No DRM Results In No Change In E-Book Piracy

[Kargathia]

How do they know that the piracy rate has stayed the same? How do they track something like a piracy rate, which is an activity that people do in secret?

Just do a few rainchecks on people seeding/leeching your stuff on the more popular torrent trackers, and you have a relatively easy check on significant volume changes.

And add in sales rates, which is the real thing any producer or creator should be concerned about.
If the legitimate sale rate went relatively unchanged after removing DRM, that says FAR FAR FAR MORE about the DRM than some nebulous number on a torrent tracker site.

While I only directly answered his question as to how to track piracy rates, it is the combination of the two that will provide the full answer.

If sales went down, and piracy up, then the DRM was effective.
If sales went up, and piracy down, then people really were driven to pirate by the tyranny of the DRM.
If both stayed equal, as was the case here, then nobody really gave a significant shit, and you'd better save yourself some money by not spending it on DRM.

 

[ResonanceSD]

And when everyone stops creating content because you can't make money doing it, we'll finally see the ramifications of piracy.

 

[Atmos Duality]

While I only directly answered his question as to how to track piracy rates, it is the combination of the two that will provide the full answer.

If sales went down, and piracy up, then the DRM was effective.

You mean ineffective, right?
If piracy went up and sales down, how does that help the developer who created the DRM?
Piracy going up isn't a good thing, relative to the purpose of DRM.

If sales went up, and piracy down, then people really were driven to pirate by the tyranny of the DRM.

I think you have these two points backwards.

If both stayed equal, as was the case here, then nobody really gave a significant shit, and you'd better save yourself some money by not spending it on DRM.

OK, maybe I'm just not picking up on the sarcasm here.

Another selling point and reputation is worth far more than the money saved on implementing DRM in the long run.
CDProjeckt is demonstrating just how valuable that is.

 

[ResonanceSD]

And when everyone stops creating content because you can't make money doing it, we'll finally see the ramifications of piracy.

Except when they removed DRM, they didn't lose any sales. Piracy rates remained the same, and purchases remained the same.

GASP, no copy protection, and people are still making money? HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE?!

And then you read the web story about the piracy rates of Game Dev Tycoon, a game I quite like, and realise that this is an exception to the rule.

 

[Zakarath]

I've considered 'pirating' E-book versions of paper books I already own so I can put them on my reader... But I've ended up re-buying a lot of them anyway, just because I like supporting the authors of good books.

 

[Ticonderoga117]

And when everyone stops creating content because you can't make money doing it, we'll finally see the ramifications of piracy.

Except when they removed DRM, they didn't lose any sales. Piracy rates remained the same, and purchases remained the same.

GASP, no copy protection, and people are still making money? HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE?!

And then you read the web story about the piracy rates of Game Dev Tycoon, a game I quite like, and realise that this is an exception to the rule.

That's one game compared to an entire library worth of books. And who is to say that most of those people who got that game won't buy it?

Hell, that's how I got into Fallout 3 and NV. Pirate 3, play it. Enjoyed it so much that I bought the game and all the DLC and then bought NV and all the DLC. Then I even bought Fallout 2 and plan on playing through that game as well.

It's a win/win. I get to play an awesome game I would've missed out on, and the dev's and publishers get more money.

 

[Kargathia]

While I only directly answered his question as to how to track piracy rates, it is the combination of the two that will provide the full answer.

If sales went down, and piracy up, then the DRM was effective.

You mean ineffective, right?
If piracy went up and sales down, how does that help the developer who created the DRM?
Piracy going up isn't a good thing, relative to the purpose of DRM.

If sales went up, and piracy down, then people really were driven to pirate by the tyranny of the DRM.

I think you have these two points backwards.

If both stayed equal, as was the case here, then nobody really gave a significant shit, and you'd better save yourself some money by not spending it on DRM.

OK, maybe I'm just not picking up on the sarcasm here.

Another selling point and reputation is worth far more than the money saved on implementing DRM in the long run.
CDProjeckt is demonstrating just how valuable that is.

In this particular case the "before" is with DRM, and the "after" is DRM-free. That might clear up some of the confusion you seem to have. Also, the point of view is that of the developer (hence the "spending money on DRM").

Reputation is a rather iffy quantity. While it is undoubtedly important, its gains and consequences are somewhat unknown.
For example, we have no idea whatsoever whether it has been beneficial to CDProjekt. We know their stance on DRM certainly added some karma, but whether this translated into any meaningful gains in sales is unknown.

 

[Atmos Duality]

In this particular case the "before" is with DRM, and the "after" is DRM-free. That might clear up some of the confusion you seem to have. Also, the point of view is that of the developer (hence the "spending money on DRM").

Reputation is a rather iffy quantity. While it is undoubtedly important, its gains and consequences are somewhat unknown.
For example, we have no idea whatsoever whether it has been beneficial to CDProjekt. We know their stance on DRM certainly added some karma, but whether this translated into any meaningful gains in sales is unknown.

Well, it's proven sustainable so far at current piracy rates, or The Witcher 2 would not have happened.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

Root? Tell him to come back! He was awesome D:

I didn't figure that people pirated ebooks... But it seems I was wrong. Huh, this is interesting and kinda funny.

 

[Kargathia]

In this particular case the "before" is with DRM, and the "after" is DRM-free. That might clear up some of the confusion you seem to have. Also, the point of view is that of the developer (hence the "spending money on DRM").

Reputation is a rather iffy quantity. While it is undoubtedly important, its gains and consequences are somewhat unknown.
For example, we have no idea whatsoever whether it has been beneficial to CDProjekt. We know their stance on DRM certainly added some karma, but whether this translated into any meaningful gains in sales is unknown.

Well, it's proven sustainable so far at current piracy rates, or The Witcher 2 would not have happened.

We know they are doing quite well. We just don't know how much of that is due to their stance on DRM netting them karma, and how much is because they actually made good games.

But if these findings are indeed part of a wider trend, then there is no reason whatsoever to persist using DRM, as it hinders developers and players alike.

 

[Atmos Duality]

We know they are doing quite well. We just don't know how much of that is due to their stance on DRM netting them karma, and how much is because they actually made good games.

I think the fact that they succeed in spite of a lack of DRM when so many others are using it to forecast doomsday says more about the matter than anything. Good games sell, with or without DRM.

EDIT: I see you added something.

But if these findings are indeed part of a wider trend, then there is no reason whatsoever to persist using DRM, as it hinders developers and players alike.

Agreed...which I already replied with in a manner of speaking but...eh, continuity.

 

[Raesvelg]

I'd be more impressed by this if it weren't for the fact that the vast majority of e-books get read on the Kindle, the Nook, or the iPad.

Sure, there are other readers out there, and occasionally people reading on their laptops. But something like 85% of all e-reading takes place on what are largely closed ecosystems, so to speak.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Come to think of it, I don't know a single person that has ever pirated an e-book. Fancy that.

I've known a few. DRM doesn't stop them. Hell, to the dedicated, a dead tree book doesn't stop them. The most dedicated will unbind the book so they can scan the pages flat, then rebind them. (Lazier ones just cut the book up, but I'd never have the heart to do it.)

When the pirating scene is small and built around a core of guys who will spend days performing the insanely tedious task of scanning and OCRing a real book, what hope does DRM have?

This pretty much covers it. Completely ignoring the pirates for a minute (and like you said, they're a dedicated bunch), legitimate users who want to open, say, a .mobi on an e-reader that only does e-pub have to rip out the DRM in order to convert it. Which from what I understand is stupidly easy, with freely available software to do it to pretty much any file you could want. Basically, e-book DRM is and always has been a joke, in a way that even videogame DRM isn't.

 

[Caiphus]

We know they are doing quite well. We just don't know how much of that is due to their stance on DRM netting them karma, and how much is because they actually made good games.

But if these findings are indeed part of a wider trend, then there is no reason whatsoever to persist using DRM, as it hinders developers and players alike.

I know I would have still bought The Witcher 2 whether or not it had DRM. Actually, I just checked, I bought it on Steam, so it does have DRM. Hooray.

Anywhosit, I can't imagine that sales would have gone down if piracy remained constant; assuming the effects of DRM on e-book sales are the roughly the same as on video games. Whether they would have gone up is another matter. I'd imagine that goodwill would translate into customer loyalty instead of immediate sales increases, but I'm no expert.

However, like you said, since DRM isn't free, then removing it would have helped the bottom line, even if sales remained the same. And so there's no reason to keep using it.

 

[Skeleon]

Good to see. I'm very happy to see various groups and distributors (including for games!) focus on non-DRM. Support those folks, people, because if that approach continues to be profitable - maybe even more profitable, since a lack of DRM is to many an advertisment in itself - it may lead to a change in the industries overall.

 

[Agayek]

Maybe that's what games need to really start doing. Focus attention on the game designer.. put his or her picture on the box/title screen, and a little background story about them. Make it obvious that this is the guy who's not going to get hired again if his game doesn't sell well enough.

QFT.

I doubt it would do a great deal to effect piracy, but games really need the kind of name-dropping inherent in other media, like the author for books and director for movies, etc. Game designers don't get nearly enough credit, and the medium could really use a relatively standard focal point for people.

That way, people can follow an individual's work rather than a franchise. Far better judge of quality that way.