Stop charging so much for games? Do you really only want me to be able to buy a select few games at MAXIMUM per year at $60? I haven't been downloading any games, but I would much rather buy the 10 or 20 games that I missed out on this year for an acceptable price instead of buy 2 $60 games and cry about how I can't afford to play the rest. As game designer, I want the most people to experience my work and art. I also know that we do lose some sales to piracy but we also gain a lot of new fanbase from things such as bit torrent. - dougrochford
Every study says pirates spend more. Some test and buy, some test and trash it, some test, trash and buy the next one, when their wallet allows. If pirates like your stuff, they will buy it too. Not the same day maybe, or even the same game, but you will get a sale if the experience was good. You're competing for customer experience and that subtle thing that made pet rocks so valuable.
Industry has to get over the brick and mortar approach of looking at electronic bits and bytes as some sort of inventory that can be tracked last in first out, first in last out or which has to be counted at all.
You can't count bits and bytes, you have to count sales and customer loyalty.
Except DRM is useless. All it takes is one pirate to break through (almost always happens) or better yet someone to leak the code from within the company and all that DRM is useless. Pirates just download the cracked copy and legit users get a lesser experience.
Gotta think a bit outside the box, any baked in deterrents and DLCs will be cracked. As cool as Catwoman was in Batman AC - it was almost immediately cracked and included in the game.
But the 2 that could work in curbing piracy
1. Making them way cheaper (Steam sales) - people with actual jobs like paying for things they think have value
2. Community - leaderboards, stats, in game video uploads, contests, etc
3. Physical perks - get a limited edition toy or t-shirt or something in the mail
4. Free/Early access to another game's content (Diablo III beta)
I dunno - piracy is part of the ecosystem, can always try to use it like the creators of Minecraft.
I noticed the other day while buying some books online. New was about $15, digital was about $10 (reduced price, great!) but the kick in the nuts was the used copy was about $3. I like hard-cover books as much as the next guy but in buying books (or movies or music) there is often little incentive to buy a new or digital book.
I like what Radiohead did a while back with In Rainbows. Not only did they do the pay what you want but they also sold the physical record and CD. When buying the record or CD (or the fancy box set with extra art and such) it included the digital download so you didn't need to worry about ripping the CD or even opening the record if you wanted to listen to the music. (FYI I know audiophiles want to listen to the record because it "sounds better" but the truth is that music was recorded and mixed by computers. It's already been digitized.)
So if I buy the hard-cover, limited edition (or even the paper-back) of a new book I should get the e-book download with it for free. I'll put my fancy book on the shelf (saving the binding) and read the e-book on my Nook.
I agree about the inflation part, but NES games used to be $40. Then SNES and Genesis games were $50, as well as most PSX games, although a few (e.g.,FFVII) started at $60, and then once the PS2 and the Xbox showed up, games have been $60 ever since.
It makes it harder to crack for the people that actually do the cracking, but once that's done they post the crack online and any random dumbass capable of following simple instructions can pirate any game he wants. You make it sound like DRM is having some effect on the ability of most people to pirate, but that's not true. All it does is punish those that actually paid money for it.
Take a look at what happened with Assassins Creed 2, for instance. On more than one occasion their verification servers were down for several days in a row, during which time anyone that actually paid money for the game was unable to play it, meanwhile all the people that pirated it were playing with no issues at all.
If you want to discourage piracy, the first step would be to make it so that the pirated version of your product isn't the superior one.
That's funny, because I pirated AC2 out of spite, and never once did I have a problem with it. Yeah, in the first month there were a couple of issues that popped up with certain parts of the game not loading properly, but once they were identified there was a fix issued shortly.
And I said 'discourage piracy' not prevent it. The cold hard truth is that you can't eliminate piracy, it's not possible. All the money ubisoft spent on their fancy DRM system didn't stop anyone that wanted to pirate it from doing so. The smart developers have realized and accepted this.
Oh, don't get me wrong - I'm all for piracy being illegal, with reasonable (unlike what is happening at the moment) penalties. But thinking that it can be 'stopped' is naive.
I can't believe that no one has mentioned the fact that "one piece of software pirated != one lost sale." Those "millions" of people pirating the game will not all go out and buy it if they suddenly can't play the pirated version.
For a COD game. You end up paying more than $60, when you include the extra maps... Its ridiculous. My black ops game is worth $12 on any store while they keep selling it for 60.
You know, $60 bucks has been the going rate for new video games dating back to the NES. If you account for inflation games have actually gotten cheaper.
dougrochfordFeb 2, 2012Buried
Stop charging so much for games? Do you really only want me to be able to buy a select few games at MAXIMUM per year at $60? I haven't been downloading any games, but I would much rather buy the 10 or 20 games that I missed out on this year for an acceptable price instead of buy 2 $60 games and cry about how I can't afford to play the rest. As game designer, I want the most people to experience my work and art. I also know that we do lose some sales to piracy but we also gain a lot of new fanbase from things such as bit torrent. - dougrochford
untitledavFeb 2, 2012Buried
People will still buy new releases and piracy cannot be stopped
Donuts4UFeb 2, 2012Buried
Every study says pirates spend more. Some test and buy, some test and trash it, some test, trash and buy the next one, when their wallet allows. If pirates like your stuff, they will buy it too. Not the same day maybe, or even the same game, but you will get a sale if the experience was good. You're competing for customer experience and that subtle thing that made pet rocks so valuable.
Industry has to get over the brick and mortar approach of looking at electronic bits and bytes as some sort of inventory that can be tracked last in first out, first in last out or which has to be counted at all.
You can't count bits and bytes, you have to count sales and customer loyalty.
esc27Feb 2, 2012Buried
Except DRM is useless. All it takes is one pirate to break through (almost always happens) or better yet someone to leak the code from within the company and all that DRM is useless. Pirates just download the cracked copy and legit users get a lesser experience.
jerroldsFeb 2, 2012Buried
Gotta think a bit outside the box, any baked in deterrents and DLCs will be cracked. As cool as Catwoman was in Batman AC - it was almost immediately cracked and included in the game.
But the 2 that could work in curbing piracy
1. Making them way cheaper (Steam sales) - people with actual jobs like paying for things they think have value
2. Community - leaderboards, stats, in game video uploads, contests, etc
3. Physical perks - get a limited edition toy or t-shirt or something in the mail
4. Free/Early access to another game's content (Diablo III beta)
I dunno - piracy is part of the ecosystem, can always try to use it like the creators of Minecraft.
untitledavFeb 2, 2012Buried
Do not stop piracy?
wipisFeb 3, 2012Buried
I noticed the other day while buying some books online. New was about $15, digital was about $10 (reduced price, great!) but the kick in the nuts was the used copy was about $3. I like hard-cover books as much as the next guy but in buying books (or movies or music) there is often little incentive to buy a new or digital book.
I like what Radiohead did a while back with In Rainbows. Not only did they do the pay what you want but they also sold the physical record and CD. When buying the record or CD (or the fancy box set with extra art and such) it included the digital download so you didn't need to worry about ripping the CD or even opening the record if you wanted to listen to the music. (FYI I know audiophiles want to listen to the record because it "sounds better" but the truth is that music was recorded and mixed by computers. It's already been digitized.)
So if I buy the hard-cover, limited edition (or even the paper-back) of a new book I should get the e-book download with it for free. I'll put my fancy book on the shelf (saving the binding) and read the e-book on my Nook.
wipisFeb 3, 2012Buried
Unless you download the FLAC format.
rglarson13Feb 3, 2012Buried
I agree about the inflation part, but NES games used to be $40. Then SNES and Genesis games were $50, as well as most PSX games, although a few (e.g.,FFVII) started at $60, and then once the PS2 and the Xbox showed up, games have been $60 ever since.
neondistractionFeb 3, 2012Buried
Ok, name ONE game that couldn't be cracked.
neondistractionFeb 3, 2012Buried
It makes it harder to crack for the people that actually do the cracking, but once that's done they post the crack online and any random dumbass capable of following simple instructions can pirate any game he wants. You make it sound like DRM is having some effect on the ability of most people to pirate, but that's not true. All it does is punish those that actually paid money for it.
Take a look at what happened with Assassins Creed 2, for instance. On more than one occasion their verification servers were down for several days in a row, during which time anyone that actually paid money for the game was unable to play it, meanwhile all the people that pirated it were playing with no issues at all.
If you want to discourage piracy, the first step would be to make it so that the pirated version of your product isn't the superior one.
neondistractionFeb 3, 2012Buried
That's funny, because I pirated AC2 out of spite, and never once did I have a problem with it. Yeah, in the first month there were a couple of issues that popped up with certain parts of the game not loading properly, but once they were identified there was a fix issued shortly.
And I said 'discourage piracy' not prevent it. The cold hard truth is that you can't eliminate piracy, it's not possible. All the money ubisoft spent on their fancy DRM system didn't stop anyone that wanted to pirate it from doing so. The smart developers have realized and accepted this.
elimgarakFeb 3, 2012Buried
Nah, I doubt that would work. Look at World of Goo - no intrusive DRM, leader boards, available on Steam for only $20, and a 90% piracy rate. :-(
trivialanomalyFeb 3, 2012Buried
Oh, don't get me wrong - I'm all for piracy being illegal, with reasonable (unlike what is happening at the moment) penalties. But thinking that it can be 'stopped' is naive.
slindenFeb 3, 2012Buried
I can't believe that no one has mentioned the fact that "one piece of software pirated != one lost sale." Those "millions" of people pirating the game will not all go out and buy it if they suddenly can't play the pirated version.
D1gst1llsuxFeb 3, 2012Buried
true, most of the s**t I pirate I would never pay for anyway. Photoshop is about $600, I would never buy that program, but it is fun to play with.
mawdsFeb 3, 2012Buried
This is why I wait for games to drop in price. They usually do after a couple of months.
Or get preowned.
mrzaikoFeb 3, 2012Buried
For a COD game. You end up paying more than $60, when you include the extra maps... Its ridiculous. My black ops game is worth $12 on any store while they keep selling it for 60.
neondistractionFeb 3, 2012Buried
You know, $60 bucks has been the going rate for new video games dating back to the NES. If you account for inflation games have actually gotten cheaper.
elimgarakFeb 3, 2012Buried
Yes, the audio was digitized when it was mixed, but it was digitized at a MUCH higher sample rate than what you get when you rip it.