Blizzard acknowledges Diablo III always-on is DRM

Despite weeks of insisting that Diablo III's internet connection requirements were all about improving the experience for gamers, Blizzard has finally copped to the fact that the feature was actually designed to prevent piracy.

"While we've never said that this requirement guarantees that there will be no cheating or game cracks, it does help us battle those problems," Blizz co-founder Mike Morhaime said in a D3 state-of-the-game post.

As Rock, Paper Shotgun points out, Morhaime claims to "fully understand the desire to play Diablo III offline" despite the fact that the game was "designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends." The online requirement "is the best way for us to support that design," Morhaime writes.