If This Gen Consoles Are Doing DRM, What Happens To My Games Years From Now?

I was just reading another thread and I wanted to know what really happens after they close the servers that has my games on it?

You lose them.

This is why nobody likes DRM.

PS4 you'll be fine with the exception of multi-player (as with all console and most PC multi-player games).

XBONE? Hope you enjoyed playing those, because you sure won't anymore. The whole PlaysForSure debacle should have proven that beyond a doubt.

There doesn't necessarily have to be a 'server' for each game like everyone thinks. If a game is single player, like say....Skyrim, what MS wants you to do is autheticate to obtain the authorization to play the game. So Xbox Live acts as the middle man between you and the game. The game itself may not have a hosting server the way MMOs do, unless it's for multiplayer. Although MS did express uploading and downloading the entire game from the cloud, but that isn't essential to your ownership of the game

However, in regards to your question, the worst thing that could happen is if Xbox Live goes down either due to.....being hacked, or MS goes bankrupt and decides to shut it down without bothering to sell the rights to Live to another company....or if you get banned from Live.

It's like Steam. Valve doesn't host game servers for the games, but acts like an autheticator. If Valve goes bankrupt, and Steam doesn't get taken over by another company, everyone who bought games through Steam will lose everything. Same principle.

There doesn't necessarily have to be a 'server' for each game like everyone thinks. If a game is single player, like say....Skyrim, what MS wants you to do is autheticate to obtain the authorization to play the game.

jhcho2

That still requires an authentication server, which Microsoft is by no means obligated to maintain indefinitely. Steam has provided guarantees that if Steam ever goes offline/out of business the authentication checks will be removed, has Microsoft done the same?

[QUOTE="jhcho2"]

There doesn't necessarily have to be a 'server' for each game like everyone thinks. If a game is single player, like say....Skyrim, what MS wants you to do is autheticate to obtain the authorization to play the game.

Aidenfury19

That still requires an authentication server, which Microsoft is by no means obligated to maintain indefinitely. Steam has provided guarantees that if Steam ever goes offline/out of business the authentication checks will be removed, has Microsoft done the same?

If the server goes down, the first thing Americans will do is file a lawsuit against MS. Believe it or not, companies don't like having lawsuits filed against them. This is the least of everyone's worry to be honest.

[QUOTE="Aidenfury19"]

[QUOTE="jhcho2"]

There doesn't necessarily have to be a 'server' for each game like everyone thinks. If a game is single player, like say....Skyrim, what MS wants you to do is autheticate to obtain the authorization to play the game.

jhcho2

That still requires an authentication server, which Microsoft is by no means obligated to maintain indefinitely. Steam has provided guarantees that if Steam ever goes offline/out of business the authentication checks will be removed, has Microsoft done the same?

If the server goes down, the first thing Americans will do is file a lawsuit against MS. Believe it or not, companies don't like having lawsuits filed against them. This is the least of everyone's worry to be honest.

[QUOTE="jhcho2"]

[QUOTE="Aidenfury19"]

That still requires an authentication server, which Microsoft is by no means obligated to maintain indefinitely. Steam has provided guarantees that if Steam ever goes offline/out of business the authentication checks will be removed, has Microsoft done the same?

clyde46

If the server goes down, the first thing Americans will do is file a lawsuit against MS. Believe it or not, companies don't like having lawsuits filed against them. This is the least of everyone's worry to be honest.

This, courts in the US have tended to accept even the most draconian ToU as long as people are required to agree to them beforehand.

Besides this, the fact that you're hoping a lawsuit will force them to change course if they decide to turn off the authentication servers and leave people stranded is ridiculous. You shouldn't have to resort to a lawsuit to avoid getting screwed over.

[QUOTE="Aidenfury19"]

[QUOTE="jhcho2"]

There doesn't necessarily have to be a 'server' for each game like everyone thinks. If a game is single player, like say....Skyrim, what MS wants you to do is autheticate to obtain the authorization to play the game.

jhcho2

That still requires an authentication server, which Microsoft is by no means obligated to maintain indefinitely. Steam has provided guarantees that if Steam ever goes offline/out of business the authentication checks will be removed, has Microsoft done the same?

If the server goes down, the first thing Americans will do is file a lawsuit against MS. Believe it or not, companies don't like having lawsuits filed against them. This is the least of everyone's worry to be honest.

[QUOTE="jhcho2"]

[QUOTE="Aidenfury19"]

That still requires an authentication server, which Microsoft is by no means obligated to maintain indefinitely. Steam has provided guarantees that if Steam ever goes offline/out of business the authentication checks will be removed, has Microsoft done the same?

II_Seraphim_II

If the server goes down, the first thing Americans will do is file a lawsuit against MS. Believe it or not, companies don't like having lawsuits filed against them. This is the least of everyone's worry to be honest.

[QUOTE="clyde46"][QUOTE="jhcho2"]

If the server goes down, the first thing Americans will do is file a lawsuit against MS. Believe it or not, companies don't like having lawsuits filed against them. This is the least of everyone's worry to be honest.

Aidenfury19

This, courts in the US have tended to accept even the most draconian ToU as long as people are required to agree to them beforehand.

Besides this, the fact that you're hoping a lawsuit will force them to change course if they decide to turn off the authentication servers and leave people stranded is ridiculous. You shouldn't have to resort to a lawsuit to avoid getting screwed over.

Lawsuits are what the US is all about. The ridiculousness of what I said is matched only by the ridiculousness of how Americans file lawsuits.

Ms's cloud will stay forever. So you never have to worry about them shutting down. Your games are safe till the end of time. 

Ms's cloud will stay forever. So you never have to worry about them shutting down. Your games are safe till the end of time. 

slipknot0129

[QUOTE="slipknot0129"]

Ms's cloud will stay forever. So you never have to worry about them shutting down. Your games are safe till the end of time. 

clyde46

[QUOTE="Aidenfury19"]

[QUOTE="clyde46"] Its written in their ToU, then those lawsuits will only end up costing the consumers. jhcho2

This, courts in the US have tended to accept even the most draconian ToU as long as people are required to agree to them beforehand.

Besides this, the fact that you're hoping a lawsuit will force them to change course if they decide to turn off the authentication servers and leave people stranded is ridiculous. You shouldn't have to resort to a lawsuit to avoid getting screwed over.

Lawsuits are what the US is all about. The ridiculousness of what I said is matched only by the ridiculousness of how Americans file lawsuits.

Well it's a popular myth at least, how does that excuse what Microsoft is doing though? It doesn't.

[QUOTE="clyde46"][QUOTE="slipknot0129"]

Ms's cloud will stay forever. So you never have to worry about them shutting down. Your games are safe till the end of time. 

slipknot0129

Ms's cloud will stay forever. So you never have to worry about them shutting down. Your games are safe till the end of time. 

slipknot0129

There doesn't necessarily have to be a 'server' for each game like everyone thinks. If a game is single player, like say....Skyrim, what MS wants you to do is autheticate to obtain the authorization to play the game. So Xbox Live acts as the middle man between you and the game. The game itself may not have a hosting server the way MMOs do, unless it's for multiplayer. Although MS did express uploading and downloading the entire game from the cloud, but that isn't essential to your ownership of the game

However, in regards to your question, the worst thing that could happen is if Xbox Live goes down either due to.....being hacked, or MS goes bankrupt and decides to shut it down without bothering to sell the rights to Live to another company....or if you get banned from Live.

It's like Steam. Valve doesn't host game servers for the games, but acts like an autheticator. If Valve goes bankrupt, and Steam doesn't get taken over by another company, everyone who bought games through Steam will lose everything. Same principle.

jhcho2

I'm sure that Gabe Newell mentioned that Valve has some sort of emergency patch in place in case of rare event of Valve going under that will remove the DRM completely and allow users to keep their Steam games playable.

Ms's cloud will stay forever. So you never have to worry about them shutting down. Your games are safe till the end of time. 

slipknot0129

No.

The cloud architecture is run by servers. If they shut the servers down, your games are finished.

[QUOTE="slipknot0129"]

[QUOTE="clyde46"] Hahahahahahahahahahahaclyde46

I've never had an online account of any type from any place stolen.  On the other hand, my house was broken into a few years ago and about 2 years ago my mother's house was broken into.  I don't lose sleep over the possibility of either type of theft, but real world leaves you s**t out of luck far more than digital in my experience.

You lose them of course.clyde46

This basically

[QUOTE="clyde46"]You lose them of course.seanmcloughlin

This basically

You lose them.

This is why nobody likes DRM.

Cyberdot

Proof?

More than likely lose them, they'll probably be small print somewhere disclaiming they only need to maintain servers for a set period of time.

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

[QUOTE="clyde46"]You lose them of course.Heil68

This basically

It's the world we live in and kind of the inevitable outcome to gaming it would seem