DRM: it's really not about piracy

So the theory goes:

[2D Boy co-founder Ron Carmel] says that DRM is used not so much to thwart piracy -- since it's not very good at that -- as it is to combat the used game market.

"Publishers aren't stupid. They know that DRM doesn't work against piracy," he explains. "What they're trying to do is stop people from going to GameStop to buy $50 games for $35, none of which goes into the publishers' pockets."

He particularly notes: "If DRM permits only a few installs, that minimizes the number of times a game can be resold."

And it makes perfect sense. The full article (at Gamasutra) is worth a read.