That's not true. Especially in the case on people who are pirating an early build. Many people in this case are not pirating because they won't buy the game, but pirating because they CAN'T WAIT to buy the game. Now, those people will probably read the news about how they might be banned, not buy the game, and pirate again to avoid DRM. Epic just lost sales. Good job.Jinx_Dragon said:
To continue my main point (sorry for short side tangent), many pirates DO purchase the same products that they pirate.
Game doesn't have a demo available, but you can't afford to throw $60 at a title that might suck. Consumer decides to pirate the game. If it sucks, they delete the files. If it is awesome, they go out and buy the game.
A friend tells the consumer that he HAS to buy a specific movie. The consumer has no interest in the movie, but respects the friend enough to give it a try. He decides to pirate the film. If it sucks, he deletes the files. If he likes it, he buys the DVD.
A young girl wants to listen to a foreign artist who was on a movie soundtrack. The artist's music isn't available for purchase in the United States and her parents won't let her buy anything online. She pirates the artist's music. Once she turns 18 and gets a credit card in her own name, she celebrates by finally purchasing those foreign CDs.
I'm not suggesting that pirating is ok. Pirating is illegal and bad and no one should ever ever do it ever. I do not endorse pirating.
What I am saying is that some of those downloads turn into sales. Just because someone illegally downloads something does not mean they will not turn around and purchase the item. Especially if the downloaded version was a lower quality or unfinished version, as in this case.
I'm losing focus so I'll try to finish up with one last thing... I was confronted with a statistic once, when I was working a loss prevention job (loss prevention is anti-theft for those of you who don't know)... I can't speak to the source or accuracy of the statistic, but I trust it.
10% of people will always steal no matter the circumstances
10% of people will never ever even consider stealing
20% of people will think about stealing, but never ever act on it
The officer presenting this information insisted that loss prevention employees shouldn't be concerned with these people. You can't do anything with these people. You can't change their behavior. Don't try.
60% of people will steal if they are given the opportunity...
These are the people you should worry about. These are the people that you can influence. That may seem like a depressing statistic. More than half of the people you meet will steal from you if they can. Here's where things get interesting though.
Out of that group of people who will steal if given the opportunity: 90% of them will not steal if they are acknowledged in a friendly and inviting way.
By simply smiling and saying "hi" you can turn 90% of potential shoplifters (those who fell into the "opportunity" group) into paying customers.
Similarly, if someone pirates online... and they discover that they like what they stole... they may decide to pay for it. I know for a fact that it happens. And I'm confident that if companies reconsider their approach, they can minimize loss and generate sales by turning pirates to paying customers. No DRM required.
