Game Dev Tycoon

[Dubaian]

Howdy Escapists,

Having noticed a recent game called Game Dev Tycoon played by Sips on his latest Evening with Sips (Shameless plug), I grew rather interested in the title.

After a quick search in Google I noticed many articles pertaining to controversy surrounding the game, specifically how the developers put the game on Pirate Bay as a cracked version, but changing some of the content to show the possible effects of game piracy on a developer (Specifically the player's company).

While I thought of it as a rather funny pun, others focused on the other aspects to this move by the devs, from marketing, to legal, to debates over the morality of piracy.

And here is my question to you guys and girls. Considering all of the things that have transpired, what are your thoughts on the legalities, the marketing ploys, and the debate for and against piracy with regards to Game Dev Tycoon?

Sincerely,
Dubaian.

 

[ResonanceSD]

If you feel that it's justifiable to pirate an indie title that costs $8 and comes with an official demo, then the universe has every right to take an enormous shit on you.

Actually any title.

 

[Zeckt]

I noticed pirates will make any excuse they can possibly think of to justify themselves that what they are doing is okay and not stealing. "I want to try before I buy, I hate X publisher and X developer because of this and that."

They are only fooling themselves. It's like the type of people who when they find a lost wallet they take the money and throw the ID out. Alot of people will steal when they absolutely know they will get away with it and gaming pirates are no better.

 

[Zeh Don]

There are no valid reasons for Piracy.
Hopefully, Game Dev Tycoon's incredibly brilliant slice of irony will make that evident to the very people who make up excuses for piracy.

 

[Aesir23]

When it comes to an small, cheaply priced indie game it would be downright impossible to justify piracy.

When it comes to larger games that are priced roughly $60 ($100+ in some places) I'm going to hold the unpopular opinion that trying before buying is a legitimate reason in very specific circumstances. However, if there's a rental store nearby, if you have a steady job (unless you're living paycheck to paycheck but then you have bigger problems at hand than a game), or there's a demo available then that person is really just blowing smoke out of their ass.

Unfortunately, there are some places where prices are absolutely insane for games so I'm just speaking of piracy in places where games are reasonably priced.

 

[Auron]

Awesome way to actually market the game if he had put a message about piracy inside the game. Since he actually advertised it everywhere I tried a copy on Piratebay myself and the game's actually surprisingly fun and engaging and then you're wrecked by piracy in the early 2000's. It's not very obvious at first until you go bankrupt. Which piracy has yet to do to any developer as far as I'm aware.

Even though I can safely assure it has netted him at least one purchase(namely me.) not everyone reads the news, I'd rather the piratebay version be just a somewhat long(about a third of the game.) demo while the real demo is actually pretty underwhelming. A message about purchasing the official version at the end would have been positive I believe. There is more than one indy developer who profited from sharing on torrent sites already.

On the morality of piracy itself, it depends on a lot of things. I believe most who do it and don't purchase the games live in places where culture has adapted years ago due to publisher abuse and ridiculous prices When a console game's 150 - 300$ (Brazil, the Nintendo 64 until the PS3 launch 300 when our currency was strong in 97, it was basically buying a new console.) there's something wrong, right? China and Russia and other piracy heavy areas likely suffered similar stuff, fortunately publishers wised up, Hong Kong started to sell reliable games at 50$ or less and now Steam exists and is everywhere with amazing sales there's no reason to pirate anything anywhere nowadays but old habits are like Bruce Willis.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Unfortunately, there are some places where prices are absolutely insane for games so I'm just speaking of piracy in places where games are reasonably priced.

Dude I live in Australia and can recognise that the games I buy are luxury purchases. Price too high for you? Get a better job then come back, or just buy cheaper games.

 

[Aesir23]

Unfortunately, there are some places where prices are absolutely insane for games so I'm just speaking of piracy in places where games are reasonably priced.

Dude I live in Australia and can recognise that the games I buy are luxury purchases. Price too high for you? Get a better job then come back, or just buy cheaper games.

I wasn't saying that high prices are a justification for piracy so I'm sorry if it sounded that way. It was just that I don't live in a place where prices are that high so I don't know what the general attitude would be or what it was like to deal with that so I wasn't going to comment on it. All I know about it is that some Australians get around it by importing their games.

 

[Eleuthera]

They sold at least one more game due to that stunt. I bought it as well. And it's a fun enough game that I spent quite a bit of time the last 3 days on it.

As others have said there really is no reason to pirate a game like this, it's already pretty cheap, and there's a free demo available.

Though in all fairness I haven't pirated a game ever since I got a full time job 6 years ago, having a disposable income really does help. I've also become a regular on this site since then and get enough review information to feel to be able to make an educated decision on what to buy (or how long to wait before I feel the price has dropped enough)

 

[Sandernista]

There are no valid reasons for Piracy.

What about if the money you would pay for a game wouldn't go to the developers, but instead went to those who screwed the developers out of the money?

 

[Davroth]

So piracy is the downfall of the videogame industry. Two questions about that. How come the videogame industry in one of the fastest growing industries while piracy has been rampant for over a decade? And where are the independent studies showing that piracy has the impact on the industry's bottom line the gaming industry claims?

Yeah yeah, stealing is wrong and stuff, I heard it all before. I understand the moral outcry, but what those gamedevs did, to me, is no different to the creationist movement telling me that a giant, invisible man dropped all the species on Earth, because I can't prove there isn't a giant, invisible man.

Piracy is wrong because it's morally wrong to take a good without paying the one making it.


I'll gladly rethink my standpoint once I see an independent study on the subject. Most of the ones I found were conducted by the games industry and are therefore worth nothing, and the closest I found is this:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.330172-File-sharing-Remains-Legal-In-Switzerland

And it points in the opposite direction, so yeah.

 

[ResonanceSD]

There are no valid reasons for Piracy.

What about if the money you would pay for a game wouldn't go to the developers, but instead went to those who screwed the developers out of the money?

That still isn't a justification.

Heck, DEVELOPERS are telling other developers to grow some stones and get better contracts.

You're accessing a product that's been put on the market at a certain price. Don't like it? Don't buy it. But then, don't claim to be some sort of moral guardian and pirate it. If so, you aren't sending any other message than "hey, treat your developers like shit and I'll still play your game, only you should put more DRM into it".

Nice job, genius.

 

[Rob Robson]

what are your thoughts on the legalities, the marketing ploys, and the debate for and against piracy with regards to Game Dev Tycoon?

Sincerely,
Dubaian.

I thought it was cute.

Until I realized Game Dev Tycoon is a to-the-tee ripoff of Game Dev Story for Android. And I really mean carbon copy.

That this developer has the audacity to point fingers at people for "stealing" their game, when they in fact stole it themselves, is freaking mind-blowing to the extreme.

So even though I have no interest in the game (since I played it three years ago!) I feel rather smug and satisfied knowing that 93% (if that statistic isn't fabricated completely) of people didn't pay for the thing.

 

[Rumpsteak]

This move was one of the most clever marketing moves I have seen a quite a while. Though I decided not to buy the game it certainly did get my attention, after all who doesn't love a good sense of humour.

I am also going to raise a point that I thinks should be considered in this games case. Since it was the owner of the property that made the game available for download without purchase can those who downloaded the modified version really be considered to have pirated the game?

 

[MagunBFP]

There are no valid reasons for Piracy.

What about if the money you would pay for a game wouldn't go to the developers, but instead went to those who screwed the developers out of the money?

Then you don't steal the game. You either don't buy it at all or buy a game that doesn't screw the developers.

When it comes to an small, cheaply priced indie game it would be downright impossible to justify piracy.

When it comes to larger games that are priced roughly $60 ($100+ in some places) I'm going to hold the unpopular opinion that trying before buying is a legitimate reason in very specific circumstances....

At the end of the day if there's no demo the publisher is saying buy the game or don't buy the game but there are no freebies. If you're not happy with forking out the cash for the game because you don't know if its going to be good or not then the only legitimate option is not buying the game. There is quite literally no game that it would kill you not to play, so there is no valid reason to pirate.

Also you seem to be suggesting that stealling cheap things is bad but stealing expensive things is alright? Is there anything else thats ok to steal cause its expensive? Stealing from the little takeaway place down the street is bad, but from the fancy restaurant with the over priced meals is completely fine? I mean they're not giving samples.

 

[RicoADF]

Considering all of the things that have transpired, what are your thoughts on the legalities, the marketing ploys, and the debate for and against piracy with regards to Game Dev Tycoon?

Sincerely,
Dubaian.

I think it was clever and the best move they could possibly have done. Theres no DRM or other such nasties, the have version for Windows, Linux and OSX so everyone can play and what are they asking for in return? A pethetic $8, and yet some scum cant be assed to pay even that, hell I pay more for 2 cups of coffie!
I take my hat off to the devs and would gladly give them more for what they've made, its a good fun little game and the devs have shown they have the right views on how to make a game.

I thought it was cute.

Until I realized Game Dev Tycoon is a to-the-tee ripoff of Game Dev Story for Android. And I really mean carbon copy.

That this developer has the audacity to point fingers at people for "stealing" their game, when they in fact stole it themselves, is freaking mind-blowing to the extreme.

So even though I have no interest in the game (since I played it three years ago!) I feel rather smug and satisfied knowing that 93% (if that statistic isn't fabricated completely) of people didn't pay for the thing.

While it being very similar to another game does raise some eyebrows, lets be honest here most AAA games copy eachother all the time. If the big budget ones can do that under the reason of 'inspiration' and improving the idea, then so can the indies.

 

[Eleuthera]

snip

I don't think he's saying pirating cheap games is worse then expensive ones, but pointing out that even the standard "reasons for pirating" don't work in this case. It's already cheap. It has a demo. It's available worldwide. There no "evil" publisher in between.

 

[SecondPrize]

There are no valid reasons for Piracy.

What about if the money you would pay for a game wouldn't go to the developers, but instead went to those who screwed the developers out of the money?

Developers use sales figures to negotiate contracts. In-house developers with higher sales figures will get more resources.

 

[MagunBFP]

I am also going to raise a point that I thinks should be considered in this games case. Since it was the owner of the property that made the game available for download without purchase can those who downloaded the modified version really be considered to have pirated the game?

Given that it was very clearly marked "Cracked and Working" while it was being provided by the owners the people downloading didn't know that. They were specifically looking for a free version so they didn't have to pay the $8. You couldn't even try to sue them for piracy but just because you're able to steal something doesn't mean you should. Its like if I leave my wallet unattended for 5 mins thats not an invitation for you to take my money from it. I know there are theives out there but that doesn't make it alright for them to steal.

 

[Rob Robson]

While it being very similar to another game does raise some eyebrows, lets be honest here most AAA games copy eachother all the time. If the big budget ones can do that under the reason of 'inspiration' and improving the idea, then so can the indies.

Oh please, Game Dev Tycoon is not a different game than Game Dev Story, it is essentially an HD remake made by different people. The two games are virtually identical in mechanics and progression. I expect these people to get hit with the law-bat, and whatever income there was from the 7% of people who paid for it will be gone too.

The similarity is worse than your garden variety Zynga-ripoff, which says a lot.