Latest PC DRM tech too hard to crack, “no more cracked games in two years,” says cracking group

[supersaver]

A recent advancement in DRM technologies has helped many AAA title remain un-cracked for longer than they’ve ever been able to. Just Cause 3 is the latest example.

Pirates and game-cracking groups that reverse-engineer DRM protection to make many PC – and sometimes console – games available for anyone to play for free, have been hitting major hurdles for over a year, thanks to Denuvo’s Anti-Tamper technology. Unlike previous horrors of SecuROM and similar services that ultimately aggravated legitimate users more than pirates, the new tech only prevents hackers.

The service has been used in multiple EA games before such as FIFA and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Though it may not completely prevent titles from being pirated, it requires technical prowess and delays the process quite a bit, well after interest has waned. FIFA 15, for instance, which came out in 2014, was only really cracked over six months after launch.

PC games have always been available, cracked, on release, and sometimes before. Needless to say, this is unprecedented.

This lead the founder of Chinese cracking forum 3DM (a notorious hacking group) to admit that we may never see cracked games on PC again in as close as two years-time. Games like FIFA 16 and more recently Just Cause 3, remain un-cracked to this day, the latter of which spurred 3DM to comment.

“Recently, many people have asked about cracks for ‘Just Cause 3′, so here is a centralized answer to this question. The last stage is too difficult and Jun [cracking guy] nearly gave up, but last Wednesday I encouraged him to continue,” 3DM head who goes by the alias Bird Sister said on the group’s forum, as per TorrentFreak‘s translation.

“I still believe that this game can be compromised. But according to current trends in the development of encryption technology, in two years time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play in the world,” she added.

Denuvo’s methods have only improved, according to marketing director Thomas Goebls, who told Eurogamer that more and more publishers are noticing and some of them are even considering releasing previously console-only titles on PC.

Source: VG247

 

[nRiTeCh]

So there's end of torrents and crack sites and now crackdown on games too. Seems world is becoming tougher on digital side rather than curbing terrorism...

 

[mk76]

so there's end of vpn ... for some

 

[nimod]

I am not into gaming, but this wiki page tells about few Denuvo protected games cracked in the past:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denuvo

 

[Lord Nemesis]

I am fine with DRM as long as it doesn't interfere with legitimate purchasers. I purchased Witcher 3 on Disk which was devoid of any DRM and I repurchased it on steam so I can buy the season pass in INR and at a discount.

I currently have 5 out of 9 Denuvo games listed in the wiki and I never had any problems because of the DRM.

Live for Windows happens to be the only crap of a DRM that ever gave me trouble.

 

[Mr India]

will this make renting games impossible too ? like the person who purchases game will be able to play on only his xbox or laptop ?

 

[derp]

It will take some time. But it won't be impossible. Heck even defense websites get hacked!

 

[Lord Nemesis]

^^ Every encryption algorithm in existence can be theoretically cracked "after some time". Some can be cracked in seconds and others take millions or billions of years. We just make use of algorithms that take a lot of time to crack.

Same for DRM. Its purpose is not to make a game completely immune to cracking. Its just to make it so impractical in the short run that people who are unwilling to wait an year will just buy it.

 

[derp]

^^ Every encryption algorithm in existence can be theoretically cracked "after some time". Some can be cracked in seconds and others take millions or billions of years. We just make use of algorithms that take a lot of time to crack.

Same for DRM. Its purpose is not to make a game completely immune to cracking. Its just to make it so impractical in the short run that people who are unwilling to wait an year will just buy it.

Well, I dont see that happening in an economy like India. People always wait and go for a warez copy. Also, it makes no sense shelling out 3K for something based purely on prevailing exchange rates.

Also, believe it or not, popularity of a company/game in India is directly proportional to its availability in the grey markets.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

^^ I have seen people pirate a Rs 50 Moserbaer video CD and and spend more than 50 Rs to do that. Same for PC games which were sold as low as 200 Rs. GTA 4 was available for Rs 400 when it launched, but people still went to the trouble of spending money to download and pirate 2 dual layer DVD's.

A lot of people in India seem to enjoy the thrill of dishonesty and later bragging about it. Then there are also those who simply see nothing wrong with it as long as they do not get caught. Nothing is worth money if they can steal it for free and its not limited to software either. All that stops a lot of them is fear of getting caught and punished and that simply happens to be totally absent when it comes to software.

Even shoplifting for instance is not only very common in India, but Indians get caught doing it quite a bit in US as well. These are all often people from fairly well to do families who brag about how they swiped something from the shops for free. When they do get caught, they cover their faces and behave like they are being victimized.

There was a case in Mumbai where a well to do couple (both of them MBA's with high paying jobs), went to buy some jewelry and there was some incident which distracted the staff and this couple impulsively swiped some jewelry worth a couple of lac's and walked away. This was not a planned crime. They just did it on the spur of the moment when the opportunity presented itself. They obviously got caught. They even offered to pay for the jewelry and behaved as if they are being victimized.

 

[derp]

^^ I have seen people pirate a Rs 50 Moserbaer video CD and and spend more than 50 Rs to do that. Same for PC games which were sold as low as 200 Rs. GTA 4 was available for Rs 400 when it launched, but people still went to the trouble of spending money to download and pirate 2 dual layer DVD's.

A lot of people in India seem to enjoy the thrill of dishonesty and later bragging about it. Then there are also those who simply see nothing wrong with it as long as they do not get caught. Nothing is worth money if they can steal it for free and its not limited to software either. All that stops a lot of them is fear of getting caught and punished and that simply happens to be totally absent when it comes to software.

Even shoplifting for instance is not only very common in India, but Indians get caught doing it quite a bit in US as well. These are all often people from fairly well to do families who brag about how they swiped something from the shops for free. When they do get caught, they cover their faces and behave like they are being victimized.

There was a case in Mumbai where a well to do couple (both of them MBA's with high paying jobs), went to buy some jewelry and there was some incident which distracted the staff and this couple impulsively swiped some jewelry worth a couple of lac's and walked away. This was not a planned crime. They just did it on the spur of the moment when the opportunity presented itself. They obviously got caught. They even offered to pay for the jewelry and behaved as if they are being victimized.

Whats your point? See if you want to sell games in India, you HAVE to make it cheap. I have seen millionaires in Palika Bazaar happily buying warez games without flinching. Also, spending on something which will become redundant after a playthrough is lunacy. Go for something meaningful. We are still developing as a nation, you see!

 

[psyph3r]

I am fine with DRM as long as it doesn't interfere with legitimate purchasers.

This, the amount of frustration GFWL caused me in the past is not even funny, good ****ing riddance. Also some of the shitty policies like activation limits, I remember Bioshock pissing me off with this bs which is why CDPR will always get my money even if they make a shitty game. Those guys deserve all the <3
Also, who can forget satan's own creation UPlay ? although it's much better now than it was a few years back.

See if you want to sell games in India, you HAVE to make it cheap.

For some people especially in India gaming is perceived to be childish and a complete waste of time so spending money on such a thing is inconceivable for them (same for music btw). In fact I've been laughed at by a few "gamers" when I mentioned that I purchase all games that I like.
It's good that Steam finally has localized pricing and there's really no excuse for pirating a game these days but that free-is-better mentality is still going to take a long time to change.
**** EA though, their games were reasonably priced until Battlefield 3 (ltd. edition steelbook for 1499) but some scumbags sold keys and others used vpn's and ruined Origin for everyone else, instead of putting up systems in place to stop people from exploiting this they just increased prices to $60 with a deal-with-it attitude.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

Whats your point? See if you want to sell games in India, you HAVE to make it cheap.

The point is that selling cheap doesn't matter much in India. It was already tried. Music CD's for Rs 25, Movies for Rs 50 and games starting at Rs 100.
None of that reduces piracy in India. People here would prefer to steal and get something for free than get it cheap. And its not just about software as I said. Even with heavy subsidies, power theft is pretty common in a lot of villages and other rural areas. Even worse is that they somehow feel entitled to get it for free at somebody else's expense.

Several years back, a media company that publishes a major English news paper in India which happens to earns in crores was caught running their entire workflow in a pirated version of our software when I was at my previous company. They did it simply because they thought they could get away with it. My former company literally stopped investing for the Indian market simply because they would not even get the R&D costs back in return. A lot of Indian companies still use pirated versions of that software for their workflows.

Only thing that can have any influence in these matters is legal measures that are properly implemented. Then you either buy and use or not use at all.

I have seen millionaires in Palika Bazaar happily buying warez games without flinching.

Which just shows my point.

Also, spending on something which will become redundant after a playthrough is lunacy. Go for something meaningful. We are still developing as a nation, you see!

Same can be said about everything including life. Why bother living when ultimately you are going to die anyways. Why do you have a computer or a phone or a TV when its all meaningless in the end. Sell them off and find some meaningful purpose for it.


Also, get it through your thick head that every thing in the world is not done exclusively for you or for the sake of a under-developed nation which seems to be continuously doing its best to regress back even more. India barely counts as any sort of market for games. So neither the games or DRM is made for Indian market. A lot of companies don't even bother releasing their products in India for the same reason.

A certain pharma company pulled out a patented cancer medicine from the Indian market. Reason being that the Indian authorities which were supposed to protect their IPR were leaking their formula to local manufacturers in the name of promoting cheaper medicines. The same govt and people wouldn't flinch at holding this pharma company liable if any of those duplicate/fake medicines were to cause side effects. At some convention, when asked for comments about their move, their top guy said that the medicine is not for markets that cannot afford it. Much hue and cry was raised over it in India, but what he said is definitely correct. They are spending billions of dollars on R&D for medicines for giving them away on charity. Just because people in backward country cannot afford them does not mean that they are entitled to get for free or cheap.

Charity or special treatment is just a favor, not an entitlement as you seem to think it is.

Go for something meaningful. We are still developing as a nation, you see!

Yeah, lets first see the 35~40% of salaries that people like me give to the govt as direct and indirect taxes being put to good use first.

Also stop with the bogus nationalistic and patriotic crap you try to spew every where. It is disgusting. Patriotism is a sentiment that is not much different and no less nonsensical than religious fanaticism. All that's needed for a country to operate and progress is people who fulfill their duties and responsibilities.

 

[adventureguy]

Yup. When I dropped 3k on fallout 4 when launched, my friends almost had an heart attack. It seemed like an alien concept to them, paying for games.

But cheap media will encourage people to buy things the legal way. Moserbaer cds when launched, my dad bought them by the bunch. Too bad, cds were out on their way then

 

[derp]

A certain pharma company pulled out a patented cancer medicine from the Indian market. Reason being that the Indian authorities which were supposed to protect their IPR were leaking their formula to local manufacturers in the name of promoting cheaper medicines. The same govt and people wouldn't flinch at holding this pharma company liable if any of those duplicate/fake medicines were to cause side effects. At some convention, when asked for comments about their move, their top guy said that the medicine is not for markets that cannot afford it. Much hue and cry was raised over it in India, but what he said is definitely correct. They are spending billions of dollars on R&D for medicines for giving them away on charity. Just because people in backward country cannot afford them does not mean that they are entitled to get for free or cheap.

Charity or special treatment is just a favor, not an entitlement as you seem to think it is.

*serious OT* but your replies deserve it.

Firstly, there are two types of people on this planet. The above photos bring that out clearly. There is a difference between your needs and your greeds. Spending thousands of $ on games, where your compatriots are dying of hunger, weather and the likes is not only morally wrong, but economically wrong also, as buying games online via steam does not help the country's economy a tad bit. What's the use of a life saving drug, if you can't even use it for the sake of humanity. Just consider yourself purely lucky, as you won the womb lottery and can afford more than your basic visceral needs. However, it becomes your moral responsibility to think about others too and not just pay the taxes and let government do the rest. Heck, you are here, alive and trolling online proves the fact that how critical cheap life saving drugs really are, as India has the best, cheap and effective healthcare regime.

I am not against expensive game titles. I am against this extreme exploitative capitalistic crap. If they want to make their products market friendly, they should take the same route as book publishers do. Launch a no frills cheaper version of the game exclusively for the Indian subcontinent. Until they do, buying games for 3k and above does not make any economical sense whatsoever when you talk of India. You have to acknowledge the fact that this is still not a first world country yet.

 

[manu1991]

Yeap because video games = AIDS Medicine. Perfect non retarded comparison

I also want a Jaguar at 1 lac. Why wont they sell it for 1 lac in India

 

[derp]

[DOUBLEPOST=1452657474][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yeap because video games = AIDS Medicine. Perfect non retarded comparison

I also want a Jaguar at 1 lac. Why wont they sell it for 1 lac in India

What are you delusional or totally blind? Didn't you read the context? Or it didn't go through the layers of idiocy surrounding your cranium?[DOUBLEPOST=1452657626][/DOUBLEPOST]

I also want a Jaguar at

This comparison game me the answer. You dont have to answer my above question!

 

[avi]

I also want a Jaguar at 1 lac. Why wont they sell it for 1 lac in India

Sorry, 1L is too costly for me. I want Jaguar for 10K.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

Spending thousands of $ on games, where your compatriots are dying of hunger, weather and the likes is not only morally wrong, but economically wrong also, as buying games online via steam does not help the country's economy a tad bit. What's the use of a life saving drug, if you can't even use it for the sake of humanity. Just consider yourself purely lucky, as you won the womb lottery and can afford more than your basic visceral needs. However, it becomes your moral responsibility to think about others too and not just pay the taxes and let government do the rest.

Then don't buy games if you believe there are better uses for your money. Why do you think you should be able to buy a PS4 for 40k, but then pirate the games? Why don't you donate that 40k to fund life saving drugs for those that need them? Where is your "moral responsibility" there? You think that what ever you spew out applies to others, but not to yourself.

Do you even know that a lot of big games have considerable amount of creative and other work done in India and that we get revenues and that those sources are drying up as more and more game studios go bankrupt? Do you know that every console game that gets sold legitimately bring taxes to our govt?

As I said in another thread, Hypocritical maggots like you are not qualified to talk about things you do not understand. So stop your self-patronizing blabber and that sense of entitlement.

 

[Chaos]

A certain pharma company pulled out a patented cancer medicine from the Indian market. Reason being that the Indian authorities which were supposed to protect their IPR were leaking their formula to local manufacturers in the name of promoting cheaper medicines. The same govt and people wouldn't flinch at holding this pharma company liable if any of those duplicate/fake medicines were to cause side effects. At some convention, when asked for comments about their move, their top guy said that the medicine is not for markets that cannot afford it. Much hue and cry was raised over it in India, but what he said is definitely correct. They are spending billions of dollars on R&D for medicines for giving them away on charity. Just because people in backward country cannot afford them does not mean that they are entitled to get for free or cheap.

Charity or special treatment is just a favor, not an entitlement as you seem to think it is.

While I agree with the rest of your comment, this part is one I completely disagree with. My wife works in the biotech research sector and I've seen the crazy costs involved in developing a cancer drug. However that doesn't make it right for the pharma companies to milk the poor patients dry due to their greed. The cost of most cancer drugs is roughly around 1000X the cost of production+R&D included. This is the reason why medical conditions is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the US. It is one thing to charge a fair price for one's research and another to milk the patients because they have no other choice and will die if not given the drug. This is also the reason why medical industry in the US is completely controlled by insurance and you can't even get treated and are left to die if you do not have insurance. We definitely do not want that situation to happen in India.

Also the patent system in India is just different for medicines. While in the US you can have a product or molecule patent, for pharmaceuticals in India, one only has a process patent. You can't patent a molecule - you can only patent the process. Its the job of the pharma company to deal with the laws of the land.

Also in case of a patent, there is nothing to leak. When you patent something, you basically are disclosing your entire procedure to build or achieve something - this then becomes public knowledge. (I've been through this process and have a few of them in my name). What one can do is sue for infringement - that is the whole deal about a patent. If you are scared of competitors copying you, don't patent - keep it a trade secret.