Developing for the PC platform is a difficult task, if only because of rampant piracy. It's a fear that's constantly on the back of developer and publisher minds alike. Some publishers, in a misguided effort to combat piracy, have laid down stringent DRM on their games. Other publishers and developers have simply sold their games DRM-free for a low cost, hoping that easy access would encourage legitimate sales. Unfortunately, some amoral gamers have decided to take advantage of such systems to ruin the entire experience for everyone.
Recently, indie developer Wadjet Eye Games launched a promotion to give away one of its games, The Blackwell Deception, for free. Some hackers decided to take advantage of the system by stealing keys through masking their IP, grabbing up multiple copies of the game to sell later when the game was no longer free. People have stolen over 30,000 Steam keys of the game.
"This whole thing has made me terribly terribly sad," stated Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye. The 30,000 keys have since been canceled. All other keys redeemed through legitimate means will still be honored.
