EA Chief Calls Pirated Sims 3 a "Demo"

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
EA Chief Calls Pirated Sims 3 a "Demo"


In a bit of an unusual twist, The Sims 3 [http://www.ea.com] as "not that different than a demo."

The Sims 3 was downloaded most pirated game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92022-Sims-3-Pirated-180-000-Times] of 2008. Yet instead of freaking out and vowing to inflict much punishment (and DRM), Riccitiello surprisingly chose to look at the bright side of things. "You identified our secret marketing campaign!" he said. "That was a very large scale - concentrated on Poland and China - demo program."

He clarified, for the benefit of people who take such comments too seriously, that EA didn't actually leak the game, although he did point out that the pirated version was incomplete and, in many ways, very much like a demo release. "Sims 3 has a massive amount of content, and a lot of it is downloaded once you register with EA... and join the online community," Riccitiello said. "A huge amount of the gameplay is an overlay for the community, where you are sampling assets created by other people. So for the pirate consumer, they don't get the second town, they don't get all the extra content, and they don't get the community. It was only concentrated on Poland and China, but I think of it as not being that different than a demo."

He also appears to have shifted his views on how to combat piracy, saying the best way to beat it is to "out-service" it. "If you see what we're doing with Madden Online, Dragon Age [http://fifa09.ea.com/us/gameinfo/fifa-09-ultimate-team/] is probably a 100-hour game by itself, but what comes post-release [for these games] is bigger still," he explained. "I think that's the answer [to piracy]. And here's the trick: it's not the answer because this foils a pirate, but it's the answer because it makes the service so valuable that in comparison the packaged good is not."

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/ea-views-sims-3-leak-as-demo-program/]


Permalink
 

tendo82

Uncanny Valley Cave Dweller
Nov 30, 2007
1,283
0
0
Easy to say that now that your game has sold three million copies.
 

The Youth Counselor

New member
Sep 20, 2008
1,004
0
0
That is great spin. Pirated copies are always at a disadvantage to legitimate ones, multiplayer capability is guaranteed not to work, there is no warranty and patches are a pain. So in many ways it truly is a demo.
 

Combined

New member
Sep 13, 2008
1,625
0
0
Or they'll just find a way around your new content denying system. Pirates are clever little folk.
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
20,364
0
0
Cpt_Oblivious said:
Poland and China?

Why those 2 countries? He's clearly making that up.
He was being facetious. They didn't actually release it as a demo, but Poland and China probably pirated it the most. So, he was referring to that in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
 

darthzew

New member
Jun 19, 2008
1,813
0
0
A little late to this aren't we? Didn't this game get on the pirate bay like two weeks before the Sims 3 was even released?
 

Sir Ollie

The Emperor's Finest
Jan 14, 2009
2,022
0
41
The Youth Counselor said:
That is great spin. Pirated copies are always at a disadvantage to legitimate ones, multiplayer capability is guaranteed not to work, there is no warranty and patches are a pain. So in many ways it truly is a demo.
Who needs warranty when you download it?

Plus the guy is talking out of his ass, since there are already files on the net containing the next town and the beginning crap.
 

Cpt_Oblivious

Not Dead Yet
Jan 7, 2009
6,933
0
0
CantFaketheFunk said:
Cpt_Oblivious said:
Poland and China?

Why those 2 countries? He's clearly making that up.
He was being facetious. They didn't actually release it as a demo, but Poland and China probably pirated it the most. So, he was referring to that in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
Ohh.

I had to look up facetious, y'know.
 

Krakyn

New member
Mar 3, 2009
789
0
0
Pirates usually justify their downloads as wanting to try a game out before buying it because the market doesn't handle dissatisfaction with a product very well; you never get a full refund. Holding back some of the content was just a great idea, and the pirates have no excuses. Kudos to you, EA.
 

RoboPenguin

New member
Apr 14, 2009
110
0
0
It's about time that the big guys recognized one of the big factors why people pirate. There will always be those who never buy the game, even if they liked the "demo", but the majority of people I've talked to bought it after they tried it. There were those who didn't like it and didn't buy it, but they most certainly didn't keep it on their systems.
 

lornb

New member
Jan 16, 2009
89
0
0
Hmm de ja frickin vu. EA actually called pirated Sims 3 a demo last month, right before it got leaked which made some people think the leak was intentional. Just saying, if this is spin then its.. preemptive spin?
 

whaleswiththumbs

New member
Feb 13, 2009
1,462
0
0
This is interesting strategy, but I can't register the game, cause it's actually my brohers, he just let's me play it. Thanks for calling me- the non-pirate- a pirate then saying we are all jackasses. Makes me feel warm inside, and whats with this guy being 3 weeks behind the release of his game?