Digital Rights Issues in Casual Games
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This is the presentation used for a term project for COM 558: U.S. Digital Media Law & Policy (Winter '08) in the University of Washington’s MCDM program. Presentation by Jeremy Snook.
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Digital Rights Issues in Casual Games
- 1. Digital Right Issues in Casual Games COM 558 – WIN ‘08 – Jeremy Snook
- 2. Casual Games Overview Emerged in 2000 – 2001 Early games include Bejeweled, Scrabble, Super Collapse! 500 games released in 20071 $2.25 billionin revenue in 20072 Traditional games / media companies now entering space (EA, MTV, Google) 1 – source: Casual Games Association 2 – source: Pearl Research, Screen Digest, CGA *
- 3. Issue 1 – Piracy Theft – Taking released version & replacing distributor’s “splash” screen, then redistributing; eBay CD-Rs Cracks – Redistribution of DRM-bypassed builds Hacks – Descriptions of how to bypass protections Keygens – Programs that generate illegitimate-yet-functional registration codes
- 5. Issue 2 – Infringement Code Theft – Using underlying code w/ new assets, intentional or not (usually black & white) Cloning– Mimicking gameplay with zero innovation (usually black & white) Not-Quite-Clones – Substantially similar games (gray & subjective) *
- 6. Infringement Case Studies Snowy Lunch Rush (2006) Diner Dash – Flo on the Go (original game 2005) *
- 7. Infringement Case Studies Coffee Rush (2008) Burger Rush (2007) *
- 8. Possible Solutions DRM wrappers Usually hacked within day of updating Some allow developer to sink in additional triggers Bad build seeding of torrents Cease & desists International complexities (.ru websites) Infringement claims against developers *
- 9. Complications Who owns rights (who do you sue)? Depends on agreement… Full versions given away as demos Sheer volume of casual games websites Too many to regularly proactively monitor Tough to tell if a legit partner w/ syndication, affiliate, wholesale partners added daily Bandwidth of legal team *
- 10. Most Common Resolutions Tacit acceptance that piracy happens – “these customers wouldn’t buy it anyway” For infringement – usually amicable adjustments (name, key features), but with short time-to-market, best to focus on next game *
Editor's Notes
- 500 games – games can take as short as 2-3 months to reach market, out to 18 months. Average around 6 months.
- Cate West – The Vanishing FilesReleased on Real’s w/w service in Feb 2008
- Code Theft – reuse of assets by audio contractors – “that’s the music we licensed from this guy, which he re-sold you”
- Would be easy to talk about the similarities in these case studies for an hour, but here’s a quick rundown: - Seating customers at a restaurant, serving them food - Notice queues, hearts, order placards on tables
- Even closer – - Match-3 mechanic coupled with delivering orders to customers - Note screen layout – queue, board, orders, counter, setting (tiles, door), clock - Name! - Even other websites promoting them together
- DRM – TryMedia and DragonStone tech – if build altered, game creates a 1000-HP monster on level 2 (can’t get past), but this penalizes customer.Torrent seeding – viable for $10MM core game in a market that releases fewer games, but cost to seed multiple weekly releases = prohibitive
- Rights – who do you sue? RN agreements – dev owns rights (and RN is indemnified), while other pubs own IPFull versions – Since we rely on “try before you buy” w/ DRM, hacking the protection yields full game, as opposed to a stripped-down demo version like core or console market. Necessity of market, though – cust doesn’t want to wait to download the full version after they buy.
- Piracy – go after egregious offenders, or those brought to our attention