Piracy will save us all?

[EvaUnit02]

Originally Posted by LHS
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What matters is the money.

Right--which seems to be the issue you're intentionally avoiding.

[Aro2220]

Originally Posted by RaspoFabs
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I've never been one that's all that worried about piracy in games, and now I'm thinking that it's not true. I previously held that people who pirated where just not going to buy a game anyway, that they weren't lost sales, they were just people that didn't want to spend the money that way.Music and games and anything copyable, I've enjoyed being able to preview before buying. All the games I like, I own, however some I've pirated before buying (to see if they were good enough) and some after (because I've lost the media).Now, I realise I was wrong. Pirates aren't even lost sales, they're free advertising. A great game that gets pirated gets more word of mouth advertising than a game that can't be pirated. Then you get even more people pirating it and they leak into the people that do buy their games and you get even more real sales too. Sounds like it's all profit to me. I know that I'm not going to put any protection on my game when I release it, in hope that people will pirate it and spread the word for me.What's your view on free advertising through bittorrent?

Actually, if your game is not something with mass appeal (ie: a niche game, which most are) and you make it EASY and SAFE for anyone to pirate it -- you will lose money.

If you really want to stop piracy's negative effects use significant online content and a key code activation like blizzard does with their games. It's simple, very hard to pirate beyond a cracked single player version of the game that can't be patched. This gives potential buyers / pirates the chance to try the game out in single player and see what the controls are like, game stability, gameplay, storyline, graphics, etc. If they like what they see they'll buy it, but otherwise...

Don't get me wrong -- I'm with you when it comes to software piracy being a form of advertisement. I'd even go so far as to say the government should make it illegal for a video game to be sold without releasing a game without a VERY playable demo. As I said, I am a long term gamer and the #1 thing that boils my blood is paying for a game that looked good at first glance / in the trailers and then realizing it's TRASH.

[Red Bjarne]

Have any of you considered the piracy issue relating to people in countries where people generally can't afford to pay what we ask for games? I remember going to russia on a research trip (for a game) and found a recent game I had worked on in 5 different (and very nicely translated) versions on the shelves at the price of $2 (they all claimed to be genuine copies). I thought it was fine. We would never be able to make money on a AAA game in a $2 market anyway but I (as a gamedeveloper) was ofcourse pleased that alot of people were enjoying the game (and we sold plenty of copies 'at home').