Why our games are DRM-free

When you buy a RookTKO game, it's yours. No always-online check, no launcher holding your library hostage, no license that quietly evaporates if a server gets shut down. That's not a marketing gimmick — it's a line we drew on purpose.

What DRM-free actually means here

It means the copy you download is a copy you keep. You can back it up, install it on a plane with no Wi-Fi, and still be playing it in ten years whether or not we're still around. We ship DRM-free builds on storefronts like itch.io, and we keep the experience honest everywhere else.

DRM is sold as anti-piracy. In practice, the people most inconvenienced by it are the ones who paid. We're not interested in punishing our actual customers to chase the ones who were never going to buy.

No pay-to-win. Ever.

The other half of this is monetization. We don't do pay-to-win, we don't do loot boxes, and we don't sell power. When you and a friend buy the same game, you start on the same footing — the difference between you should be skill and time, not who spent more at the cash shop.

You buy the game once. Updates are free. The thing you paid for only gets better.

Treating players like adults

All of this comes down to one idea: we'd rather earn your trust than engineer your wallet. Fair pricing, real ownership, and no dark patterns is a harder business model. It's also the only one we're interested in running.

If that's the kind of studio you want to support, the best thing you can do is wishlist GemCore on Steam and tell a friend. That's the whole flywheel for a studio our size — and it's one we're proud to depend on.