Crysis 2 was one of 2011’s top pirated games, so it’s no surprise that Crytek is thinking of everything they can to make sure the same doesn’t happen with Crysis 3. The game was torrented over four million times on the PC, which certainly isn’t good news for a game that started out on, and has remained loyal to the platform.
Crytek’s Rasmus Højengaard isn’t too sure of how they’re going to lower torrent numbers, but it’s certainly something they’ll attempt to address:
Considering Crysis 3 is published by EA, that means it’s going to launch exclusively on Origin. Forcing those who purchase a copy of the game to use the Origin client may seem like a way to stop piracy, but by doing so, EA and Crytek could be seen to be shooting themselves in the foot.
Origin has had anything but a widespread adoption by PC gamers, and even Valve’s Gabe Newell isn’t too fond of the service. Steam has long been the most popular gaming client on PC , and by refusing to put their games on Valve’s service EA is, by necessity, alienating a huge portion of their audience. Out of that group of jilted gamers, there’s a good chance plenty of them will rather pirate than use Origin.
I’m not at all for DRM, but as nice as it would be for Crytek to release a DRM-free Crysis 3, that decision might do more harm than good. CD Projekt RED released their PC hit The Witcher 2 without any DRM (unless one chose the Steam version, of course) and that was pirated immensely, and immediately.
There has to be a middle ground for Crysis 3. Perhaps Crytek should just focus on making a great game and catering to the PC community, because that worked pretty well for Skyrim. Console sales should help to make up for “lost” PC numbers, and a Wii U version would certainly benefit the studio in the long run.
Crysis 3 is in development for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
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Source: PC Gamer
