Posted August 04, 2019
tfishell: But they must have some form of DRM other than just Steam's DRM right so they can't be easily cracked, and they love DRM? Otherwise why wouldn't they release their games here?
(not explicitly directed at you, anyone who knows can chime in, I'm just trying to figure this out)
Most Microsoft games have DRM. Last time I looked, Age of Empires 2 HD was released on Steam with CEG whilst Age of Empires 1 "Definitive Edition" on the MS store had "Arxan" (an "anti-tamper" technology which works like Denuvo). According to the below list, Arxan DRM seems to be popular with XBox Game Studios and other games that use it include Crackdown 3, Forza Horizon 3, Forza Motorsport 7, Gears of War 4 and State of Decay 2. (not explicitly directed at you, anyone who knows can chime in, I'm just trying to figure this out)
[url=https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Digital_rights_management_(DRM]https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Digital_rights_management_(DRM[/url])
Personally I'm glad I grabbed the Age of Empires Collectors Edition (the last blue colored DVD-ROM release under the Ubisoft label as opposed to the earlier CD-ROM ones) that came with both AoE 1-2 + expansions DRM-Free and the SecuROM pre-patched out. It could be upgraded with uPatch / UserPatch (that adds 99% of what's "HD" (bug fixes, widescreen support, higher unit counts for newer CPU's, etc) and had even better AI than the new "Definitives". That would have been the perfect edition for GOG, but of course the time-frame for that is probably over and if MS ever were to come to GOG now, it would probably only be the expensive "Definitive" versions (that exist as endless 2-3 year re-releases solely for the purpose of maintaining $30-$40 prices for decade old games Skyrim style...)
Edit: Apologies for the borked URL formatting but GOG's forums can't seem to handle any address with a ( ) in.
Post edited August 04, 2019 by AB2012