FM 2012 requires Steam to play

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 27 September, 2011

Sega hopes to combat piracy.

Football Manager 2012 fans have reacted angrily to the news that the PC game requires Steam to play.

Any version of Football Manager 2012 bought on disc has to be activated through Steam, publisher Sega confirmed this month.

Gamers have to have an internet connection for initial activation - a one-time only activation which requires you sign up for a Steam account and install the Steam client.

Once done, the game can be played offline by turning on Steam's Offline mode, but that hasn't stopped fans from venting their fury on developer Sports Interactive's forum.

3802 comments fill the 39 pages (at the time of writing) that make up the "A Message On Football Manager 2012 Activation" thread.

Inside the debate on Football Manager's Steam activation rages, with some threatening to refuse to buy the game because of it.

Sega said the decision was taken to combat piracy. If a quarter of the people that usually pirate the game buy it, the publisher said, sales worldwide would more than double.

"As you may remember, last year we decided against any activation as we couldn't find a solution that we thought struck a balance on combating piracy and not penalising the genuine consumer," Sega said.

"We did make our position on anti-piracy pretty clear though, we see it as a big problem for our game and we said we'd continue to look for a solution that stopped, or made it very difficult to pirate the game and play it for free.

"This year we have found what we believe is an acceptable solution.

"We appreciate that the vast majority of people reading this post on the forums are genuine consumers of the game, and that having to activate is not as simple as putting the game in the drive and playing.

"However we hope that, as a fan of the game, you feel that having to do a one-time activation is worth it to try to prevent others playing the game for free and stealing what you purchase with no punishment, and with no contribution toward the future of Football Manager and it's development.

"Make no mistake, if a quarter of the people that usually pirate the game switch to purchasing Football Manager 2012, the sales of the game worldwide would more than double."

"Make no mistake, if a quarter of the people that usually pirate the game switch to purchasing Football Manager 2012, the sales of the game worldwide would more than double. This would lead to increased development budgets and more benefits for all of you who do buy the game.

"We've taken this decision because we believe that the steps the consumer has to take are not excessive, and that as a one-time only measure with no tracking or reporting it is not too intrusive. Having worked with Steam for a few years now we also believe that their system is ever improving and gives Football Manager players a good service of free auto-updating, achievements and other great benefits without cost or hassle.

"We hope you understand and support the decision. It's by no means taken lightly, although I hope for the vast majority of you it's nowhere near as big an issue as we treat it as being."

Always-on internet requirements are currently a hot topic of debate among PC gamers.

Blizzard suffered a backlash of its own following the revelation that upcoming PC action RPG Diablo 3 cannot be played offline.

Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce told Eurogamer the decision was taken as part of a wider effort to create an "always-connected community" around all of its games, and that piracy was "not the driving factor".

"Ultimately, if people want to pirate the game, they're going to find ways to pirate the game whether we require an online connection or not," he said.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (75) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • shirotsku #1 8 months ago

    Bearing in mind how heavily pirated this game is each year... can't blame them.

  • X201 #2 8 months ago

    If it integrates cloud saves as well, where's the problem?

  • Bmovie #3 8 months ago

    I fail to see why this is a problem. Who plays pc games and doesn't have Steam?

  • megalomaniac_uk #4 8 months ago

    Another tick in the try to combat piracy but end up pushing previously legitimate users into it category - well done Sega. Still I suppose there are worse things to be forced into than Steam.

    EDIT: Wow folks don't like me saying that do they, well it's the truth folks. Since when did forcing you to install a 3rd party piece of software and have an internet connection to play your legitimately purchased game become a good thing? Ok so we all have Steam and an internet connection at home, but we're a special case as we're all posters on a gaming site and that puts us all in a pretty small niche. We all know the pirates will get around it, and one thing I can guarantee the average non-techie football fan (who this game is aimed at lest we forget) will take the route of least resistance....
    Edited by megalomaniac_uk at 27/09/11 @ 10:50

  • filipo #5 8 months ago

    The luddites who've never had to use Steam revolt, but we all know it's better than the alternative. Steam's been great for me, never had any problems with it, and anyone who does have problems with it is a big fat ninny.

  • DozyKipper #6 8 months ago

    I don't know why people are getting their knickers in a knot over this. Steam is the best solution the PC has.

  • Ryze #7 8 months ago

    Yep - this is reasonable.

    The angry people simply WANT to play pirate copies without paying.

  • hiddenranbir #8 8 months ago

    "We continue to make profit on this game without protection but now we want even GREATER profit at the cost of pissing you off, cause you'll still buy our game you weak little shits" - SEGA


    Some people don't like to buy the Steam version and many people preferred buying the retail version with its own activation key (which didn't demand you run steam)


    They're lying about last year's not needing any 'activation'. It did, you just had non-steam version activations alongside Steam's. They go through this every year and each time they've had to re-assure the fans there are steam-alternatives. I guess this is finally the year where they don't bother anymore.
    Edited by hiddenranbir at 27/09/11 @ 10:48

  • WJF #9 8 months ago

    I guess people need something to get angry about these days (even if it is a bit silly)
    Edited by WJF at 27/09/11 @ 10:42

  • Blocky #10 8 months ago

    @X201 and Bmovie:

    Because people don't want to pay for the game

  • ZizouFC #11 8 months ago

    "Make no mistake, if a quarter of the people that usually pirate the game switch to purchasing Football Manager 2012, the sales of the game worldwide would more than double."

    wat

  • Bmovie #12 8 months ago

    The only problem I've ever had with Steam was the day Half Life 2 was released and it completely broke their servers and I couldn't play it for hours.

    Thats 7 years ago.

  • Rama26285 #13 8 months ago

    I presuming this one time activation will also kill the second hand market at the same time?

  • gribb #14 8 months ago

    This isn't a massive story, previous versions of FM have used Steam and it hasn't been a problem.

  • Toothball #15 8 months ago

    While I'm not one for sport games, I can't say this would concern me as I don't play games offline any more. People complain about anything, especially British people (myself included). Just leave them to it and it'll all be fine.

  • Phoenisis #16 8 months ago

    Spoiler alert: It won't help combat piracy, and zero quarters of the people who usually pirate it will start buying it.

    I don't really care personally since, well, Steam, but this is an exercise in futility. SI deserve better, but they won't get it.

  • cianchristopher #17 8 months ago

    If you play PC games and you don't have Steam, then you're doing it wrong.

  • lordmedikit #18 8 months ago

    @ZizouFC In other words for every 5 people who play Football Manager they are saying that 4 pirate it and 1 pays. Therefore, if only a quarter of the pirates e.g. 1 are converted to paying by this then this would change the balance to 3 pirates and 2 paying hence a doubling in the legal paying players and the consequent boost in their revenues.

    I'm not particularly a lover of Steam, I don't like it's limitations and consider it to basically be renting content. Therefore I would usually say only to buy a game locked to Steam in a sale when it's dirt cheap. However, this is a time sensitive product so it's value is mostly gone by the time it would be on sale so I can understand that some people may be angry to now be paying full price for what is a glorified rental as opposed to the real product they were getting before.

  • v.profane #19 8 months ago

    You have to bear in mind that lots of people that play FM don't play anything else and so see Steam as a useless intrusion steelin' thier megahurts! I've used Steam for the previous three games (time flies!) so I don't give a monkeys.

    However, I don't like this line Sega is spinning. I'm very sceptical about how piracy figures are collected and what their significance are. Sega seem to be engaging in the same "if only" thinking as pubs like Ubisoft; "IF ONLY all those people who aren't buying it would become paying customers!" I don't think you can make people into paying customers by making your game less attractive (same price, more DRM), and I wish pubs would accept the reality that many software pirates wouldn't even pay 50p.

    BTW unless they figure out some kind of differential system, there's no way 100Mb+ FM saves are going to be cloud synced.

  • obscured021 #20 8 months ago

    started using steam in 2004 and i have yet to have any issues with it. every game should use it, its like a better version of XBL

  • vyseofhr #21 8 months ago

    I'm aware that there's an 'offline' mode to Steam, however if you start up your PC/laptop without an internet connection then it just says 'no connection detected' and won't let you start. So it doesn't work, for me anyway.

    I spend an awful lot of time travelling on our railways for work and Uni (part time student) and what this means is if I don't start Steam before I leave the house in the morning, and put my laptop into sleep mode, I can't play FM on the train. It's not THAT much of a bother, but it is another thing I've got to remember to do in the morning before work, rather than just turning my laptop on when I board the train, and starting up a game that I've paid for.

    It's only minor, but that's the only gripe I have with the system. Steam as a platform and a measure for anti-piracy is great. No internet connection = no game that's you've paid good money for, is not.

  • Waffleaber #22 8 months ago

    Fine by me, I always end up adding non-steam games to my steam library anyway, makes them easier to keep track of.
    That and knowing I can buy any cheaper retail copy of the game for and definately link it is great news too.

  • kangarootoo #23 8 months ago

    @megalomaniac_uk

    "Since when did forcing you to install a 3rd party piece of software and have an internet connection to play your legitimately purchased game become a good thing"

    Its never been a good thing. But it is fast becoming a necessary thing.

    The contrast is interesting though. In a non-Steam thread about the same subject, your post would be + in double digits. Maybe this move, and the general feeling about it shown here and no doubt elsewhere, will make other publishers consider Steam in the future if for no reason other than anti-piracy.

  • Mushi-master #24 8 months ago

    "Since when did forcing you to install a 3rd party piece of software and have an internet connection to play your legitimately purchased game become a good thing"

    I really don't see having to install 3rd party software is a big issue on PC. To play any game, you need to install lots of 3rd party software: Direct X, drivers, the operating system itself. Same way you need to install the likes of Flash for most of the internet to work. Installing 3rd party software is part and parcel of using a PC.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #25 8 months ago

    @v.profane: However, I don't like this line Sega is spinning. I'm very sceptical about how piracy figures are collected and what their significance are. Sega seem to be engaging in the same "if only" thinking as pubs like Ubisoft; "IF ONLY all those people who aren't buying it would become paying customers!"

    I think Sega is not trying to spin anything here. They have absolutely nothing to gain by using Steam except that they now have a very widely accepted DRM in place to combat piracy. The only reason to use Steam is the DRM; There is no need to use piracy as an excuse to use Steam. They are not using Steam for the friends list etc. but indeed for the DRM.

    I hope it will work for them.

  • Radish #26 8 months ago

    It won't make any difference to piracy. A version with steam removed will be available to download either on launch day or a day or two afterwards.

    Having said that, I'm glad when games use Steamworks - I much prefer to have them in my steam account, and boxed copies of games always drop in price far quicker than they do on Steam. e.g. Deux Ex is still £29.99 on Steam, but Zavvi have the boxed copy available for £17.99 - and since you have to activate it on Steam anyway, it makes no difference which version you go for, other than one being £12 cheaper.
    Edited by Radish at 27/09/11 @ 11:41

  • mamac123 #27 8 months ago

    "A Message On Football Manager 2012 Activision"

    What does Activsion have to do with anything :p

  • StooMonster #28 8 months ago

    Could work as a good anti-piracy system if they tied cloud saves and accounts and network scores to Steam accounts, and checked if you'd bought it via Steam or activated it via Steam.

    Developers have requested similar with Apple's App Store -- on people who are recorded as having purchased the game -- appear in league table ranks, on friends lists, etc.

  • hiddenranbir #29 8 months ago

    "This isn't a massive story, previous versions of FM have used Steam and it hasn't been a problem."

    It is because previous versions have offered Non-steam alternatives when activating your game. This year it is Steam or NOTHING.

    People just want choices. I seriously doubt FM12 sales will be any different to what they usually are.
    Edited by hiddenranbir at 27/09/11 @ 11:54

  • biscuitmay #30 8 months ago

    Now if i could do a 1 time activation the uninstall steam id be fine with that but it seems u cnt do that,this will b the first time i dnt buy this on day 1 i think i will wait a couple of weeks and see wat every1 thinks about it first.

  • niacin #31 8 months ago

    thing is they're saying piracy but it's really being done to combat the main threat to their profit, the second hand market.

    Not many publishers are brave enough to risk pissing off the retailers by coming out and saying that pre-owned is killing the industry but piracy gives them a great cover.

  • TheApologist #32 8 months ago

    The article seems to imply an equivalence between always online and one time activation. There isn't one. Always online is not reasonable, Steam offline mode works fine these days and is completely reasonable.

  • Ryze #33 8 months ago

    As gotyourmoney shows, this may be a good method of getting rid of non-customers like him.

    Yes - the game may/will get cracked, but hopefully Sega will distribute a few bonuses to all of the Steam activated users, to show appreciation for a minor inconvenience.

    Anybody who's REALLY bothered about connecting to the Internet once can just grab a pirate copy and lose out. I don't expect that this will increase sales massively, as I reckon that many of the pirates don't want to spend anything, or are in countries / regions where the RRP is extortionate compared to the cost of living or peoples incomes.

    Making sure that pirates don't get access to the full product would be fine by me, however.

    edit@ niacin:

    Does anyone REALLY sell FM games, or buy them second hand? Really? OK, well they're cutting off the second hand market. Too bad.
    Edited by Ryze at 27/09/11 @ 13:53

  • TheApologist #34 8 months ago

    @vyseofhr

    That's a pain. There might be something wrong with your Steam install, or maybe a really weird game specific issue? I play on my laptop, and Steam offline mode never does that to me, or anyone else I know using Steam. As long as you log in occasionally (I heard 30 days on a forum) offline mode should just work. It has improved greatly in recent months.
    Edited by TheApologist at 27/09/11 @ 12:25

  • arcam #35 8 months ago

    As gotyourmoney shows, this may be a good method of getting rid of non-customers like him.

    How does it show that? From his post I got that he will continue to pirate the game, except this time there is no chance at all of him buying the game.

  • nuanimal #36 8 months ago

    "A Message On Football Manager 2012 Activision"

    Activision?

  • HL706 #37 8 months ago

    I don't necessarily blame them for doing this - but they're being incredibly naive with the following statement;

    "Make no mistake, if a quarter of the people that usually pirate the game switch to purchasing Football Manager 2012, the sales of the game worldwide would more than double."

    I'm sorry but pirates will always pirate. You could offer them the game for a penny and they'd find a way to steal it. Chasing after a market that doesn't want to buy is futile. I'll be very surprised if this has any noticable impact on the sales of FM tbh.

  • Nismo400R84 #38 8 months ago

    I dont understand the problem with having to use steam ,Activate once job done and if for what ever reason your not connected to the net say its on your laptop on the train like someone as said start in offline mode .The game will still work fine

  • Bumbuliuz #39 8 months ago

    I really don't have any issue with this. It's unfortunate that the game is so pirated, and hopefully this puts some dent in that. I'd rather have Steam than any 3rd party copy protection.

  • kangarootoo #40 8 months ago

    "I pirate every single PC game I buy"

    Funny.



    "except this time there is no chance at all of him buying the game"

    This time, as opposed to the previous times? He was never going to buy a game, by his own admission. He is not closer or further away from not buying a game - if he is pirating it, he has already arrived.

    "I don't do this, ever, and now I'm even MORE not going to do this" simply makes no sense. It certainly tells us nothing about the effect of SEGA's decision on the gamer in question. It is perhaps an attempt by the poster to make an irrelevant opinion relevant, essentially by contradicting himself in a dramatic and heartfelt fashion.


    I'm not saying I agree or disagree either way. I'm simply saying that gotyourmoney's contribution is meaningless, and any discussion about whether he is more or less likely to buy games now is a bit bonkers - the truth is clearly "it makes no difference, because he doesn't buy games".

  • arcam #41 8 months ago

    @kangarootoo

    The fact that he said I pirate every game I buy, gave me the impression that he buys games, but still pirates them anyway so they can be used without restrictions (this is pretty common, I've done it many times). Only this time, there's no chance of the intial sale.

    But I don't wish to speak for him, maybe I got the wrong end of the stick.

  • steagz #42 8 months ago

    i have just been reading it on the si forums. that user called waker is really kicking off lol.

  • Miles_SI #43 8 months ago

    It's a shame that no one from Eurogamer asked for either myself or SEGA to comment on this, or looked at the posts that I'd made on the thread before posting this article.

    The thread itself, whilst noisy, has less than 100 people saying they won't buy the game because of this. Some of them have since retracted that statement too. Whilst it's really disappointing for us to know that those people won't be playing the game this year, and therefore won't get to enjoy our work, the reasons behind it are sound. Steam is the best solution we have to combat some of our piracy problems, particularly pre-release, and to deliver the game to people in the best way, with auto-patching, achievements and the like.

    Still, if people have the time, they can read the whole thread for themselves, and make their own minds up!

    HL706 - nothing in that statement isn't factual. We're not suggesting that these measures will lead to 25% of people who have previously pirated buying the game, just stating what the outcome would be if they did.


    Right - back to finishing the game...

  • kangarootoo #44 8 months ago

    "The fact that he said I pirate every game I buy, gave me the impression that he buys games"

    I figured it was just misappropriation of the word buy, hence me thinking it was funny. I could be wrong of course.

  • Phoenisis #45 8 months ago

    @Miles

    "We're not suggesting that these measures will lead to 25% of people who have previously pirated buying the game, just stating what the outcome would be if they did. "

    But then what's the point of mentioning it? The reason people react badly to it is because they're used to seeing publishers like Ubisoft use that line of pseudo-logic to justify delivering an inferior product that effectively punishes people for paying rather than pirating.
    I don't mind this since I use steam anyways, but frankly, I can't blame those people.

  • arcam #46 8 months ago

    @Miles_SI

    I see you have used piracy statistics to justify the decision - would you please let us know of similar stats after release, so people can see how much it helps you? I think if people could see that it was really making a difference there would be less blowback.

  • NunianVonFuch #47 8 months ago

    I think the main problem is that steam activation is easily hacked so will make no difference to the bottom line and only serve to prevent a number of customers from buying the game due to the Internet connection requirement. These people's only solution will be to pirate the game to a disc and use that to install on their computer thus reducing potential sales rather than increasing them.

    Why would this make a pirate purchase the game? They never address that!

  • T3TSUO #48 8 months ago

    Steam is actually easier for pirates. Unprotected .exe is a blessing for them. All Steam pirated games these days even come with their own installers.
    You're not combating anything but the second hand market Sega and you can keep your prices sky high for as long as possible.
    People are buying hook line and sinker.

  • Ryze #49 8 months ago

    @NunianVonFuch

    Pirates aren't interested in purchasing. The people who need an Internet free version for an offline PC can either use Steam offline mode, or buy a copy, then download the pirated version if they absolutely MUST.

    The other people can fuck off as far a Sega's concerned, I expect. This includes people who want to buy 2nd hand, and expect a complete edition with all updates and online features intact. They've not paid Sega, so why would they care?

    If people stop buying the game at full price due to the inability to trade in, then they'll be able to tell using their OWN sales figures, and hopefully will adjust the price to compensate.

    In addition, I HOPE that the connection to Steam will have Sega make some very interesting content available to registered customers, that is not present on the disc.

  • NunianVonFuch #50 8 months ago

    @Ryze you can't use Steam Offline on an always offline PC. It still needs an internet connection for the initial activation. I also don't get people listing 2nd hand as an option, no stores sell 2nd hand PC games and the online market for them is limited to ebay.

  • Ryze #51 8 months ago

    Oh well. It looks like Sega's not catering for them at the moment. I expect that they can get a Wifi connection from somewhere, or otherwise they'll have to continue playing a pirate copy. These people obviously can never benefit from patches or updates anyway, as they can't get anywhere near an Internet connection with their PCs.

    Maybe Sega will even leave out certain crucial files, meaning that the game is broken when playing a pirate copy for too long. It's a shame for those few people affected, but I can see why those who work hard want to do something reasonable to protect their work from thieves. This is reasonable, so no complaints from me.

  • deadstoned #52 8 months ago

    Sorry complainers, but Sports Interactive has to deal with 90% piracy year on year. I cant blame them for attempting to curb it a little. Besides Steam is fantastic cloud saves, sales, chat, its all finely crafted be thankful your not getting GFWL.

  • f0nZ #53 8 months ago

    50 euros for a Management game without real faces and real badges already in the game? No thanks...

  • kangarootoo #54 8 months ago

    For those who are saying their gaming PC is never online, well obviously that means you can't play this game. SEGA are no doubt not pleased about that result for the minority it affects, but it is an unavoidable side effect of the route they have chosen and they obviously believe the positives outweight the tiny number of negatives of that type.

    I'm not without sympathy for someone who can't play a legit copy because of anti-piracy measures. However, choosing to not connect your PC to the web is like choosing to run your car on leaded petrol. Its not a peculiar or unusual for a PC to be offline, it is very much non-standard. Even those who play on the move have other options available (one of which of course is to play something else).

    This feels like a situation where a handful of people vent fake outrage, and back their outrage up by deliberately contriving situations in which they will be grossly disadvantaged. Of course for the majority, the decision to make this Steam only makes next to no difference at all. For the pirates, well really who cares what effect it has on their experience or their life. And for the minority who are adversely affected, its unfortunate I suppose but so is much of life. Its only a game afterall.

  • MrChuckles #55 8 months ago

    @kangarootoo - As usual, i seem to agree with you... I had the same opinion about Diablo 3's always on internet connection apart from the 'no pause' button which just seemed stupid as i'll mainly be playing it single player.

    More and more games will require players to be online, it isn't 1999 anymore, most of us have reasonably reliable internet connections and if you want to PC game, you probably should have.

    Hell, even my mum has a reliable 10mb connection now and she lives in the sticks in the South West...

  • Phoenisis #56 8 months ago

    "And for the minority who are adversely affected, its unfortunate I suppose but so is much of life. Its only a game afterall. "

    I imagine the minority who are adversely affected will simply start pirating the game rather than buying it, and proceed to play it without hassle. That's usually what happens, ironically enough.

  • southside_wolf #57 8 months ago

    I'm not really a PC gamer, just someone who plays FM on PC (it's the only title other than old adventures I really ever have running on my laptop). Can someone explain to me just what Steam offline mode means for me. Can I register the game once at home and then never worry about it needing re-validated when I'm on the train or something at an indeterminate point in the future?

  • v.profane #58 8 months ago

    I doubt that second-hand sales are much of an issue for FM. It's not the kind of game you play for a few days, complete, and move on to the next one; it's a time-sink game.

  • arcam #59 8 months ago

    Can someone explain to me just what Steam offline mode means for me. Can I register the game once at home and then never worry about it needing re-validated when I'm on the train or something at an indeterminate point in the future?

    Yes. Just go online with Steam, register your game, then switch Steam to Offline Mode and you need never connect it again. It's possible that some set of circumstances may mean Steam insists on reconnecting again before playing, but this happens vary rarely in my experience.

  • kangarootoo #60 8 months ago

    @Phoenisis

    Well if they can't buy it and play it, they can't buy it and play it, so it doesn't really matter what else they do. If they play something else, OR they pirate it, it likely makes little difference to SEGA.

  • Phoenisis #61 8 months ago

    @kangarootoo

    But it used to be that they COULD buy it and play it, so that's still lost sales. Question is if those lost sales are made up for by the extra buys from former pirates. And given that there's literally a 0% chance of this preventing piracy, well...

    Edit: Though I suppose it could potentially help prevent piracy from pre-release leaks, which may indeed be worth it in this case, given how widespread and relatively benign Steam is. Thing about pre-release piracy is that, while the vast majority pirates do not represent lost sales, people who are huge fans, and thus potential buyers, may be unable to contain themselves and give in to temptation if it means playing their favourite game a week sooner.
    Edited by Phoenisis at 27/09/11 @ 16:02

  • kangarootoo #62 8 months ago

    @Phoenisis

    I get that. Like I said, I'm sure SEGA aren't pleased about losing a customer, but there is rarely a perfect solution to any problem. My point is that if someone is no longer a customer, stating "well I'll just pirate it then" is just blowing air. If they aren't a customer, it doesn't matter whether they pirate it or not. I'm labouring the point rather :)

  • arcam #63 8 months ago

    @Phoenisis

    It will also stop households sharing a single copy, so that might bring in a few extra sales too.

  • Nephirion #64 8 months ago

    Steamworks doesn't prevent piracy those games are pirated the same as any other non-steamworks game, the harder you make a game to pirate the more tempting it is.

  • Phoenisis #65 8 months ago

    @kangarootoo

    Sure, them saying that doesn't really matter in itself, but the prospect of losing established customers by doing what may ultimately amount to ineffectually swinging their fists at ghosts is something that should matter to publishers.

    As I said, I really don't think there's anything insidious going on in this case, it's just Steam, but the reason people feel the need to "blow air" about it is because they're tired of publishers disingenuously using the spectre of piracy and the theoretical resulting loss of sales to justify inconveniencing them.

    So while I understand that publishers and developers feel the need to try and protect their IP, I also understand that many people see a line like "if a quarter of the people that usually pirate the game switch to purchasing Football Manager 2012, the sales of the game worldwide would more than double" and have a negative gut reaction to it.

    And I'd even argue that said negative reaction is more rational and less emotional than the continued use of heavy-handed DRM by publishers. After all, they've seen games be intrusive pains to play as a result, and I'm not sure anyone has seen increased sales as a result of DRM.

  • Phoenisis #66 8 months ago

    @arcam

    Will it really do that, though? It seems to me that if people are in the same household, it's not a big stretch for them to share eachother's Steam account. And how big a problem is single-household "piracy" anyways? If a family with 2 kids owns an X360, and both kids play the games they buy on it, is that a big problem to be combated?
    Edited by Phoenisis at 27/09/11 @ 16:41

  • arcam #67 8 months ago

    @Phoenisis

    I don't think it's a problem at all, but publishers might. They've also achieved the same thing with the online pass, with only one person being able to use each copy.

    Sucks that you can't share these games among your household or pass them on to younger relatives when you're done, but publishers would point out that the EULA has always forbidden them to do that anyway.

  • Phoenisis #68 8 months ago

    @arcam

    Sure, I agree (though my aforementioned sympathy for publishers and developers definitely doesn't extend THAT far).

    I'm just not convinced there's really a significant amount of sales to be gained there.

  • UncleLou #69 8 months ago

    Another tick in the try to combat piracy but end up pushing previously legitimate users into it category - well done Sega.

    Tbh, anyone falling into that category was just desperately looking for an excuse, how lame it ever might be.

    Top tip: if you disagree with Steam for whatever reason (fair enough), don't buy it and don't play it. It's really quite simple.

  • Aargh. #70 8 months ago

    90% of those posts on the thread mentioned in the article are people explaining to others about what Steam is or people saying they don't care.

    As usual this is a minor concern of a few people on there that EG have decided to use as a story for some lazy hits.

  • suicidal_penguins #71 8 months ago

    The demographic for FM is probably more skewed to laptop users than most other users and, I'd hazard, that demographic is also less likely to have an always on Internet. Which is at least the difference here, it's not a Diablo like "screw you" to customers, Steam is an activate once (anywhere) play anywhere solution. Personally, I'd be getting angry about the way FM has become tedious to play and lacking fun before getting angry about using Steam. If there's one reason not to play the game then it's simply because it's not enjoyable anymore, not the DRM.

  • kangarootoo #72 8 months ago

    @Phoenisis

    The clear implication in your post is that this move WILL be ineffectual. Truthfully, we don't know that for fact, or anything close to fact. SEGA obviously seem to think this is a good idea, and worth the cost in sales and goodwill. I guess time will tell if they are right.

    I also think that we have a vested interested in believing it WILL be inefectual - i.e. our convenience. We WANT it to be ineffectual, as the result will be a return to the non-DRM state of affairs that we know and love. So like so many threads about all sorts of subjects, we state things with certainty and authority when we really have no possible way of knowing for sure. I don't know either way, but I think it is important to just say that rather than just start believing the version of events that I would like to be reality the most.

  • Nameless-001 #73 8 months ago

    One time activation It's fine for me, I don't see the problem.

  • Ryuken #74 8 months ago

    Dear Wesley, what's the worth of this newsbit actually?

    How did FM players miss the past seven years or so? Earlier versions of FM shipped with a lot more worse activation and copy protection schemes. Steam's only disadvantage is that you have to install the client as well but other than that it's quite smooth.

    No DRM is more ideal but pretty much every major PC game, on Steam or not, has online activation. Wake up folks, because it's gonna come to every platform out there.

  • puddy22 #75 7 months ago

    Well, since the wont let me play FM 2012 for free, i hve installed FM 2006 for the win:)