An interesting story is breaking at Blues News, where it’s reported that Triton, the digital distribution and management system behind Prey is closing or may already have closed. According to Blues:
The service was responsible for the digital distribution and management of Prey, and without it running, download copies of the game cannot authorize and launch
That’s really worrying for all of us, as digital distribution of games is starting to take more and more of a foothold. Just how safe are the games we’ve bought and downloaded over Steam, the EA Downloader or any other similar service? Do any of them offer a warrantied ability to be able to access the games we’ve bought if the service runs into trouble? Should they place an unlock key in the secure hands of a third party to ensure that we can access what we’ve paid for if the worst happens?
Whatever has or hasn’t happened to Triton, it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.
Perhaps it’s just a downed transmitter…
Update
A member of Triton staff has apparently posted at the 3drealms forums:
I know many of you are curious why I have been silent, and that is because of legal reasons, so this is not a statement I am making from the company’s perspective. I can’t go into details, but I can say that all users that purchased the game from Triton will not be screwed, or left out in the cold. There will be a patch that will remove the dependency from the live system and allow you to backup / copy and play your games. Next step will allow you to run the games direct without any of the triton code.I am making sure I have permission to get this pach out first so that I dont run into legal issues. When some of the dust settles, I should be able to give a better picture. From my perspective on digital distribution, this is essential that the patch be released so that no one is left out in the cold and it doesnt get a mark against it.
