Let's talk about the Cyberpunk 2077 DMCA circumvention method, because it's going to a mix of tech optimism and ultimately a curation nightmare: https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1329485898581487616

So on one hand, this is an excellent workaround on a studio's part to enable frictionless publicity through now-popular means (Streaming) to reach audiences and spread knowledge of the game. Good outcome? 50/50

Part of why Twitch is having a huge copyright crisis right now likely boils down to the licensing models available to them. There's a reason people can't stream or show the superbowl, for example, they're not TV stations and don't have access to that model.

Until they can create the frameworks for this through negotiation, it's going to be up to methods like this to keep legitimate licensed uses of music in games from clogging up streaming sites and causing takedown issues. However..

A side effect is that for many, this will be their *first* and primary exposure to the work. More than audio goes into a scene, sometimes writers do so with tracks in mind, imagine if someone pressed 'mute' on John William's Star Wars score and replaced it with "Epic Music Radio"

That's totally hyperbole- the score tracks used here are *probably* great, and invoke somewhat similar emotions to the intended track. Yet, it's uncanny- the flavor is just *off* when contrasting this, we have this debate with many pieces of media (Ghibli dubs, anyone?)

We've seen this happen before though far slower, whether it's shows not being streamed / distributed with their original TV airing tracks (worst for musically oriented shows, like MTV's Daria) or games (Halo & Licensed Music)

The experience people turning to the franchise later through reboots or redistributed copies without the licensed songs intended have fundamentally *different* experiences from those who participated on launch. A sneaky 'pre-order' bonus of sorts.

We accept this in those cases given that they're well, kind of rare! They don't happen super often, but they have (GTA5's patching out of music once the rights expired from pre-existing purchased digital copies)

We're losing something here, and many are meekly rolling with it out of a desire for ease-of-use. It may not seem like much, but what else is coming?

Will machine learning noise-filters begin to scrub the background music of Post-license agreement twitch streams, requiring you to have an Amazon Music + Prime subscription combo to enjoy the original audio?

What about the fact that we're often using people's likeness in games? Sure, the CATS / Sonic edit fiascos *seem* funny, but those scenarios can apply elsewhere. How long will games get to use famous personalities before they get patched out or removed on-the-fly?

What about streamers, not just audiences, who play through the game the first time on stream? Never hearing the experience as intended by its designers and artists? It's a little jarring. Not only that, the distortion of their experiential lens warps reception/critique.

Will this stuff come to pass? Not likely, Twitch will ultimately find some kind of license compromise that satisfies the music industry, or manage to lobby for subtle, narrow changes to the existing legislation.

Either way, the genre is certainly living up to its name.

Hard not to see audiences in the future frequently running up against 'divergent timeline' experiences as if they stepped into a parallel media universe.

In summary, approach this with a grain of salt, ensure you voice your dissatisfaction w/ the industrial status quo. We can work with these rules, but that doesn't mean we can't hope to change them someday for the future of media's successful (and equal) portrayal in every market.

It doesn't have to be like this, and this kind of thing should concern every creative designer or artist who wants to prevent emotional entropy in their works. Film shouldn't get to have a defacto monopoly on static presentation (and STILL struggles with it, see: Director's cuts)

Just some thoughts from a media critique outlet, this stuff is very existentially challenging and puts forth many unanswered questions. Hopefully, the industry will recognize this gully and try to build productive bridges over it.

We've reviewed many free & commercial games, what makes games so special is the many ways we have to engage with the *same* cultural touchstones, unfiltered, via streaming, essayists, and more.

Paywalling experiences is one thing, doing it to shared culture is another entirely.