Piracy Outpacing Sales by 4:1, Says U.K. Game Body
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
1. incomplete games to sell DLC later
2. sometimes intrusive DRM noone wants
3. regional pricing
4. PC games quality is low to say the least
5. no demo to try the game
i could go on but i won't.
Times that i was crying about these things are over. Now i will just go and download "free" "demo that has all the DLC included" without any "DRM" and if the game "sucks" i can delete it like it never existed. Problem solved at least for me. But publishers can still cry some more, i find it amusing after all this time complaining about those things listed above.
But still - i will buy games that are complete, have fair price and good quality. But i may still try them out first for free if there is no demo.
2. sometimes intrusive DRM noone wants
3. regional pricing
4. PC games quality is low to say the least
5. no demo to try the game
i could go on but i won't.
Times that i was crying about these things are over. Now i will just go and download "free" "demo that has all the DLC included" without any "DRM" and if the game "sucks" i can delete it like it never existed. Problem solved at least for me. But publishers can still cry some more, i find it amusing after all this time complaining about those things listed above.
But still - i will buy games that are complete, have fair price and good quality. But i may still try them out first for free if there is no demo.
They do, but libraries have ever shrinking budgets, especially for the fiscal years of 2008-2010. A large number of books in libraries are donated. And when a library is getting rid of books to make room for new books, they give them away, at least they do at my local library. This means they have no income what so ever besides what they collect in late fees (HAHA, soooo much money) and their annual budgets, which also have to run overhead such as heat, power and employees. In the end, there is not a lot of money for libraries to actually purchase books. 60% of libraries have had a loss in services, hours and materials. So, before you go saying his comment doesn't work, make sure you understand that libraries are struggling hard in these times. They aren't buying every new book that comes out. A library that services 1 million people may only purchase 5 of a given item, when they do purchase. It's hardly comparable to in regards to his analogy.Atmos Duality said:
You're right, there's no way of knowing for sure but from my perspective, when I was able to afford it, I bought games legitimately. And yes I did buy used. Mind you, this was before Gamestop gouged all the prices; back when used games were usually $5-10, not $2 cheaper than a new copy.Generic Gamer said:
So where poor gamers used to have the choice between pirating or buying used, they now pretty much just have the option of pirating or doing something else.
If I was still poor at this point in time, I would probably be pirating a lot more than I did and buying used a lot less than I did.
Essentially, I think this statistic is compounded by the used game market which isn't even the value that it was years ago.
That's only assuming that gamers who buy gaames do so at the same volumes as people who pirate them.Asehujiko said:
Of course that's not what's really happening. Afterall a gamer who buys games will be far less likely to have the same volume of games as someone who pirates them. Maybe you should try, y'know... rubbing some brain cells together? o.o
Only 4 to 1?
Huh. Lucky bastards.
Most previous mentions of piracy rates have been figures of 90-95% as a minimum.
This is actually below average by that logic.
Huh. Lucky bastards.
Most previous mentions of piracy rates have been figures of 90-95% as a minimum.
This is actually below average by that logic.
Oh look at that guys, you're one of those kids making this shit happen. Ruining the fucking industry. Go out, buy the games you've pirated and stop being dicks. If this keeps up there'll be no more games to pirate and everyone loses.
Fucking asshole pirates.
Fucking asshole pirates.
...And those books were still paid for, and the library still pays duties on material they bought based on their agreement. The same process applies for scholarly journals and documents. Donated works do not fit the comparison that the analogy is trying to accomplish (you essentially can't pirate "free") so we can discount those as well.Baresark said:
Most libraries in the United States are government-funded (directly or through education, ala universities or state programs), which means tax money. Aka: YOU pay for them.
Also, there's a fundamental difference in borrowing something that was paid for and making a permanent copy of it for free. If I like the borrowed work, I have incentive to either buy it or rent it again.
But if I can make a copy for free, what is my incentive to rent/borrow/buy?
Either way, the analogy is clever, but still flawed.
At this point Editors I don't know why you bother. Every time you say the P word the same arguements spring up while people try and defend it. No one is getting anywhere and is just running around the same circles. You might as well just pick a piracy article, copy and paste the posts that follow and save everyone the trouble.
3 in 4 is a lot more realistic than 90/99%, which is normally banded around.
But Extra Credits have done the work here. Piracy is a better supplier/trader than normal games at the moment - and until that reverses, that statistic will stay.
But Extra Credits have done the work here. Piracy is a better supplier/trader than normal games at the moment - and until that reverses, that statistic will stay.
How is it a theft if there is no lost sales ?Therumancer said:
I know, I know, because if you don't pay you're not entitled to it. Still, if someone does no harm why care about entitlement ?
Again, I know, because devs deserve to be paid. There's no questionning it (unless it's crap), still doesn't take away the point about no harm done. No harm done means: not less food for devs.
For the sake of argument really, I'm not looking to flame.
Wrong, progress is made by those who're not up and running away, screaming insults above their shoulder because their misguided but comfortable worldview has been shaken up. It's painfull and often goes in circle, but there's progress.squid5580 said:
Let me put it this way : almost every game that comes out nowadays, I don't even feel like bothering to download it for free to try it, because it would be way too much of an effort to actually PLAY it for not enough reward... let alone actually shell out "launch day" cash amounts for it so I can play it.
What I do is watch youtube gameplay//playthrough videos, and if it shows any promise from there, I *might* bother actually taking a look in a way that doesn't mean I have to pay for it (many ways to do it "legally" - visit a friend that has the game, play a shop display, borrow it from somebody) but I'll usually just watch some more of the playthough instead (far less effort involved), and only if I like it enough from that, THEN I will consider paying for it.
Other than MMOs, the list of "worth spending ANY money on" games would be about 10 items long for the games that came out in the past 5 years or so, but the one with "worth buying before special -X% off offer" games in the same timespan is EMPTY.
As for MMOs, I'm a die-hard fan of "free trials". No free trial, I won't even bother trying it.
Right now I am only playing a single subscription-based MMO, and even that one I don't pay any real-life cash for anymore (instead I pay with in-game wealth, but I used to pay with RL cash for a few years before I got rich ingame).
...
So, really, I can't really blame anybody that pirates a game nowadays.
But if they do pirate it AND THEY LIKE IT, if they personally can't or won't buy it (dunno, maybe they're flat broke and they can't afford it, what do I know), it would be nice if they could at least convince somebody else they know to buy it instead.
But ONLY if they like it.
What I do is watch youtube gameplay//playthrough videos, and if it shows any promise from there, I *might* bother actually taking a look in a way that doesn't mean I have to pay for it (many ways to do it "legally" - visit a friend that has the game, play a shop display, borrow it from somebody) but I'll usually just watch some more of the playthough instead (far less effort involved), and only if I like it enough from that, THEN I will consider paying for it.
Other than MMOs, the list of "worth spending ANY money on" games would be about 10 items long for the games that came out in the past 5 years or so, but the one with "worth buying before special -X% off offer" games in the same timespan is EMPTY.
As for MMOs, I'm a die-hard fan of "free trials". No free trial, I won't even bother trying it.
Right now I am only playing a single subscription-based MMO, and even that one I don't pay any real-life cash for anymore (instead I pay with in-game wealth, but I used to pay with RL cash for a few years before I got rich ingame).
...
So, really, I can't really blame anybody that pirates a game nowadays.
But if they do pirate it AND THEY LIKE IT, if they personally can't or won't buy it (dunno, maybe they're flat broke and they can't afford it, what do I know), it would be nice if they could at least convince somebody else they know to buy it instead.
But ONLY if they like it.
People who pay for games, are very discerning(why wouldn't they be?). People who pirate may as well try everything...why not?
I'm sure it buggers up any chance they have of accurately gauging how much interest there actually was in their product.
I'm sure it buggers up any chance they have of accurately gauging how much interest there actually was in their product.
This just reminds me of what the movie industry claimed, their sales soared down because of people pirating movies. What they don't know is that the movies they make are awful because they they want to make money.
incal11 said:
Well, as I said, your not going to be stealing food from the Dev's under any circumstances, they have already been paid, they got paid all through while the game was being made. The person who gets hurt is the producer in most cases, and given that there is no shortage of funding for games right now these guys aren't being hurt, they are just not making as much money as they might like.
That said, stealing is still stealing, irregardless of how shady the gaming industry is, or who the producers might be, the bottom line is that someone paid for that product and put it out on the market.
There are a lot of justifications out there for piracy, and in many cases they might even be legitimate, but that doesn't make it any less wrong. As I've said before, it's like gang bangers fighting the mafia, there are no "good guys" involved in this, just consumers who get hit by DRM which is like a stray bullet going through the window of your house.
My point about them not losing money isn't to say "go ahead and pirate", it's me pointing out that the industry's logic is flawed. They are engaged in just as much propaganda as the people saying "I justify my piracy this way", even going so far as to lie outright about stealing food from the mouths of game developers, people who never see any of the profits from the game under the best circumstances, since they are paid by salary when it's under development! The only way you can hurt them is if piracy lowers the profits to the point where nobody is investing anymore, but that's not liable to happen because the industry is making billions.
Basically I might not like piracy, but I think they should suck it up as one of the costs of doing business, largely because I'm tired of being harassed as a legitimate customer. Also when I'm being lied to, I tend to get rather irritated. I'd be hard pressed to believe there is even a single line coder or graphic artist who gets a direct percentage of the profits from game sales. Even if there are a few out there, it's certainly not a standard enough situation to be "hurting the devs" in any direct fashion. The lie is because we as gamers are going to empathize more with the people making the games, than some banker or investment mogul who probably doesn't really care about games, and only about how much more money they are going to get back than what they put in (to anything, with games just being another investment, or thing to give a loan to in pursuit of interest).