Verno wrote on Aug 24, 2011, 13:13:

Satoru wrote on Aug 24, 2011, 13:08:
One time online activation has been extremely effective against games being released before their street date. Pre-street date releases of PC games are pretty much in the minority now. Where as on the console side it's still a major problem.

I'm not sure about that, I think if I go back over the past two years there have been a fair number of pre-release leaks of PC titles with online activation. There's nothing really tying online activation to less pre-release piracy that can't also be the result of a dozen other factors.

I don't agree with your conclusion either, I think if anything it would be more related to the fact that digital distribution has taken over to a large extent that many of the old sources for early PC releases simply aren't around anymore. Most pre-release leaks come from review and retail sources. Publishers have wisened up to this in many ways and delay shipments as long as possible. They've also started using better methods of tracking review copies or sourcing them via DD sites.

The PC AAA side of the industry has largely waned while the consoles became more prevalent. Console games need more advance notice for many reasons so they probably get their copies much sooner and due to their increased popularity it is a lot easier to get your hands on a game pre-release and upload it somewhere.

Your Wrong, HAWX 2. There are no known cracks for that game. It’s one of those games where the Scene has not put a lot of effort into cracking. Again, they sit, wait and buy it when it’s cheap.

He's not wrong then, it's not unbreakable it's just that no one cares. The same scheme has been used in other titles and was circumvented.