Team Meat "Doesn't F*cking Care" About Pirates

[Andy Chalk]

Team Meat "Doesn't F*cking Care" About Pirates

Super Meat Boy [http://www.amazon.com/Super-Meat-Boy-Ultra-Pc/dp/B004NS77OM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311189116&sr=8-1] studio Team Meat knows that its games are hugely pirated, but it really just doesn't f*cking care.

This is Team Meat. Listen to them do a doesn't give a shit [http://darkzero.co.uk/game-podcasts/podcast-76-meet-team-meat/].

"Our game was hugely pirated - we don't fucking care," Team Meat men Tommy Refenes and Edmund McMillen explained. "If there are, let's say 200,000 copies of SMB that are getting passed around for free, that's 200,000 people who are playing the game. If they like this game there's a really high probability of their friends coming around and seeing it or them posting about it on their blogs."

The duo also apparently believes that shame will motivate at least some of the people who downloaded the game without paying for it. "It's not cool to go round and say I really like this game that I stole, so they're not going to say that," they added. "So it's going to come around to sales."

It's an unusual, although not unique [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108748-Avalanche-Studios-Boss-Reveals-Secret-Plan-to-Stop-Piracy], attitude toward the problem of piracy, probably borne in large part out of sheer helplessness. If Activision and EA are effectively helpless to stop piracy, what's a two-man indie studio going to do? Might as well accept it, roll with it and hope that appreciation for the game and respect for the little guy is enough to turn at least a few takers into buyers.

via: Rock, Paper, Shotgun [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/07/18/gasp-super-meat-boy-sells-12-copies-on-d2d/]


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[Scizophrenic Llama]

That first paragraph sounds oddly familiar [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg]...

Always nice to see developers who push through piracy rather than focus on it and hurt the consumers as well.

Clearly Team Meat needs a game about honey badgers now.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Want to win the War on Drugs, the War on Terror and the War on...any other inanimate object...

Accept that you're going to get a few casualties. Roll with it. Strike on further so that they can't keep up. Beat them at their own game.

Don't judge us all by the standards of the dregs, judge us by what we COULD be.

(Damn, that would sound far more awesome with the right backing music.)

 

[Lacsapix]

hurray!
the game industry should focus more on the game then focusing on DRM and piracy.

 

[Dalek Caan]

Very, very clever people. At least they see the positives of piracy.

 

[Something Amyss]

Reverse psychology, eh? Soon all the pirates will be DEMANDING they pay!

GENIUS.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

It's good to see a developer team roll with the punches instead of target everyone in hopes of crushing the mighty game pirate.

 

[Phishfood]

This is the way to go. I do not condone piracy, I think if you want something you should pay for it.

However, piracy is a fact of life. It has been ever since the first machine capable of copying a tape was made. (or even before). In the real world there are a percentage of people who will not pay for your product. Maybe they will pirate. Maybe they will borrow. Maybe they will just go without. Fussing over it is stupid.

Actually, the fact that libraries have not driven bookshops out of business is PROOF that getting stuff for free does not stop people paying.

 

[subject_87]

I loved (my legitimately-purchased copy of) Super Meat Boy, and now this? Too good to be true!

 

[yndsu]

That is what i like to hear.
This is the right attitude. Make the game as good as you can.
Then sell it. Someone will pirate it, and if they like it enough
many will pay for it as well. Been there, done that.

But if you make a crap game, then no-one will pay for it.

 

[DSK-]

The duo also apparently believes that shame will motivate at least some of the people who downloaded the game without paying for it. "It's not cool to go round and say I really like this game that I stole, so they're not going to say that," they added. "So it's going to come around to sales."

LOL. You know, when I've talked to people with games the phrases normally used are the likes of "...I've played..." and "...I have...".

Didn't these people learn about being economical with the truth?

*shakes his head at the lack of common sense*

Maybe it's just me :`(

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

Reverse psychology, eh? Soon all the pirates will be DEMANDING they pay!

GENIUS.

I knew I wasn't the only oe who was thinking this

OT: Very progressive. Now, if only other devs and publishers could think like you do

 

[DigitalAtlas]

Wow, a development studio that is happy people are just playing their game?

Say it ain't so!

 

[samsonguy920]

Change it from feeling like an act of rebellion to an act of lameness. Anybody who feels open enough to admit they pirated a game, they won't get a speech, they won't get approval. They will get my face that will radiate how lame they are.
And that is all that is needed to be said.
Team Meat just said the same thing.

Makes me think back when the Anti-drug campaign went with kids turning down drugs because it was lame. I do believe that had the best results of all their campaigns. But they didn't stay the course and now the commercials are lame again.

 

[JPH330]

I dunno, I think Super Meat Boy would be much more fun with a DRM padlock. Like, maybe when I get the game I can type in an activation code for five minutes! Who doesn't love activation codes?

 

[Jennacide]

It's not like this is an unheard of belief. The catch is we always tend to hear from the publishers, who are the ones forcing in the ridiculous DRM, not the developers. Valve has only said in not so many words "We can't beat pirates, so why try? They are just customers that aren't being served correctly." Another current example is CD Projekt Red, who forcibly removed the DRM from both Witcher games, and are now in a lawsuit with THQ over the DRM removal on the Witcher 2.

Most developers have the understanding that you simply can't beat the pirates. Anyone that thought it could be done basically lost all hope when it took them less than a week to break the Ubisoft Launcher for Assassin's Creed 2, widely regarded as a single most draconian DRM ever. Which, of course, did more harm to the sales of the game than the normal piracy of the game would of had it not had said DRM.

 

[Thyunda]

Well, if you can't beat them, pretend you don't care. Or genuinely don't care. Either works. Let's face it, nobody who has ever fought piracy has ever won, so you might as well open your arms and yell, 'Come at me, bro'. Take away the pirates' feeling of being above the law, and they feel kinda silly avoiding paying for something and getting literally no infamy for it.

Nice one, Team Meat. If I was more liberal with my income, I'd buy your game. However, I'm a tight bastard, and I shall go without.

 

[ChocoFace]

Team Meat receives +1 internets for that.
(it's all i have)

*starts slow clap*

 

[insanelich]

Now, not caring about pirates is a-ok in my book. Means I don't have to deal with anti-pirate bullshit in my game.

Now if only they put all that care other companies put into fighting piracy into playtesting their levels.

I'm looking at you, entirety of World 5.

 

[Epona]

This is indeed the right attitude, don't make your game for pirates and you won't hurt the non-pirates by accident.

Of course, one has to wonder if their attitude will change as the company grows.