Publishers "scared" to scrap DRM

The Witcher developer CD Projekt believes PC piracy can be fought by offering greater value, but said publishers are too scared to let go of the DRM safety blanket.

Boss Michal Kicinski was talking to GamesIndustry.biz about the CD Projekt games-on-demand service GOG.com, which aims to remove the infamous protection software causing anguish amongst the PC community.

"We're trying to convince [publishers] there is nothing to be afraid of," said Kicinski. "DRM-free, that is something they are really scared of, but on the other hand we can say 'all of those games are available pirated widely so it's better to sell them for small money than make the customer's life difficult and get some more revenues'.

"I think that if somebody is paying for the game then they deserve to own it, not with a certain list of conditions - and sometimes the list of conditions can be long."

Kicinski said many companies were looking to drop DRM due to the complications it causes, which, in many cases, has begun to turn customers away from titles using the protection.

"DRM makes customer's lives too complicated, and this is usually because of some corporate ideas, policies and trying to be smart, too smart, in how to get customers and how to keep them and not let them go somewhere else. We are believers in the free market and bringing freedom to customers."

Kicinski's comments follow a backlash from the Spore community over the limited number of game installations granted by DRM software SecuROM.

Pop over to GOG.com (Good Old Games) to see what's on offer.