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State of the Game Industry: October 20th, 2003.
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: Jack G.
A game industry under siege!
That's it folks. Software theft has been taken to a new level, and most people aren't going to like the end result. No more is pirated software relegated to copies of gold master games. No more is it a passive act that is difficult to prevent. It is now something actively detrimental to game developers. And believe you me, people will go to jail over this.
The difference is that of borrowing a friend's CD and copying it, and breaking in to a studio and taking something before it is done. One is very much worse than the other. One is hard to do anything about, and more akin to jaywalking than theft, one is a crime that will involve imprisonment. Possibly for many people. Possibly even for the people that endorse these actions by downloading this stolen code.
That's right. If you are downloading Half Life 2 binaries that were made with the stolen code, you might find yourself on a big list of people being attacked by Valve Software's lawyers. This isn't a game my friends. Valve will have to mercilessly put the people behind this down. And anyone who helps them. They need to send a message. Not just for them, but for the entire game industry.
This was a targeted act, and if the perpetrators get away with this crime, I can guarantee there will be more. I would hate to see game developers forced to retreat to hardened bunkers in order to create their games. The only way to be truly safe would be to not let anyone know that you are even working on a game. Security guards, swipe cards, retinal scans. It's a bleak future.
What makes it even more bleak, is that soon the only way for developers to ensure their security will be to go with something like Microsoft's Palladium, everyone's favorite whipping boy. Well, this is the future you endorse when you steal code, and download stolen code. Maybe you'll think twice. Maybe you'll tell your friend who downloaded it to delete it. Maybe you'll forward sites you see hosting these stolen goods to Valve's contact email: helpvalve@valvesoftware.com.
I know that if I were a developer, and the only surefire way of guaranteeing my security was to use Palladium, then you can be damn sure I'd throw all of my support behind it. Given the descriptions of Palladium so far, it would have stopped most of what Valve claims took place. And why not? In an age where people are going to go out of their way to break in to your computer and steal everything they can, why not go with the surefire form of protection?
Yet, there might still be some hope. Max Payne 2 was recently released, and to my surprise, the warez scene actually had to wait until the game was in stores to release it on the net. This is nearly unheard of, since most of the time a game becomes available in warez channels shortly after it goes gold. I did manage to find out one of the things they did to prevent it though: they didn't release any copies for review. Not to websites, not even to print mags.
This shocked me. Could the source of so much warez actually be the reviewers themselves? Seems unlikely, yet strangely plausible. I had always assumed the mastering factories (where the CDs/DVDs get created) were at fault. After all, it would be easy enough to swipe one disc out of a pile, and just add a tick to the defective count. But maybe the problem is bigger than even industry people think.
Anyhow, I am fully expecting to see games start using activation features, and constant online checks. Steam was already heading in this direction, and while I don't like the idea of requiring a net connection in order to play a single player game, it is easy to see why it is becoming necessary. Make the game ship without the game executable, and make a system where the executable will be downloaded over a secure authenticated connection each time you play, and invalidated when the session ends. It would work, it would be hard to crack, and it would anger the entire spectrum of the gaming world.
What else is there to do? I don't know.
Posted by: fibbi
Good article.
Also, if I may ask, what exactly is Palladium? I went to MS' site for it, but there was so much jargon that I decided to skip it.
Posted by: Jack G.
I'm not sure what it's actually called right now, it's gone through some revisions, but it's basically the idea of having Digital Rights Management built in to the computer at a hardware level, and then having software require authentication of some sort in order to be able to run on the given system.
Posted by: Kdr Kane
hmm...
How would Palladium have prevented this?
Here's a small bit of background. They hacked into the CEO's account by using email exploits and custom keyboard logging trojans. Then they connected using the user's account and password to download the source code.
Now, if you have the source code, you can write Palladium right out of it.
I also take issue with the suggestion that downloading this stolen code is different than copying a legitimate version. Both are pirating. Both are prosecutable under the same laws. Lining up these warez downloaders with the crackers that stole the code is not appropriate.
You know, this isn't anything new. Corporate spying and stealing has been going on for a long time. Most of the time you don't hear about it.
Posted by: Null Actor
IIRC, a keylogger wouldn't be able to run on a palladium enabled system set to only allow signed executables. Which is probably what he meant.
Posted by: Jack G.
 Quote:
Originally posted by Kdr Kane
I also take issue with the suggestion that downloading this stolen code is different than copying a legitimate version. Both are pirating. Both are prosecutable under the same laws. Lining up these warez downloaders with the crackers that stole the code is not appropriate.
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For data, say, a leaked beta, I could be inclined to agree with you. But source code is different. With sourcecode, you are creating a product with someone else's IP, that was stolen. People who download (and use) the source code are committing a different kind of crime. I will handily admit that I am no lawyer, however.
I foresee a lot of people using the Source Engine as a base to create their own projects, and this is what Valve will need to crack down on. When you are talking about code that most likely sells for a million dollars to a licensee, having it running around rampant on the net is seriously cutting in to your bottom line.
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