Your servers will not last forever, Blizzard. Being forced to log into them every 30 days just to enjoy the HD graphics while offline will probably backfire horribly in the future.
It could happen in 10 years, it could happen in 20… doesn’t matter how long it takes, it will happen. And there will be people who still want to play it after the fact.
Please figure out a different, more consumer-friendly DRM alternative and implement that instead. Thanks.
As far as the future goes, I suspect that if/when Bliz or SC ever shuts down, one of the last things they’d do is code the DRM out of the client so that it could be used without a connection to the servers.
For the present, the DRM is one of the anti piracy/hacking measures, so it’s not likely going anywhere. The hard part is striking a balance between not inconveniencing customers and protecting IP.
hey i jsut made the same thread in another place
Lets work toguether to push BLIZZARD to give us an answer about it.
I share the same hopes, but “I suspect” isn’t particularly convincing.
Why is there the need to keep logging on? What is this protection from?!
And is Blizzard still making a lot of money from selling SC:R?
It’s part of the anti piracy/hacking. Logging in forces a license check with Battlenet.
As an example, if one managed to hack the client to give Remastered for free, by logging in, Battlenet would detect that the client is hacked and forward that info to the associated departments in Bliz.
Since it plays a part in that role, that’s why I suspect it won’t be changed to something that allows long intervals without logging in. Like I was saying above, the hard part is striking a balance between not inconveniencing customers while still adequately protecting IP.
Don’t know. I don’t know what SCR is bringing in compared to its forecasts for this point in its life cycle. 
This might be my inner Ross, but piracy is inevitable if killing the game forever is on the table.
Piracy is inevitable all the time. Pre-Remastered SC didn’t require connection to use, meaning usable forever, and it had key generator hacks.
We can only hope that if SC/Bliz shuts down, in their final version they code the DRM out.
I’m willing to bet that computer advancement will leave SC behind rendering it unplayable before Bliz ever shuts down. Pre-remastered SC was already on its way to that state before Bliz started working on it again.
If the vast majority of money has already been made by selling SC:R, then there would be minimal financial losses by removing the need to go online every 30 days.
I wonder if every time someone logs on to Battlenet and clicks “play” on a game whether a signal gets sent back to Blizzard to let them know how popular their games are. That wouldn’t be a problem, but if that’s a big reason, then Blizzard could be honest about it.
Regarding rendering older games unplayable… Has Blizzard done anything to keep WarCraft I & II alive? I can still play both of those fine through DOSBox (and using original CDs). It wouldn’t surprise me if something similar gets developed for newer, non-DOS games.
Surely, at some point a company would say, “We’re not going to make much money on these games anymore, so we’ll just make them available”? Isn’t that part of the reason SC became free (as well as to try to stir up a larger player base for the release of SC:R)?
them making SC1 free was more of a business move to make getting into the remaster easier.
SC WAS DEAD IN 1.16.1
Its not going anywhere, and neither am i.
If anything it will be cut down to 1 gateway.
Activision will probably part with Blizzard after d4 dies and if we are lucky they will stand on their own again like bungie
Once word got out that a hack was available, it would uptick again. Trouble is that for every copy that got out, that would be revenue that Bliz loses on their IP.
Not themselves, but they did commission GOG to update them both so that they work on modern systems. War2 even had some uprezzing included in the updates.
Indeed. Hopefully the nostalgic types do keep creating emulators to keep old games running. That’s why I hope that the DRM would be coded out if Bliz were ever to shut down itself/SC.
It’s certainly a company’s prerogative to do that. But while SC is still thriving and actively played, even serving as part of some people’s livelihood, that’s not likely. I can only see the DRM being removed when it officially hits end-of-life from a support standpoint… when it joins the ranks of abandonware.
I wouldn’t say it was from the game not making money anymore. I’d think it was from supplanting it with another paid product: the remastered content. (Also to tantalize.)
You have WAY too much faith in them if you think they’d ever do that without a serious amount of pressure. At any rate, that pressure needs to be applied now, not later.
I’ve observed these game companies’ behavior for a few years now, without any pressure they’d be more than happy to disappear into the sunset and take everything we ever paid for with them.
This is what I mean - if the sales have now dropped off, then the revenue lost would be minimal.
I bought a copy of WarCraft II: Battlenet Edition a number of years after it had come out. I can’t imagine Blizzard having made much money of that game that year.
My point was that there was still a way for me to play the original games over 20 years since they were released, without any Blizzard intervention. I wouldn’t trust Blizzard to keep a game alive… after all, they thought it was a good idea to remove StarEdit and force everyone to use SCMDraft 2, which needs to be updated every time SC gets an update.
(I still have an original SC installation, completely non-patched, and would use the StarEdit from that… and my missions would work fine with the latest patch of the game. I am aware that Blizzard have now allowed a version of StarEdit to be downloaded. I’m just making the point about not trusting Blizzard with keeping things alive.)
I just can’t help but view this whole thing from the perspective that I have paid money for a product that I don’t really own. If Blizzard decides to block my account, I don’t have access. If I have no internet connection for more than 30 days (very possible, since I have travelled a lot in the past), then I don’t have access. If something happens to Blizzard and they don’t code out this DRM, then I don’t have access.
When I go to a shop to buy something, I would walk out with a product. For modern games, it feels like I’m only leasing the game. This is the very reason that I’m not interested in buying WarCraft III: Reforged. I’m currently enjoying playing it with an old friend, but I don’t want to feel that it’s another game that I’m only leasing.
Unfortunately you’re saying all this to an MVP. The MVPs will always take Blizzard’s side so they can keep their fancy green text.
Nobody actually cares about the consumer anymore.
Ugh. Not this drivel again.
We don’t need to take Bliz’s side to keep the green. In fact, Bliz right out encourages us to speak out when we disagree, even using our green to bring attention to it. The only thing we need to do is present within the forum guidelines/code of conduct. I’ve disagreed with Bliz’s decisions across several of the games over the years and been allowed to keep the title.
Besides, BaggyT and I were having a nice, decent back and forth. I don’t think we’re fighting about anything (as far as I can tell). And the best you could muster was to pop in and derail it, with misinformation no less.
Ouh, God! When I read that your last messa then my brain go eat me.
Hey, SkyTechRTS, thinks you better today? - have a might to answer me…
Si fa tretra dyu la vora semi.
We were! It’s nice to be able to offload some of my annoyances, even if I’m not sure if anything will get done about it.
Does being a green-text person give you greater say at banning people? Romario keeps posting silly (incomprehensible) comments that really aren’t beneficial to the discussions… 
It doesn’t.
I do have some direct lines to some (not all) of the Blues, but even if I were to point out someone to them, they’d just tell me to use the flagging system. In other words, I/we aren’t a bypass for the moderation system.
Course. I can go to play first release an Call of Duty 4 but playing in next that games series… no, no, thanks! And play in this just for free and no more!