> Then they probably went through every worst case scenario possible
It's such a bad idea to develop a product like this. Developers who focus on anti-piracy measures miss the point: focusing on a frictionless way for consumers to acquire your product (and keep it up-to-date), while ignoring all those who pirate it will lead to more money in the long run.
Most anti-piracy measures introduce friction for genuine consumers who want to give you money. It's a poor trade-off.
The success of Valve and Steam distribution show this is absolutely true. As far as I'm concerned its all that needs to be said on the piracy debate. The proof is in the profits.
Valve are a private company but certainly worth billions and $500-800m annual revenue. Gabe claims, per employee, they are more profitable than Google and Apple. See the forbes article for more analysis [1]. Note its from 2011 and Gabe has said elsewhere that Valve had a huge 2012, approx 50% revenue growth.
Here's another short article with Gabe commenting on their entry into the Russian market. [2]
GoG is also a private company, but well established and popular with netizens. I'd be very interested to see their financial figures.
It's such a bad idea to develop a product like this. Developers who focus on anti-piracy measures miss the point: focusing on a frictionless way for consumers to acquire your product (and keep it up-to-date), while ignoring all those who pirate it will lead to more money in the long run.
Most anti-piracy measures introduce friction for genuine consumers who want to give you money. It's a poor trade-off.