Christian Svensson was on the Capcom-Unity forums offering up information on other digital avenues you'll be able to purchase Street Fighter IV through along with how that will factor in with what type of DRM (Digital Rights Management) is included with the game.Which places will distribute SFIV for the PC?
Sven: SFIV will be distributed on Steam, Gamersgate, Direct2Drive, Digital River (including capcom.com, nvidia.com, bestbuy.com, etc.), Metaboli, Gametap, Impusle and others.
Online play will be provided by Games for Windows Live.
Please understand, there is a difference between distribution mechanism and online services provision.
What DRM will the PC version of SFIV use?
Sven: The Steam version will use Steam's DRM. Retail will use SecuROM. Other digital outlets will use either SecuROM or that specific outlet's proprietary DRM mechanism (for those that have them). Games for Windows keys will be required for online play, regardless of outlet.
As such, all versions will have some form of DRM (regardless of how you choose to define DRM).
Is it possible to purchase a retail version, but instead of installing it, I take the key and enter that in Steam, just to prevent using SecuROM? Or do I have to stick to SecuROM with the retail version? — Shoryufail
Sven: Nope. Retail and Steam will be separate.
Does releasing yummy Capcom games affect sales of other yummy Capcom games? — Chen Li Cha
Sven: The answer is, yes. The release of new Capcom games does affect the sales of games already on sale, though not always how you might expect.
At times, a good experience with one game (e.g. 1942: Joint Strike) may lead to the purchase of another (e.g. Wolf of the Battlefied: Commando 3), even long after the title release windows. Similarly, our hope is that people who enjoyed HD Remix (and there are a LOT of them) will enjoy MvC2. Does that mean MvC2 will crush HD Remix? There's likely to be a short term impact around release, but again, our hope is for people who liked what they got from MvC2 but didn't buy HD Remix the first time around, may eventually be converted customers.
You'd think HD Remix would have crushed Hyper Fighting sales... and it has reduced the pre-HDR plateau number slightly, but here we are approaching the third anniversary of Hyper Fighting, and we're still selling loads of Hyper Fighting, even when there is a "superior" product on XBL Marketplace.
Then we get into the possibility of bundling and other clever promotions. These are a lot more prevalent on the PC than they are on consoles today, but I'd expect that to change over time. Because there's no inventory to move around, and no retail buyer to convince to restock, these titles never go off sale.
We've seen how interesting promotions, or limited time pricing strategies can drastically alter the sales curves (and thus overall revenue) of titles, even years after release.
At the same time, we have our Capcom store on the US PSN. Having the ability to merchandise our titles together, is a really powerful tool. So in that regard, the MORE content we have to showcase, the higher the likelihood we're going to attract someone new to the Capcom fan pool, who will hopefully be looking for similarly high quality experiences.
And we're still learning what works best. All of this, is a learning process. No one has the answers... but we're getting a better understanding every day.
Posted by Zero_ on May 3, 2009 at 12:39 a.m. #1
DRM? DRM!? .... DDRRRMMMM!!!!
Posted by G on May 3, 2009 at 1:32 a.m. #2
Not going to buy it with DRM. I bought a movie off the internet some time ago which also had DRM...my god never will I do that again. I had 3 licenses for it, to play it on 3 computers...guess what? I launched the movie with WMP and then there came these notifications about getting a license blabla...my firewall blocked them and so it took me 2 licenses to activate it!!! BS imo. Never, ever, again. No matter how good a game is.
Posted by richard on May 3, 2009 at 2:14 a.m. #3
Capcom wanna go down the same road as EA !
I bet most people will just pirate this game, hopefully we would see SFIV Mugen soon.
Posted by Aquashark on May 3, 2009 at 3:04 a.m. #4
stfu and buy the Steam release
it's the best of them all in terms of DRM
Posted by sandy on May 3, 2009 at 3:12 a.m. #5
Don't want steam cause I want a disc with pretty pictures etc lol. Would it be possible to simply buy the retail disc then download a pirated version and use your key on it? If thats the case then im still in for PC version. If not im just gonna have to go play on my friends xbox whenever i want to play ><
Posted by King on May 3, 2009 at 3:58 a.m. #6
Best version to get is the Steam version.
Posted by shoryufail on May 3, 2009 at 4:04 a.m. #7
my question should be useful.
anyway, i hope securom wont restrict me to 2 installs or something, that'd suck hard...
Posted by @ shoryufail on May 3, 2009 at 5:36 a.m. #8
i'm pretty sure you can install as many times as you want...as long as you uninstall the game before hand or something
Posted by Steam>All on May 3, 2009 at 9 a.m. #9
They don't even need to distribute it on those other services...all the smart people will buy it via Steam.
Posted by tom on May 3, 2009 at 9:19 a.m. #10
what ups with window live and using window key i dont get it.
is it just the game come with a key and you just enter it?
if it is. isnt it easy to get a fake one with key generater?
Posted by GET STEAM on May 3, 2009 at 11:37 a.m. #11
They shouldve only released it for steam...stupid idea for the drm stuff..
Posted by Duelle on May 3, 2009 at 2:04 p.m. #12
You guys do realise that all console games have DRM in that they can't be copied (easily) to make backups and that any backups made can't be played without modification of the system, which voids your warranty, right? With PC games I can rip the image to hard drive and mount it with Daemontools if I don't want to use the disc, DRM or not. The only type of bad DRM is the kind that limits installs or installs a rootkit. I don't think any release of SF4 PC will do these things, so quit complaining. The Steam version will be like any other Steam game: limitless installs and can be downloaded anywhere that you have Steam installed. So long as the DRM doesn't affect the ability to play the game, there's no problem, and since Steam games have never given me a problem I'm not worried.
Posted by sandy on May 3, 2009 at 3:04 p.m. #13
"With PC games I can rip the image to hard drive and mount it with Daemontools if I don't want to use the disc, DRM or not. The only type of bad DRM is the kind that limits installs or installs a rootkit." Posted by Duelle
That's my issue right their, we need confirmation that it isn't going to limit number of installs. The devil may cry games from Capcom didn't so hopefully this continues to follow tradition.
Posted by tom on May 3, 2009 at 7:40 p.m. #14
does steam cost any money? does it work with bootleg windows app? i dont get this? window live ect. i just dont understand why cant this be a cd that you put into a dvd rom and play games online and offline. I dont UNDERstand.
Posted by kinguto on May 3, 2009 at 10:24 p.m. #15
Steam is free, get it enjoy and pass the word.
Your windows is bootleg shouldn't matter as long as you can run windows apps.
