Developer Leaks Own Game to Pirates

[Abedeus]

I am against piracy, but I think spamming pirate boards with dumbed down versions of your software is a valid approach for a company. Arcam Asylum was applauded for doing the same thing a few months ago. He probably mentioned this publicly as part of a "ha ha we are smarter than you" moment. Since legislation, boycotts, and whining has yet to stop piracy I welcome this new approach.

They didn't do the same thing.

They just changed some options so that if the game detects an altered .exe (cracked), it doesn't allow you the access to some features. It was fixed after a week or two, and in the mean time screwed over some legal buyers... But out of respect and creativity of the devs, I bought the game anyway.

Also because they released a demo before.

 

[LeonLethality]

good idea in theory but in practice I don't think it will hold up well...

 

[KingTiger]

I fully support piracy, Pirates understand not all people can afford those expensive games and windows systems, in my country a 100$ game could mean 1/3 or 1/4 of your salary gone. How is that fair? Pirates help the fight against capitalist pigs that want to suck even the pour dry.

I know some of my friends barely afforded a PC, and when they got it they could not afford a 300$ vista or expensive games like COD4 for 90$! So they got pirated and only for 5 $ they get all the things they need with out having to starve or rob a bank!

As long as developers set software at prices like that, pirates will always be there.

I love my country for its weak piracy laws I am from Bahrain by the way.

 

[Credge]

I call this cool new idea a "Demo". What do you guys think?

Seeing as how the biggest reason people pirate games is due to the fact that most demos do not show an accurate representation of the actual game... Yeah, that sounds like a BRILLIANT IDEA!

 

[Woem]

It was his hope that pirates would download the game, and then become so enthralled with it that they would then go out and buy the full version.

Isn't that what demo's are for? I'm afraid the CEO picked up somewhere that piracy is very web 2.0 and went for it.

 

[neurohazzard]

Home taping is killing the music industry!.....err, wait....

 

[Sewblon]

I think he has the right idea. This doesn't sound like the best application but the harder companies attempt to combat piracy directly the worse they fail, so putting gimped versions of your own game on the torrents is as good a way of fighting piracy as any other way.

 

[Amnestic]

I call this cool new idea a "Demo". What do you guys think?

Seeing as how the biggest reason people pirate games is due to the fact that most demos do not show an accurate representation of the actual game... Yeah, that sounds like a BRILLIANT IDEA!

So the clear response is not to improve the quality of the demos you're releasing but to condone piracy.

Awesome.

 

[oppp7]

How about releasing a virus with the leaked game that shuts down most functions in a computer? Then pirates would start relizing the consequences of this kind of thing.

 

[Caliostro]

Right, pirates are suddenly going to transform into paying customers because the "soul" isn't there.

In my mind, posting even a gimped version of your game to pirate sites is counterproductive to attempting to earn money developing said games. Doing so implies that piracy is tolerable, which it isn't. Plus, any traffic which the game may or may not generate to such torrent sites may facilitate users downloading other pirate games which legitimate companies did not leak.

So many people in this industry still suffer from short sightedness.

First of all, anyone that claims they know the exact impact piracy has, is lying through their teeth. You can't even "guesstimate" an even partially accurate prediction of whether it's more positive or negative.

For instances, every download made is NOT a sale lost. That would be like saying that if you were giving Ferrari's away however many you gave away in a day would be the same amount that would be sold that day if they weren't free. On the other hand, piracy generates a lot of free publicity on the best publicity medium around: word of mouth.

The bottom line is, despite what big corporations raging to push the blame of bad sales on whichever scapegoat they come across, we have no idea about the true effects of piracy are. But we know piracy is there. Why not make the best of it? Spread across a demo thinly disguised as the full product. Free publicity.

 

[Kilo24]

Actually, getting the mostly full game via torrents can reduce piracy as the difficult-to-distinguish developer-released copy gets intermingled with copies of the pirated release. It might even discourage any cracker from distributing a hacked copy himself, because it's already essentially done.

It is actually a fairly interesting idea, and I'm curious to see what results. I do doubt that the online leaderboards are that significant (mainly because all the ones I've seen compare you against the absolute best players in the world, some people you are unlikely to get better than.)

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You're all morons. That guy too. Anyone with any sense knows to effectively combat piracy LOWER YOUR PRICES. Most people pirate games and software because they're outrageously priced, start producing better quality games at more reasonable prices & I'll bet you'd see a reduction in piracy. Of course there'll always be the dickheads who do it just because they can, but those are in the minority.

 

[CloggedDonkey]

I say it was the cyborg.

 

[richtaur]

Sorry, I just don't agree with any of your points in this article. But I also don't necessarily think that RedLynx is doing it right, either. Here's what I'd suggest to them:

Make your game free to play if you're so afraid of piracy, and charge for use of the leaderboards if you're so certain that the "soul" of the game lies there.

Plus, any traffic which the game may or may not generate to such torrent sites may facilitate users downloading other pirate games which legitimate companies did not leak.

I think this is a bogus argument, and not sure why you'd say RedLynx isn't a legitimate company. (If that's not what you're saying, maybe the wording should be changed.)

It's interesting stuff either way. Digital distribution, pricing and piracy are all fascinating topics. Cheers!

 

[LoopyDood]

Good idea. Pirates get the SP, then if hey like the game they buy it for leaderboards/mp. Good move I say.

That might actually work better vice-versa in a game like (Sorry to bring up a PS3 game, it's a good example) Uncharted 2, which has a long, excellent single player campaign, as well as fun MP. Offering the MP for free (Or torrenting it) would increase the player base and longevity of the game. They have to buy the game if they want the SP.

 

[FROGGEman2]

Nice idea, fail implementation.

I can see it now, "Oh no! I can't access the leaderboards! How will I live?"

 

[geldonyetich]

Knowing pirates, they'd probably simply hack the executable (probably simply swap in one from the retail version) and voila: leader board access granted.

That said, if your goal give me a game for free minus one feature so I will try it, don't require I steal it. It's called a "demo" or "trial version."

 

[Enzeru92]

That's not a bad idea i suppose. it would bring in more potential costumers in