I'm going to assume he was looking at the link I posted which is for Jurassic World Evolution, which is very much available at the moment.

Note 'cracking' Steam games is not something these groups do. For example, there is no a single known example in the entire history of Steam's pre-loads being cracked. Ever. These are in fact 100% effective in doing what is the most damaging to games. Pre-release of a game. Pirates can't compete on this front anymore.

Its more about 'getting out the door first'. That's all it is. Since the Steam version is by and large the first version of the game to go live, that is what all these 'pirate' groups release. Once the pre-release data is decrypted, its childs play to remove the steamworks integration since its not really designed to be DRM. When I say 'not really designed to be DRM' I mean that its primary purpose is not DRM and thus isn't hardended against attacks like a typical DRM product would be.

They simply use the steam version because its the first one to be easily and readily available. And in that scene, FIRST is the only important thing so they go with the version that is faster. Steam. If GOG released games earlier than Steam then you'd see more GOG versions out there. I dont doubt that, but given that Steam and even GOG has shown that the previous hotbed of piracy Russia, is actually a semi-viable territory kinda shows that people even in these regions are more than willing to purchase things.

https://twitter.com/steam_spy/status/1012324084040990721

Steam's revenue by region shows Russia-CIS as 5%. That's not bad if you really think about it. Given that before that number was more or less thought to be nonexistent as a viable region

I get that they compete to be the first, I just don't know why they bother with the ones that have a DRM-free version since it's pre-cracked. Would make more sense to work on the challenging ones.

The same place I go to find electronic parts that have been obsoleted: eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=mechwarrior+4&_sacat=0

With absolutely no guarantee of delivery of product, valid, authentic, or otherwise as need assembled.

So since there's a chance that the used version might not be valid, it's best to go with a cracked and pirated version that is guaranteed not valid. And possibly stuffed with malware.

Got it.

I find it hilarious that Square Enix used Denuvo in a product they're giving away free:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/845070/The_Awesome_Adventures_of_Captain_Spirit/

That, and not everyone has room, nor desire, nor ability to have physical media cluttering up the place. For example, many new computers don't even have an optical media drive.

Apples and oranges. I'm talking about freeloaders with admitted disposable income trying to get cracked copies of a readily available game. You're talking about people getting copies of a game that a developer/publisher refuses to sell, like NOLF. I downloaded those because no one wants my money. But this is a different animal altogether. I wasn't speaking of all "pirates" or even all the people in that discussion thread. My disgust is reserved for those that can buy but won't... they feel they deserve to play regardless of whether they pay. If you don't support DRM games then don't buy. Or consume it. You don't get the right to play for free just because you don't like the delivery method.

Well, Titan Quest Anniversary Edition was apparently cracked after 660 days despite being available on GoG DRM-free for almost all of that time. Not sure what the point of that was - it most certainly wasn't a race.

dang i hate how gog runs theerwebsite i guess ill pirate gog games :P < joking because i'm not that evil i just watch people play the game on twitch or youtube and then i don't have to buy it or play it :D but Factorio is having the kinda of same thing since there not having sales people are saying about just pirating it instead

at this point i can't tell the difference anymore now it's for a bunch of reasons free, drm, price....

Yeah, that's my point! Unless there's something really important missing from the GOG version I have no idea why you'd even bother to crack the Steam version.

For sports...

Thats the faulty view a lot of publishers & devs share. They assume its their game they are after; so they invent even more customer unfriendly DRM. Its not the game but the DRM itself which is the actual source of entertainment for them.

I remember there was quite some amused talk around the Witcher 2 release and how the pirate sites all held the cracked steam version but not the drm free normal one probably for the same reasons.

Wait, are the Witcher games DRM'd on Steam?