops playing it after he sells it! Its not like he's giving you a copy. He's giving you the game. The stress on the servers is _exactly_ the same whether he keeps it or sells it.
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They're a sacred cow, for some reason.
If people aren't buying the game at retail price but they are at the used price, then you're pricing it too high. One thing that Steam has been very successful at is getting people to buy games that at the retail price points they would never have bought them, but at the crazy low price of $5-$20 you pick up new customers. If you only sell a game at $30-$60, you're cutting out a huge swath of apprehensive buyers. Drop the price a little lower, and you'll likely pick up more sales. What you might lose in profit margin, you could make up in volume.
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Re: They're a sacred cow, for some reason.
On everything you said !
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Defective Console & Warranty Replacement
This sounds as if you have to buy a new multiplayer code if the console with which you activated the game malfunctions and you replace it with a like model.
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Driver
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Can't they just use console ready QR codes?
Why not make it more user friendly for the consumers you appreciate (new purchasers) instead of punishing them by giving them a long work around process to "get in the game"?
Seriously WTF, the good gamers are being punished because publishers are getting penny pinching over used game sales.
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Multiplayer games are multiplayer games, single-player games are single-player games. Have multiplayer modes as DLC people can buy through XBbox Live with points. Problem solved.
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