The "problem" is that the gamer has complete control of their machine. They can run other programs, change the way the operating system behaves, examine the stuff in memory, or do whatever else they like with the data. This is not true for (say) an Xbox. An standard-issue 360 won't run pirated games, and the hardware must first be modified if you want to do that sort of thing. But personal computers are open by default, and the only way you could stop someone from doing what they want with the game would be to seize control of their machine at some level. This is what the infamous SecuROM is clumsily trying to do: To stop you from being able to do pirate-y things with the game. It also tends to get in the way of other non-piracy operations, which is why people hate it so much. The publisher installs SecuROM in an attempt to hamstring your machine so that you can't copy the game. And everyone ends up running SecuROM, not just the guy who wants to crack the game. SecuROM can't actually work, but Sony DADC is obviously willing to put out new and ultimately doomed versions of SecuROM as long as publishers are willing to pay them for it.
Okay, fine. I can't stop everyone from pirating my game. But DRM is still worth it, because if I make the protection just 10% stronger, I'll have 10% fewer pirates, right?
This would be true if everyone had to crack the game themselves. But thanks to the filesharing orgy going on 24/7, once somebody cracks the game (and remember it's impossible to stop them from doing so) then they can take the DRM-free version they've constructed and share it with everyone else on the internet. No matter how strong the DRM is, once it's broken, it's broken for good, for everyone. Any pirate can have a free copy as long as they're willing to spend the time downloading it.
Compare two games: One is BioShock, which had SecuROM, online activation, disk-based protection, and likely lots of other hidden surprises for the would-be hacker. The other is Galactic Civilizations, which had no real protection at all. Yet the process of pirating both of these games is exactly the same: You search the torrents and download it. The DRM has no effect whatsoever on how many people are able to pirate the game. It only affects how much fun it is for the initial cracker to bust open, and for that guy, the tougher the DRM, the more satisfying his inevitable victory. The best a publisher can hope for is to slow him down. And since most games appear on the torrents on or even before release day, I don't think publishers are getting much out of it.
Think of all the millions of dollars that have been spent developing and licensing increasingly convoluted forms of DRM. Then add the money spent providing support to irate customers when the DRM fails and locks them out of the game they just bought. Also add in the ongoing cost of running activation servers, their hardware, bandwidth, and support staff. Then add the money publishers lost when people decided not to buy the game because of the DRM. That's a pretty big pile of cash and a lot of unhappy gamers. And for what? Games appear on the torrents on day one regardless.
As someone who is on record saying that games are good and more people should play them, I'm saddened to see so much money squandered on impotent DRM schemes when it could be spent making more and better software amusements, or at least making the developers richer. Actually, I don't care how they spend the DRM money. They can put it in a garbage bags and use it like a beanbag chairs if they want to, as long as they stop spending it on DRM. Spending money to make your product less valuable in an effort to punish people who aren't your customers is like setting your pants on fire to keep them from being stolen. While you're wearing them.
EA Games has recently announced that they're dumping their heavy-duty activation-driven DRM for The Sims 3, but I doubt they've actually internalized the problems I've been pointing out for years. I imagine they see it as a public relations problem, not a you-can't-do-that-in-this-universe problem. Because the only thing more impossible than DRM is convincing publishers that it's impossible.
Shamus Young is the author of Twenty Sided, the vandal behind Stolen Pixels, and he STILL refuses to buy the PC versions of BioShock, Mass Effect, and Spore.
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