It's a trade-off, and I believe there is space for both kinds of devices. I want an unlocked Linux PC and a DRM-monopolized-by-Nintendo Switch so that I can do tinkering, when I want it, but also enjoy games without much technical fuss.
None of this would be an issue if the companies just released the server-side tools and let people host and moderate their own instances of games. This is basically how the Fediverse works and it's great. People who want to be nasty go into their little corner and everyone else in another.
Only problem is this would mean customers actually get to own the stuff they buy. Companies would rather you be the product.
Soon you would only want to play on closed/invite-only servers, since the guys that "wanted to be nasty" didn't go into their own little corners, but were glad to spoil it for everyone else. And even then the cheaters invested a lot of time and effort to sneak into closed circles to ... I don't know, simply cheat?
Guys just randomly using your key (at a point were Half-Life was really cheap and easy to come by) were also a constant annoyance.
So Valve had to do something, and this was the Steam client, cheat detection, and a constant cat and mouse game to save the experience for players and assets/investments for the developers and in effect their "platform".
Never underestimate the desire of idiots to ruin it for everyone else.
Minecraft is an example of this sort of system done right. It was so successful Microsoft had to own it.
For a device like a phone the owner's motivations can become muted, such as by a service provider functionality requirements or an employer's desires. This is similarly where the problem comes about in the discussion about side-loading.
We already know that there are many developers who wish to live on the 'nasty' side, but there is also a laziness motivation in using that side as well, it's less work for the developer.
This then becomes the ever-widening hole where consumers get brought onto the 'nasty' side blindly because that's where the market is - at the same time exposing the users to all of the 'nasty' stuff that technology was originally there to protect them from.
It's not "free for everyone". It's "free to use the software you bought and paid for in any way you see fit". I call this new concept "ownership".
While I abhor DRM, I also am averse to the potential malware lurking in there. There may be password and credit card sniffers.
I only play non-DRM and open-source games.
Imo it's more common for the "legit" copy of the software to have dodgy spyware and such in it, which is removed by the cracker.
Does anyone have any links to instances of this happening?
Here's an example of malware delivered via purportedly cracked software.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/ransomware-hits-research-facility...
Also, from the description there is, it kinda sounds like guy just googled and downloaded a random exe from internet.
Surely you understand that people who work in building games don't exactly like that attitude ;) So they might decide to release exclusively on Switch and not do a PC port, if pirate copies are plentiful on PC but rare on Switch.
BTW, I believe most of the games I've played recently are Switch-exclusive:
- Super Smash Bros.
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Wars
I am a game dev.