And the Most-Pirated Game of 2010 Is...

[pokepuke]

Dude, they ain't charity workers. It sucks when you spend all of your time doing a job, only to watch people benefit from that work without paying, which means you (the little guy in the middle) are getting paid less for doing that job.

Those scientists sure must feel awful then when they cure a disease and can't continue to profit from suppression drugs.

Once again it seems like they are being put in the group of not having any love for the art. I doubt they would have made the game in the first place if that were the case.

It'd be different if these guys weren't just game developers. If they were also cops, lawyers, pastry chefs, dentists, and so on. Hey, lots of folks have a hobby and don't get paid for it, that's the way of the world. But they're not hobbyists. It's their job.

Yeah, and they did get paid for their work.

So that's why it sucks, when you're being told your paycheck is smaller, to see other people enjoying the fruits of your labor because some selfish dick gave it away for free because he doesn't have to feed your stupid family.

He was selfish for giving something away? Wow, you lost me with that one (not to say you didn't lose me before).

I guess the developers really don't care about people enjoying a good game.

 

[pokepuke]

A.) It's easy on either side of the fence. Most people can argue without flaming.

Once again, it is easy to say such things and talk like that, when you're on that side of the fence.

B.) No, but art doesn't put food on the table for your family.

Well then they might as well sell hot dogs, or do anything else that is more guaranteed to put food on your family.

C.) Given the massive popularity of COD, it's surprising it wasn't higher, yes.

ok fine, ignore what I said.

But it's more surprising that #1 was Dante's Inferno, a relatively lukewarm title in all respects.

Oh I see now. Well played. Keep on saying the word often enough and you can just fall back to another nearby phrase. You got me there.

 

[AMMO Kid]

how do they keep track of pirated copies? I mean, if they can track who downloads there wouldn't be piracy, right?

 

[Mercsenary]

Look at how much higher the rate of piracy is on PC. Entitled geeks will steal anything if they feel they deserve it.

Dont be so smug. Its not exactly easy to download a console game then burn it correctly then making sure that your console can actually play it. Pc gaming is easier, Download, burn/mount, install, crack, play.

 

[Dastardly]

Dude, they ain't charity workers. It sucks when you spend all of your time doing a job, only to watch people benefit from that work without paying, which means you (the little guy in the middle) are getting paid less for doing that job.

Those scientists sure must feel awful then when they cure a disease and can't continue to profit from suppression drugs.

Once again it seems like they are being put in the group of not having any love for the art. I doubt they would have made the game in the first place if that were the case.

It'd be different if these guys weren't just game developers. If they were also cops, lawyers, pastry chefs, dentists, and so on. Hey, lots of folks have a hobby and don't get paid for it, that's the way of the world. But they're not hobbyists. It's their job.

Yeah, and they did get paid for their work.

So that's why it sucks, when you're being told your paycheck is smaller, to see other people enjoying the fruits of your labor because some selfish dick gave it away for free because he doesn't have to feed your stupid family.

He was selfish for giving something away? Wow, you lost me with that one (not to say you didn't lose me before).

I guess the developers really don't care about people enjoying a good game.

Well, I'm sorry. I didn't get the initial memo that you're just trolling, not really presenting any argument that makes any sort of sense. Now that I know that, I can pretty much just write all of this off...

Seriously, why does it piss you off so much that someone who makes games as his job should expect to be paid in full when he does it? Yes, liking games is why he picked that line of work. BUT IT'S A LIKE OF WORK. Work means "give time, give effort, get money." If you're doing art as a job, then you're putting your full working time into that art. That means it goes beyond a "labor of love" to being something you need to get paid for.

Yet you get all pissy about these people expecting to be paid for their hard work? And the time and money they put into learning to do these things at such a high level on strict deadlines? They're the assholes for receiving a paycheck?

What about the self-entitled little prick that sees something he likes, that someone else spent money and time to make, and they just take it for free? Where's the righteous anger now? He's not supporting the art, either. He's taking something that in no way, under any code of law ever known to man, belongs to him. And he's doing it without giving any sort of reimbursement.

Then he has the audacity to give it to others out of "generosity?" Yes, yes, you're very noble and generous with other people's shit. Here's a fucking Nobel. Seriously. Taking something from someone, not paying them, and then giving it to others to thus encourage all of them to not pay for it either... is selfish. You don't understand that?

Well, let me grab some friends, we'll be over to your place in a bit. I won't be keeping anything, but I will be giving them all of your stuff for Christmas. Then they'll give me a medal for being so damned generous.

(Insert: "Piracy isn't stealing!" whinge)

 

[pedal2000]

The real problem, as I see, that piracy presents is that it completely skews the ability to estimate potential sells. This causes problems with adjusting prices appropriately to respond to the market, and it poses considerable difficulty when planning the financial feasibility of future product development and business expansion.

Except that there is no 'price adjustment'. Don't kid yourself - Activision doesn't charge 70 bucks for CODBO because of piracy. They do it because they can sell it at that price and make shitloads of money.

If a game is crap, then don't play the damn game.

Please explain how I will know if a game is crap if I don't play the damn game? I'm a huge fan of picking up games after I've enjoyed them. Or donating to developers, or buying copies of games I've already beaten if I enjoyed them.

But, for example, I massively regret the money I spent buying Modern Warfare 2. It was the biggest waste of 70 bucks I've ever spent on video games.

 

[ThorUK]

Look at how much higher the rate of piracy is on PC. Entitled geeks will steal anything if they feel they deserve it.

Only because most console users can't figure out how to pirate games for their glorified toasters.

It's worth adding that SC2 would have probably been more widely pirated if there was a possibily of private servers or some sort of cracked multiplayer mode, but B.net 2 stopped that fairly well (or at least delayed it significantly). Not to mention that it's pay to play in asia, where the majority of their market is.

As per Black Ops, you're also likely to find it the most "deleted in disgust after being downloaded and played through" game, since it was so bad.

 

[yundex]

The real problem, as I see, that piracy presents is that it completely skews the ability to estimate potential sells. This causes problems with adjusting prices appropriately to respond to the market, and it poses considerable difficulty when planning the financial feasibility of future product development and business expansion.

Except that there is no 'price adjustment'. Don't kid yourself - Activision doesn't charge 70 bucks for CODBO because of piracy. They do it because they can sell it at that price and make shitloads of money.

If a game is crap, then don't play the damn game.

Please explain how I will know if a game is crap if I don't play the damn game? I'm a huge fan of picking up games after I've enjoyed them. Or donating to developers, or buying copies of games I've already beaten if I enjoyed them.

But, for example, I massively regret the money I spent buying Modern Warfare 2. It was the biggest waste of 70 bucks I've ever spent on video games.

Didn't you post that earlier? Unless i'm going crazy

Anyways, why does a website that is so against piracy, keep putting these articles up? All it does is encourage [del]me[/del] people to pirate out of spite of being called scumbags, cheap, lazy, assholes, losers, self entitled pricks and rapists.(actually saw this one before)
These threads all end up the same, no one walks away a better person.

 

[John Funk]

A.) It's easy on either side of the fence. Most people can argue without flaming.

Once again, it is easy to say such things and talk like that, when you're on that side of the fence.

B.) No, but art doesn't put food on the table for your family.

Well then they might as well sell hot dogs, or do anything else that is more guaranteed to put food on your family.

C.) Given the massive popularity of COD, it's surprising it wasn't higher, yes.

ok fine, ignore what I said.

But it's more surprising that #1 was Dante's Inferno, a relatively lukewarm title in all respects.

Oh I see now. Well played. Keep on saying the word often enough and you can just fall back to another nearby phrase. You got me there.

A.) And you assume I've always been on this "side of the fence" ... why? I haven't. I've been community like you on sites long before I was press. Nor have any of the thousands of other people on this forum who can argue, sometimes heatedly, without resorting to insults.

B.) Because they want to make games? Why should their chosen career not be economically viable because people want their things for free? Why should *they* take a second job so Billy the Pirate doesn't have to pay?

C.) I'm not ignoring. The point you make about lack of multiplayer is a valid one, but COD's staggering popularity made it #1 on consoles last year [http://torrentfreak.com/the-most-pirated-games-of-2009-091227/], why not this year?

D.) ... I think you think I'm arguing something else. Is it not surprising that Dante's Inferno, a game which received middling reviews and sold perhaps a million copies, was downloaded more than COD, which sold many times that? Not even the multiplayer point is valid here - it beat out Mass Effect, Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption, all of which are single-player focused (if not only).

 

[Meestor Pickle]

Sissies. March into a store, look the associate in the eye and demand to buy Kirby's Epic Yarn like a MAN.

You ask too much!

Don't know why there would be so many pirated copies of the multi-player games like CoD and Starcraft because I imagine there is a tonne of blockers and such to stop said people.

 

[Retardinator]

I'd like to say that both Black Ops and Mafia 2 truly deserved it. The former for having the last sequel in the series be the worst one and not improving much upon it (The singleplayer campaign was even worse than MW2). And the latter for being a bad sequel to a completely awesome game.
Bad Company 2 I'm not so sure. It's quite generic, but manages to stand on its own as an OK game.

Alan Wake made the mistake of being exclusive to Xbox360, IMO. Then again, if it were released for the PC, it might've ended up worse. But they lost my sale, I'll tell you that.

Don't know why there would be so many pirated copies of the multi-player games like CoD and Starcraft because I imagine there is a tonne of blockers and such to stop said people.

Perhaps people just wanna play the singleplayer campaign, but don't wanna shell out the ridiculous amount of money Activision wants for both SP and MP. Starcraft 2 at least has a good campaign, from what I've heard.

 

[LordVylen]

What ever happened to the idea that if you can't afford something, you don't get to have it? I had a crap job for a couple years and missed out on a lot of good games, but that didn't somehow make it okay for me to get them for free. If you don't have the money to buy the game you want, then either save your money until you can buy it, or buy another game that doesn't cost as much.

 

[Dys]

Look at how much higher the rate of piracy is on PC. Entitled geeks will steal anything if they feel they deserve it.

Given the lack of technical know how of the average console user (especially the wii), and the already set standard of buying pirated console games from open markets, the actual rate of console piracy is far higher than what downloads would show as that's not the primary or easiest method of pirated those games(and the PC rate is likely lower, as legit owners of the game still download torrents for no CD cracks and the like).

I'm rather surprises starcraft wasn't higher, what with the silly new blizzard totalitarian approach I expected many a fan would've refused to pay for the game and refused to miss out on it.

So that's why it sucks, when you're being told your paycheck is smaller, to see other people enjoying the fruits of your labor because some selfish dick gave it away for free because he doesn't have to feed your stupid family.

Did we not learn, from the activision vs infinity ward scandal, that even if the devs make the most popular game of all time, the publishers are going to actively look to fuck them? You're assumption that more sales translates to better pay or higher bonuses for employees has very recently and very publicly been disproven. If it were me being ripped off, I expect it would be a lot easier to take that "people stole your game so your no getting a huge bonus" than "we really like your money and have no legal obligation to pass it on".

 

[Sad Face]

Sissies. March into a store, look the associate in the eye and demand to buy Kirby's Epic Yarn like a MAN.

Hell yeah.
And it was totally worth it.

 

[VicunaBlue]

It's true that not every download is a lost sale. While it's a safe bet that some of the pirates would have bought the game were there no other choice, there's no way of knowing how low (or high) that percentage would be.

I would approximate 0.2%.

Ah. So you're a pirate.

Talk about jumping to conclusions.

Am I wrong?

For the record, you're wrong.

Ah. So you're a liar.

Ah, and you're an asshole!

Be careful! Don't enrage the beast!


OT: To be fair to the pirates, most of them wouldn't have bought it anyways. And really it's not stealing, it's more like copying answers on a test. Still unethical, depending on who's moral code your going by, but certainly not as bad as outright stealing a copy of the game from a store.

 

[Caiti Voltaire]

It's true that not every download is a lost sale, but I'm going to carry on and make the same tired arguments based on that point regardless.

Edit and emphasis mine. People are well aware of the issue by now, do we really need to see the subject in half the articles the Escapist puts out?

I wasn't aware that pointing out "It must really suck to be a developer of a game that was very important to the survival of your studio [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102027-Remedy-Blames-Stiff-Competition-for-Poor-Alan-Wake-Sales] - and to see millions of people downloading and playing it for free" counted as an argument. It's an observation, and one that's very relevant to the subject at hand. I see no reason to complain.

I'm not going to argue this with you, the last time you just had me suspended, I'd rather stick around; the chaps in P&R can handle a debate without resulting to modding opposing opinion.

There's a difference between a debate and insulting/flaming. If you've learned the difference, you're more than welcome to discuss it here without fear of reprisal. If you haven't learned to argue without being rude, then you aren't - it's as simple as that.

Either way, it doesn't change the truth of what I said: It really does suck to see more pirates playing your game than actual paying customers. That's an observation, not an argument.

The point that seems to have been lost here is that people have been banging on about piracy for a long time now, and the song and dance routine of it has not changed very much at all. How is this news? You may say its an observation, but its not really a new or interesting one, I think. But we're all entitled to our opinions, I suppose.

 

[theultimateend]

It's true that not every download is a lost sale. While it's a safe bet that some of the pirates would have bought the game were there no other choice, there's no way of knowing how low (or high) that percentage would be.

I would guess 0.2%. Certainly, most people pirating anything is doing it because it costs £0.00.

You are fairly accurate. Otherwise there would be a noticeable increase in sales for a game on consoles that haven't been pirated yet.

Yet the sales difference is negligible.

Plus the top pirated games also have the best sales records of the year. But I don't think many of them are happy with that.

[I don't pirate, I just find the argument that it is losing people money to be about as grounded in reality as the war on drugs.]

 

[Arehexes]

Sissies. March into a store, look the associate in the eye and demand to buy Kirby's Epic Yarn like a MAN.

Ok I laughed hard at that Pal, looking at Gumshoe's face while reading that was epic. Now I fill like finishing my Phoenix Wright Case.

 

[Alon Shechter]

This has got to be the most unnecessary thread I've ever seen.
Uncool, John. It just led to a ton of arguments, and with each side having a completely different point of view it is pretty much useless.

Ah. So you're a liar.