RoboCache the "first decentralized video game distribution and resale platform using the block-chain" shut down in 30 days. Purchases will be lost even if downloaded previously.
Yeah, the irony is that I'm sure you could do some sort of blockchain-based DRM that didn't need a centralized server. Does such a thing exist? Patent pending...
The problem is that game sellers would need to be able to add games to the blockchain so that they can be traded. But how do you implement a trusted entity in a trustless decentralized system?
I was thinking of something like LBRY for the backend and like x402 for payment using stablecoins. This could all be neatly managed and allow to skip expensive transferal costs where a piece of content could even cost like less than a penny
It looks like you don't need to add a game to the chain, just build a chain of trust and check the signature of something like that. But maybe that has downsides and with an unpopular blockchain it may as well be centralised
I was thinking more of NFTs, where a single ID corresponds to a specific copy of a game - allowing you to freely trade the game to someone elses wallet.
Am I misundersnding somethings here? It's the ownership/license that is decentralized. So a user could do whatever they wanted with that license (keep it, resell it, give it away). But at the end of the day there always needs to be a way to use that license to download the game files. That's the bit that is shutting down.
This distinction likely doesn't matter to the people losing access to the game, but most of the comments here seem to fundamentally misunderstand the setup here.
Tbf this is the first time I’ve heard of it so have no deeper knowledge than what’s presented here, but it does state a platform shutdown so I assumed the whole lot is being disabled.
Ya for sure in this case the platform that hosts the downloads is going down, but that was never the promise of distributed platforms like this. It's more like owning a CD that still requires an internet connection to download the updates.
You're free to give that CD to anyone you want, but if the publisher shuts down the server you're shit out of luck.
In theory someone else could come along, leverage that some blockchain and let people get access to their games again (this isn't actually going to happen)
Now I know I'm making a lot of assumptions on how this platform actually implemented blockchain and such, but that is how the technology under the hood works. The part that I assume breaks this is that i bet that the company actually maintained private keys on behalf of the users, and if users didn't actually have their private key then there was actually no benefit to the blockchain and it was just a marketing ploy.
Doesn't say great things about their marketing that the first time I (a chronically online gaming nerd) am hearing about this company is their notice of shutting down.
They advertised everywhere like at all the crypto conferences, all the mobile microtransactions conferences, and all the conferences for business execs who demand movies/TV based on video games to focus on "the non-gamer".
This is the kind of shit that makes Stop Killing Games' mission so important. If a random company can just revoke your access to games you purchased and downloaded in a situation like this, then any game storefront can do it too.
1000% if they tried even slightly they could have passed the server to the community to support legacy gamers, but are choosing to just shut it down instead because crypto bros are always psychopaths
How could their costs be high enough that they can't survive more than ONE month after launch? But we all dodged the bullet I guess, can you imagine this happening a year in when people actually had a chance to buy multiple games from them? What a pitiful response. It'll be harder for anybody to enter the market when things like this happen.
I mystified what it was that I read in that post that made me think that they only lasted a month to begin with, before announcing they were shutting down in a month. And even more confusing that I've literally never heard of them, that seemed reasonable when I thought they were a month old.
Some people are going to get screwed pretty hard here then, if they've been buying games there for years. Pretty horrific management of the situation if they can't work out a deal with steam to save people's games.
Yeah, thanks - that must have been it. I read their post with the inference I took from the title in my head and didn't re-examine it after reading their message. And they didn't say anything like "it's been a great 8 years" like a lot of similar posts might to dispel it.
37 Comments
brap@lemmy.world · 235 pts · 139d
Sounds pretty centralised to me if it can just be turned off that easily.
MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 44 pts · 139d
That's pretty much all blockchain stuff tbh, it's all centralized to the extreme around 1 or a few major services.
skisnow@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 138d
Yeah, the irony is that I'm sure you could do some sort of blockchain-based DRM that didn't need a centralized server. Does such a thing exist? Patent pending...
Liketearsinrain@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 138d
Shayeta@feddit.org · 3 pts · 138d
The problem is that game sellers would need to be able to add games to the blockchain so that they can be traded. But how do you implement a trusted entity in a trustless decentralized system?
timestatic@feddit.org · 1 pts · 136d
I was thinking of something like LBRY for the backend and like x402 for payment using stablecoins. This could all be neatly managed and allow to skip expensive transferal costs where a piece of content could even cost like less than a penny
sukhmel@programming.dev · 1 pts · 137d
It looks like you don't need to add a game to the chain, just build a chain of trust and check the signature of something like that. But maybe that has downsides and with an unpopular blockchain it may as well be centralised
Shayeta@feddit.org · 2 pts · 136d
I was thinking more of NFTs, where a single ID corresponds to a specific copy of a game - allowing you to freely trade the game to someone elses wallet.
skisnow@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 136d
Maybe I’m thick but that seems like the answer is the same as it is for anyone selling something on a website without blockchain.
joshhsoj1902@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 137d
Am I misundersnding somethings here? It's the ownership/license that is decentralized. So a user could do whatever they wanted with that license (keep it, resell it, give it away). But at the end of the day there always needs to be a way to use that license to download the game files. That's the bit that is shutting down.
This distinction likely doesn't matter to the people losing access to the game, but most of the comments here seem to fundamentally misunderstand the setup here.
brap@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 137d
Tbf this is the first time I’ve heard of it so have no deeper knowledge than what’s presented here, but it does state a platform shutdown so I assumed the whole lot is being disabled.
joshhsoj1902@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 136d
Ya for sure in this case the platform that hosts the downloads is going down, but that was never the promise of distributed platforms like this. It's more like owning a CD that still requires an internet connection to download the updates.
You're free to give that CD to anyone you want, but if the publisher shuts down the server you're shit out of luck.
In theory someone else could come along, leverage that some blockchain and let people get access to their games again (this isn't actually going to happen)
Now I know I'm making a lot of assumptions on how this platform actually implemented blockchain and such, but that is how the technology under the hood works. The part that I assume breaks this is that i bet that the company actually maintained private keys on behalf of the users, and if users didn't actually have their private key then there was actually no benefit to the blockchain and it was just a marketing ploy.
hzl@piefed.blahaj.zone · 164 pts · 139d
We made it so decentralized that you can't play games that are already on your computer without phoning home for authorization!
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 138d
So many crypto bros think 99% decentralized is good enough.
Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 137d
51% *
lath@piefed.social · 100 pts · 139d
"Yay Blockchain! But we control all of it, can shut it down whenever we want and you get to keep nothing. Yay!"
Murse@slrpnk.net · 98 pts · 139d
Doesn't say great things about their marketing that the first time I (a chronically online gaming nerd) am hearing about this company is their notice of shutting down.
87Six@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 139d
What do you mean? That's pretty much the golden standard of new multibillion dollar projects
VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 138d
They advertised everywhere like at all the crypto conferences, all the mobile microtransactions conferences, and all the conferences for business execs who demand movies/TV based on video games to focus on "the non-gamer".
sukhmel@programming.dev · 2 pts · 137d
Makes sense, no need to let gamers know about your novelty gaming store
DisgruntledGorillaGang@reddthat.com · 56 pts · 139d
This is why DRM is a scourge.
Blackmist@feddit.uk · 54 pts · 138d
TL;DR:
Welp, we've made all the money out of you suckers that we can. Fuck y'all.
yetAnotherUser@lemmy.ca · 33 pts · 139d
This is the kind of shit that makes Stop Killing Games' mission so important. If a random company can just revoke your access to games you purchased and downloaded in a situation like this, then any game storefront can do it too.
skisnow@lemmy.ca · 19 pts · 138d
1000% if they tried even slightly they could have passed the server to the community to support legacy gamers, but are choosing to just shut it down instead because crypto bros are always psychopaths
Tilgare@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 139d
How could their costs be high enough that they can't survive more than ONE month after launch? But we all dodged the bullet I guess, can you imagine this happening a year in when people actually had a chance to buy multiple games from them? What a pitiful response. It'll be harder for anybody to enter the market when things like this happen.
tja@sh.itjust.works · 33 pts · 139d
Robot cache was founded 8 years ago.
This post only says that it will be shut down in 30 days.
Tilgare@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 139d
I mystified what it was that I read in that post that made me think that they only lasted a month to begin with, before announcing they were shutting down in a month. And even more confusing that I've literally never heard of them, that seemed reasonable when I thought they were a month old.
Some people are going to get screwed pretty hard here then, if they've been buying games there for years. Pretty horrific management of the situation if they can't work out a deal with steam to save people's games.
kambusha@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 139d
I understood the same - the post title implies that it has only existed 1 month. Should say "shuts down in 30 days".
Tilgare@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 138d
Yeah, thanks - that must have been it. I read their post with the inference I took from the title in my head and didn't re-examine it after reading their message. And they didn't say anything like "it's been a great 8 years" like a lot of similar posts might to dispel it.
tja@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 138d
I also read the title that way, the only thing that made me reread it was that the post itself said sth about the " past few years".
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 138d
Sure it was founded 8 years ago but when did they begin actual operations, not book operations?
saigot@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 137d
It apparently went into open beta in 2020.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 137d
five years of real operations isn't bad for an outfit like this
xep@piefed.social · 13 pts · 139d
Ha ha ha ha
Etterra@discuss.online · 12 pts · 138d
Oh no who could have predicted this.
yardratianSoma@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 139d
lol, is P2P not good enough?
regdog@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 139d
Good
underisk@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 138d
one_old_coder@piefed.social · 1 pts · 137d
It reminds me of https://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/ where companies say "fuck you and thanks for the money."