‘DRM is a waste of time’ says World of Goo creator

The developer of WiiWare and PC indie hit World of Goo has warned other smaller studios not to bother using DRM tech to protect their games.

Speaking at the Independent Games Festival during GDC, Ron Carmel of 2D Boy described DRM as a waste of time, Gamespot reports.

He said: "Don’t bother with DRM – it’s a waste of time. You just end up giving the DRM provider money. Anything that is of interest gets cracked, and the cracked version ends up having a better user experience than the legit version because you don’t have to input in some 32-character serial number.

"Anybody who wants the game is likely to find it on BitTorrent sites. It’s going to get cracked even with DRM, it’s going to be available very quickly, so we don’t see the point in having DRM. Piracy rates have been released before, and there’s no difference between World of Goo and other games."

Carmel also suggested that indies forget pursuing traditional publishing deals.

He said: "Retail distribution – which is what publishers are good at – doesn’t generate many sales for indie games. Go with digital distribution – you won’t need a publisher for this. Self-fund your game, and when you get to retail, go for per-country flat-fee deals."