Is DRM Destroying Archival Games?

Whlie not directly RPG-related, I thought I’d point out a new editorial on WorthPlaying that asks the question, “Is DRM Destroying Archival Games?” Unfortunately, the answer to this one is pretty clear:

A little research showed that the FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage publisher had gone kaput. Empire Interactive was gone, and with it, the patch servers, and the ability to save the game. The game’s DRM, in the form of Games for Windows Live, essentially prohibited progress in the game without being able to download that patch, which no longer existed. The results aren’t pretty when you try to review a racing game and can’t access more than the first (admittedly enjoyable) track and initial three cars.

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I wonder what will happen to that icon of the industry, World of Warcraft, when Blizzard finally decides that it’s time to move on once and for all into its next MMO or RTS. Look at fans of Burnout. Even on the Xbox, where Live is supposed to allow servers to remain up indefinitely, older versions of the game can no longer be played online, removing large chunks of replay value from those games.

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Perhaps it’s because more companies would love to see themselves in headlines like “Don’t Buy Batman AA for PC.” Or maybe they’d rather be like Titan Quest, whose attempts at subtle copy protection (i.e., copies would crash) may have destroyed the developer.

At least I’ll always have my RPG collection from the 80’s and 90’s, when DRM consisted of disc checks, manual references, and code wheels.