Okay, guys, you win. By customer request, we are happy to announce that we’ll be removing the VirtualMate online registration system on the five CD-ROM based G-Collections games (and Doushin, of course), which will enable everyone to play the games without an Internet connection. We have done this after long discussions with Interlex on the capabilities of their verification system, and what improvements they can and can’t make to the system. While we had planned on greatly improving on the current system, in the end we weren’t able to make the changes we really wanted to V-Mate. Thus we’re going to stop using it on CD-ROM based games, which should make everyone here happy. We plan to make the patches available within a couple months, which will be downloadable (your V-Mate code will be required).
Let me speak a little about the Virtual Mate system itself. While we were very cautionary to G-Collections about the system they designed, the reality is that the system did work to reduce piracy and increase sales significantly. Therefore, in general, the system was good and served its purpose. We were swayed by the passionate (sometimes way too passionate) arguments here and in private, though, and decided it is best if we yank the system now, rather than wait for the one year period we were planning on.
So where do we go from here? Piracy of our games by “fans,” some of whom boast about never having bought a b-game in their lives – and by shameful people in countries that start with “I” – is rampant and is the single biggest reason why we don’t have the games we really want to be porting. When fans pirate Doom 3 they’re basically causing no measurable harm due to the size of the market for this game, but in a tiny niche market (bishoujo games) within an already shrinking market (PC games in general), well, it can easily spell death, and has, especially for a tiny company like us.
So. I sincerely thank everyone for their input and support, on both sides of “virtualmategate.” The people who beat their chests, sure that G-Collections was going to jerk you around and make your game investment unplayable, were being very silly. (Come on, guys, I’m on the job here!) The fans who defended the system as a necessary evil for the world we live in were very kind.
Incidentally, we do still plan to use Virtual Mate for future projects at this time, but it won’t be anything you need to worry about. For the record, we have many projects on the fire, which we can’t announce yet but will do so soon.
I’ll skip the “Ask not what bishoujo games can do for you, ask what you can do for bishoujo games” part of the speech, although in reality we’re really going to need the support of all fans reading this to bring you more great games to you. Thanks in advance for your future support!
Peter Payne
Peach Princess