iPhone Game Dev Credits Piracy for Doubling His Sales
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
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Out of interest, if every game came with a demo, would you stop pirating?Snotnarok said:I like how people are already saying things against piracy here like how it's just 99cents. Well some people don't like apple or their way of dealing with things and they jail broke their device. And Apple being the big nazi company they are will do anything to screw your device over once jail broken so some people just go fuck it and pirate it. It's kind of a lose lose situation, are they not in the right but it's not because of the just price sheesh.
There's many reasons people pirate games, I pirate games to see if they'll run on my PC, you know because so many developers release demos to test it on your hardware. I'm looking at you Activision and Cliffy B. Once I find if it runs on my system I go out and buy it...
I'm sorry, let me repeat that for you people who don't think piracy makes me buy my games.
Once I find if it runs on my system
I go out and buy it...
I'm JUST saying guys.
Yes I would, I very VERY much would. Basically all I do is play the first level, sometimes the second level/area whatever if the first wasn't very hard on my system. I just want to know if my system is able to handle it, and if they're not going to provide a test...then I will. It's not like I can return the game, or rent it for PC now is it? And system requirements ...yeah they've never been accurate. Is it even pirating when I get the game anyway? I call it...making my own demo!lacktheknack said:Out of interest, if every game came with a demo, would you stop pirating?Snotnarok said:I like how people are already saying things against piracy here like how it's just 99cents. Well some people don't like apple or their way of dealing with things and they jail broke their device. And Apple being the big nazi company they are will do anything to screw your device over once jail broken so some people just go fuck it and pirate it. It's kind of a lose lose situation, are they not in the right but it's not because of the just price sheesh.
There's many reasons people pirate games, I pirate games to see if they'll run on my PC, you know because so many developers release demos to test it on your hardware. I'm looking at you Activision and Cliffy B. Once I find if it runs on my system I go out and buy it...
I'm sorry, let me repeat that for you people who don't think piracy makes me buy my games.
Once I find if it runs on my system
I go out and buy it...
I'm JUST saying guys.
What about the game that you don't get, if you download those copyright protected programs on to your computer and don't buy those then you are thief. Plain and Simple. Especially a torrent, even worse because your then also distributing parts of the program to other users without permission.Snotnarok said:
Well, if you're not lying through your teeth, then I don't see the problem. Time to get writing those letters to the developers...Snotnarok said:Yes I would, I very VERY much would. Basically all I do is play the first level, sometimes the second level/area whatever if the first wasn't very hard on my system. I just want to know if my system is able to handle it, and if they're not going to provide a test...then I will. It's not like I can return the game, or rent it for PC now is it? And system requirements ...yeah they've never been accurate. Is it even pirating when I get the game anyway? I call it...making my own demo!lacktheknack said:Out of interest, if every game came with a demo, would you stop pirating?Snotnarok said:I like how people are already saying things against piracy here like how it's just 99cents. Well some people don't like apple or their way of dealing with things and they jail broke their device. And Apple being the big nazi company they are will do anything to screw your device over once jail broken so some people just go fuck it and pirate it. It's kind of a lose lose situation, are they not in the right but it's not because of the just price sheesh.
There's many reasons people pirate games, I pirate games to see if they'll run on my PC, you know because so many developers release demos to test it on your hardware. I'm looking at you Activision and Cliffy B. Once I find if it runs on my system I go out and buy it...
I'm sorry, let me repeat that for you people who don't think piracy makes me buy my games.
Once I find if it runs on my system
I go out and buy it...
I'm JUST saying guys.
Huh... funny, this story sounds sort of familiar... ah yes - that would be because it's echoing what I always say about piracy. Namely, don't pirate things, but don't pointlessly spend time and effort trying to stop it either - you can't, so you might as well take whatever word of mouth exposure you can get, regardless of how that word of mouth is generated.
There's a reason a lot of musicians come out in favor of file-sharing - they'd much rather have a million people downloading their material without paying than be stuck with just one hundred legitimate customers, because now a million people know who they are; presumably some of those people will tell other people about them, and maybe those people will actually buy stuff from them, or the freeloaders may go on to attend concerts or pick up band merchandise, etc.
With video games the software is largely the entirety of the service though, so encouraging people to spread it about without paying is somewhat counterproductive, as the word of mouth exposure you'd gain would be significantly offset by the bit where that game is how you're making any money (not just a part of it) - you're better off just ignoring piracy and focusing on quality assurance testing and marketing really - but piracy is still a form of advertising and, as we see from this example, it can indirectly benefit developers.
There's a reason a lot of musicians come out in favor of file-sharing - they'd much rather have a million people downloading their material without paying than be stuck with just one hundred legitimate customers, because now a million people know who they are; presumably some of those people will tell other people about them, and maybe those people will actually buy stuff from them, or the freeloaders may go on to attend concerts or pick up band merchandise, etc.
With video games the software is largely the entirety of the service though, so encouraging people to spread it about without paying is somewhat counterproductive, as the word of mouth exposure you'd gain would be significantly offset by the bit where that game is how you're making any money (not just a part of it) - you're better off just ignoring piracy and focusing on quality assurance testing and marketing really - but piracy is still a form of advertising and, as we see from this example, it can indirectly benefit developers.
And how is disturbing a part of a file any different from the WHOLE file?Baldr said:
Anyway, great to hear that the Dev as able to make the system work for him. I won't tell everyone here what to think, (considering from what I've seen, too many people just don't get it...) but keep doing what you have to do, and pay your respect where it's due.
Snot, Awesome collection you got there, I hope to get mine as big soon, but it's a bit more padded with Import music CDs then games right now.
Still, once I can unbox my SNES and N64 games, I'll be extra happy.
Huh...actual data on this sort of thing. Nice.
Unfortunately this instance is that of an indie dev - I had suspected that the indie market has a bigger potential to profit from piracy marketing and lo and behold...turns out that it does look this way.
However, it'd be really worthwhile to check these sorts of graph trends for bigger titles. The statistics tend to agree that the biggest titles of all also get pirated the most, as per the Escapists' own article...but the time and cost of creating those games is also higher and company politics most certainly complicate things even more.
Sadly I doubt we'll ever get reliable numbers on that. Any that'd come would always have to be approved by the company in question and what bigger company *doesn't* want a chance at squeezing an extra buck or two via the legal system, so what incentive do they have to be actually honest about it? But still...this is another tiny piece of the piracy puzzle that does help so - kudos to this person for actually being willing to reveal his findings in spite of his preferrence and kudos to the Escapist for covering it.
Unfortunately this instance is that of an indie dev - I had suspected that the indie market has a bigger potential to profit from piracy marketing and lo and behold...turns out that it does look this way.
However, it'd be really worthwhile to check these sorts of graph trends for bigger titles. The statistics tend to agree that the biggest titles of all also get pirated the most, as per the Escapists' own article...but the time and cost of creating those games is also higher and company politics most certainly complicate things even more.
Sadly I doubt we'll ever get reliable numbers on that. Any that'd come would always have to be approved by the company in question and what bigger company *doesn't* want a chance at squeezing an extra buck or two via the legal system, so what incentive do they have to be actually honest about it? But still...this is another tiny piece of the piracy puzzle that does help so - kudos to this person for actually being willing to reveal his findings in spite of his preferrence and kudos to the Escapist for covering it.
So I should just by the game on blind faith then? I should spend 60 dollars to find out if the game will run? The system requirements are often very wrong so how would you go about seeing if it works on your system? I can't rent the game and I cannot return it, there's no floor model to try either so how then? Also I don't seed so you're quite wrong on both fronts then.Baldr said:
See the trouble is here the developer or publisher is at fault because I WANT to buy their game but I want to know if it's compatible with what I have, but they don't provide it so I'm meerly trying out someone else copy. And if it doesn't work I erase it why the hell would I keep something that doesn't work? I'm not a thief, I'm also not so gullible to see that piracy isn't black and white. There's a middle ground and the fact that I have 96 steam games shows that I'm more likely to buy a game that I find that works so I'm glad that's settled.
I think the pics show that I buy the games that I try.lacktheknack said:
The increased sales are still dwarfed by the sheer number of pirates stealing the game. Sorry, but this still doesn't fly as a justification.
There are legitimate ways to find out if a game is good or not, even without a demo. Reviews, for instance, like at this site you're looking at right now? Just saying.
Also,
There are legitimate ways to find out if a game is good or not, even without a demo. Reviews, for instance, like at this site you're looking at right now? Just saying.
Also,
Again, that's great that you buy the game if you like it, but you're still helping other pirates torrent those games, so for that reason I can't accept your premise.Snotnarok said:
Again, you want me to spend 60 dollars on a gamble that my system can run it while a multimillion dollar company can't be asked to put out a simple demo so I can see if my machine will play it?RDubayoo said:
In a world where system requirements are basically optional I really don't feel the need to risk my money when I don't have the luxury of throwing it out there. This could ALL be avoided if you know they put out their own demos so we could test the God damn game. And yes system requirements are REALLY that off, Black Ops for instance didn't support Dual Core processors till about a few weeks ago, while it clearly says on the box (you know that I bough on blind faith) that it supports dual core processors.
Well guess what, the requirements were wrong and I couldn't play the game I spent 60 dollars on. I guess you could say the developer swindled me so you can just say when I "test" games I'm just trying not to be swindled.
It's not my responsibility what the other people do with their pirated games, I'm simply stating what I'VE done with my games. If you feel I'm wrong then think about this, I wouldn't buy the game if I didn't test it first so they've lost a sale right there. And to show you that you know little about torrenting you can actually not seed so just saying
I always wonder how many of you think that, without piracy, every one of those pirated copies would turn into a sold copy...
I mean, I'm not for piracy for piracy's sake, but you can't blame piracy for lost sales. I mean, hell, game software was one of the few industries to *grow* while the recession was getting into full swing. It isn't surprising that the scale has finally tipped the other way.
I think if publishers and devs complained less about piracy, simply taking it in stride as a cost-of-doing-business, they'd lose substantially less money, not having to throw it at lawyers and buggy, half-assed copy protection schemes that don't work in the first place.
I mean, I'm not for piracy for piracy's sake, but you can't blame piracy for lost sales. I mean, hell, game software was one of the few industries to *grow* while the recession was getting into full swing. It isn't surprising that the scale has finally tipped the other way.
I think if publishers and devs complained less about piracy, simply taking it in stride as a cost-of-doing-business, they'd lose substantially less money, not having to throw it at lawyers and buggy, half-assed copy protection schemes that don't work in the first place.
What a hypocrite.
"I'm against piracy. At least I was until I started gaining a profit from it. Well, I'm still against it ethically, but I like money, so I'll let it slip. God I hate pirates."
The funniest thing about all of this is that the AAA companies probably have similar data available to them regarding their games (most specifically, digital distribution titles), and will continue to tout that their sales are being negatively impacted by piracy.
"I'm against piracy. At least I was until I started gaining a profit from it. Well, I'm still against it ethically, but I like money, so I'll let it slip. God I hate pirates."
The funniest thing about all of this is that the AAA companies probably have similar data available to them regarding their games (most specifically, digital distribution titles), and will continue to tout that their sales are being negatively impacted by piracy.
I once wrote a letter to Ubisoft. They told me to piss off.lacktheknack said:
I'm sure Kotick's team gives just about the same amount of a damn.
EA might care if you gathered a few million signatures on a petition, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Running out of publishers here.
Lol, that's an interesting story, nice to see something good come out of something that's usually regarded as bad.
I wonder why it isn't common practice to make a demo for games, I mean I figure the reason most people pirate games isn't because they can't afford it but because they don't want to make an investment into something they aren't sure will be worth it. Not trying to justify it, but if you understand something, it's that much easier to work against.
Game Developers, release demos so we can see what your game has to offer, thanks.
I wonder why it isn't common practice to make a demo for games, I mean I figure the reason most people pirate games isn't because they can't afford it but because they don't want to make an investment into something they aren't sure will be worth it. Not trying to justify it, but if you understand something, it's that much easier to work against.
Game Developers, release demos so we can see what your game has to offer, thanks.