UPDATE: Since posting this article, I have been in contact via Twitter with both the Don Parsons, News Editor at Raptor and Shaun Joy, the author of the article I sourced at the same site. Since writing, the only company to get back to Mr. Joy has been SecurRom, who basically wrote an email back telling him they do not have the account in their database, so they can not fix the issue. Valve and Capcom have been dead silent. You can see the email in an update to the Techraptor article, as well as the current updates of his case in this Youtube video:
Cuortesy of Mr. Joy
Original Article: Normally, when I declare a company on my personal shit-list, it’s for one platform. I am willing to give my reasons why I won’t for you to consider, but it’s ultimately up to you, the consumer, to choose what is right for you. Ubisoft, of course, is there on PC because they demand uPlay, a DRM that needs to be online all the time and breaks basically every times Steam has one of their epic sales. As of the last couple of weeks, I would be seriously considering avoiding Konami if they weren’t walking away from the industry to sell gambling machines. But as of this weekend, I refuse to buy anything if I’m paying Capcom to do it.
Yes, I know. A lot of games they release now are pure shit, so I’m not exactly sacrificing a lot when I say this, but this morning, I was made aware by TechRaptor that Capcom is outright selling games that don’t work on Steam, and even went so far as to feature one in last weekend’s Capcom sale. Unable to believe this without a little looking into it myself, I found they were not far from the truth. The game in question is Dark Void, and while it “technically” works, the way they are doing this is incredibly shady.
Basically, if you bough Dark Void this weekend (and according to reviews on the store page, since at least September) you had no warning. You did not have a warning when you installed the game as it downloaded fine. Your first hint that something was off would only happen when you first tried to play the game. At this time, after the first-time setups were completed, you would see a screen from Securom asking you to put your CD-Key in for activation. Now let me be up front here, I find that odd since most games run through Steam either do not use this software OR if they do, the key is sent automatically, but not necessarily bad. As unpopular as the position is, I find the service acceptable, provided the game comes with at least 5 installs and you can reclaim them when you are done with the game. However, in this case, you will find the CD-Key you got and is listed in your steam account won’t work. That’s right, Capcom just sold you an invalid CD-key.
Normally this would be the end of story and I would just be calling Capcom fucking thieves, but they have a technical escape route, as the way you get around this is to email their customer support with proof of purchase and HOPE they register your key with the DRM program. I say hope because some wait up to a month without a response, others have not yet gotten it.
Simply put, Capcom is cutting corners by ONLY activating you key after you buy it and tell them you have, and by then it has to get through an absolutely terrible technical support system when in reality this key should be good and ready BEFORE you buy. Imagine if you came home from a your favorite game store with a new copy of whatever game you’ve been wanting to play only to have to go through official channels with the publisher to tell them that copy has been bought and wait around for them to tell you “ok, you can play.” That’s basically the model here. And being able to directly observe it in action, who’s to say other games won’t be handled the same?
Capcom, this is unacceptable, and you are now the third company I wont buy from. Although in this case, since one offers nothing I want and is exiting the building with their middle fingers waving at their very recent fans (Hi, Konami), while the other has just shown such contempt and complete lack of understanding of only a single platform that I avoid them there and there alone (we meet again, Ubisoft), you have the dishonor of being the first with such a shady business practice that I just don’t trust you on any platform. May others reach the same distrust and conclusion that I have.
Sources:
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