"Unbelievably High" Android Piracy Drives Dev to Free-To-Play

[Rule Britannia]

It's not the physical cost of the product, it's the hassle that's made to get the money on the phone. When people aren't able to get credit cards to pay for small fees such as this they use gift cards with codes. But these codes are a pain to get if one doesn't live in an urban area where you can walk down the street and just buy one.

So I'm told anyway :S

 

[Esotera]

I thought the standard model for Android was to do an ad-supported free version, and a pro version with a few more features and no ads.

Spoiler: Also, this

I'm not going to pay a dollar to buy a game that I haven't played, my friends haven't played, and that isn't necessarily going to be any fun for me. I'm just not going to play it, and find something that is free (on a phone).

 

[Jjtricky]

For once, a developer blaming piracy is actually right, rather than reaching for excuses. I've owned a couple of Android devices and when I upgrade/change my phone, I always simply move the .apk and data files over to the new model via USB. The problem is, this can be done for any phone, any time, whether you're using the same Google Play account or not. Go to any of the dozens of Android-centric sites, any warez or torrent site, and you can download a game, pop it on your phone, install it and play, simple as that. There's no need to route/jailbreak the devices and it's virtually risk free, and piracy is rampant as a result.

It casts new light on the "DRM doesn't work" argument, really. Don't get me wrong, I oppose intrusive and restrictive DRM as much as the next guy, but saying it doesn't work at all is demonstrably wrong. You only need look at the sales figures for the Play Store vs the App Store. There are a lot more Android devices in the hands of consumers than there are iPhones, and yet the App Store outsells the Play Store handily. Why? Well, because it's more difficult to pirate things on the iPhone. Sure, to anyone with an ounce of tech knowledge, it's no big deal to jailbreak and pirate away, but a lot of people would choose to pay when face with having to go through the jailbreaking process. For Android, though, pirating is almost as easy as actually buying something.

Of course, this doesn't excuse monstrosities like SecuRom and Diablo III, but it does explain why publishers keep doing that shit. Making it just a little bit harder for the average joe to rip you off really does pay off. A damn shame the people actually buying the game have to suffer for it.

If what you are saying is that due to DRM like measures, Apple experiences less piracy, I disagree. From my own experiences, the iPhone is more popular to the casual population, who would have no idea how to jailbreak it whilst Android users are more tech savvy. Just in my household, the only smartphone here is my mother's and she can barely use it, whilst some of my nerdier friends have Androids.

Also, I would think that iPhones are MUCH more popular - Although recently Android is winning, the total sales of the two must be higher for Apple?

 

[tjoris9]

I'm willing to bet that 99% or more of the people with phones capable of playing games don't give a shit about the games industry. Most probably don't even realize that taking the "free" version or sharing the game with their friends is piracy, and most of those that do realize it's piracy don't care anyway.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Don't you just love it when the times change and business is forced to innovate?

No, because fuck those lazy, cheap-ass pirates who feel that ONE FUCKING DOLLAR is too much to pay for a game.

Usually means the game wasn't worth buying for the price they were asking, if your game is one dollar, that's saying a lot.

Angry Birds is free so by your logic the game sucks. Price does not equal quality.

To be honest, Dead Trigger is just an middle-of-the-road fps with many of the problems that tend to plague games that try to translate traditional genres to touch-based mobile devices.

It's still easily worth one lousy dollar though.

 

[Fearzone]

That's unfortunate, because I would rather pay for stuff than get the free apps with ads and spyware. Hopefully people will start writing freeware without strings for the android like we often see on the PC.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

Well, I have a Android and honestly, if a Game isn't free and I really wanted it, I would pretty much have to pirate it to get it in the first place considering that, atleast here, Google only accepts Credit Cards and those aren't big here.

Why would you want bigger credit cards? They already seem big enough to me. If anything they are too big. They take up way too much space in my wallet.

Where do you live that you have the luxury of smaller-sized credit cards?

 

[irishda]

I thought the standard model for Android was to do an ad-supported free version, and a pro version with a few more features and no ads.

Spoiler: Also, this

I'm not going to pay a dollar to buy a game that I haven't played, my friends haven't played, and that isn't necessarily going to be any fun for me. I'm just not going to play it, and find something that is free (on a phone).

Someone's certainly a risk taker.

"Dammit, this one dollar could buy me 2 pies over at McDonald's. Two! Whatever game company is asking for it damn well better give me some means of assurance that I'm not wasting my money. Those custard pies are too delicious to gamble on!"

(Sorry if you're not a fan of the mickey d pies. I was just looking for a comparison. It could easily be replaced with a variety of candy bars, gum, Ramen noodles, or a sweet knick knack from the Dollar store.)

Look, if you don't wanna risk 60 dollars on something you might not like, that's fine. If you feel that's justification to pirate it, hey fair enough. I'll argue with you, but I see where you're coming from. Now, if you feel 1 dollar is too big a risk for a game you might not like, I'd ask if you're looking forward to Christmas there, Ebenezer. But, again, it's your money. You have a right to spend it how you want. But if you feel 1 dollar is too big a risk, so you just take it anyways, I'd say you're really being a penny-pinching asshole who's only excuse could be a dying child has the most bizarre wish in Make-a-Wish history. And if you're implying that it's any fault of the developers that cheap-skate fuckwads exist in this universe then I'd say you're almost as big an asshole as them.

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

so some one is so cheap they won't even buy angry birds??? God I love cheap bas**** and pi** poor excuses for not buying a game. Listen if you can afford 40-300 dollar device to even play these games on I don't see a problem throwing pocket change for one game.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

One dollar is too much. One dollar. One. Fucking. Dollar.

People can afford to spend however many hundreds of dollars for the mobile device itself, but they can't spare one dollar for a game.

Bullshit. Just...just bullshit.

You know what you do? Don't download it.
You know what you DON'T do? You don't pirate it!

I think Total Biscuit said it best (in this podcast [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfuptVs94_U], around 2:22:00) when he observed that "it takes no strength to pirate a game." If you've got a problem with a game, you can protest it by not buying it, but you are not entitled to be a freeloader.

 

[Eternal_Lament]

This is just sad. I've downloaded the game on iPhone and it certainly is somewhat fun. Definitely not perfect, but for a dollar it's certainly good enough. Yet apparently even a dollar is too much for people. I can understand not buying a product because there's no demo for it, but that doesn't give one the excuse to just turn around and pirate the whole game anyways. Either buy it and play or don't buy it and don't play it, not don't buy it and still play it. It reminds me of how during the first Humble Bundle there were apparently some people who actually just downloaded all the content without even paying, even though it was a "pay-as-you-wish" model. You could just give a cent and you could still get all the content. Apparently even that was too much for some people.

 

[Twilight_guy]

1 cent for charity was too much for people who pirated the humble indie bundle. Piracy has already sunken to rock bottom and then found a way to sink lower so this doesn't surprise me.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Don't you just love it when the times change and business is forced to innovate?

Not when those times involve twats saying "I can't afford one dollar".

At least they adapted.

Well the only constructive thing to do is to ignore the majority of piracy while at the same time trying to lure them and customers on the edge/fringe into the pool. The only way to do that is to innovate and make things better with more options.

I mean look at the media industry its sure has hell stagnated and has gone backwards (look at the wholesale removal of the ability to return crappy media). The allure of more money from the edge/fringe is forcing them to innovate and frankly I see no down side to it.

 

[Zipa]

It's not the physical cost of the product, it's the hassle that's made to get the money on the phone. When people aren't able to get credit cards to pay for small fees such as this they use gift cards with codes. But these codes are a pain to get if one doesn't live in an urban area where you can walk down the street and just buy one.

So I'm told anyway :S

Pretty sure that if you are able to have a mobile phone contract you would already have/have to have a credit card anyway to pay your phone bill. Plus you would likely have one anyway if you are over 18 since they are linked to a bank account. Its a excuse in short for a lot of people.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I'd really like to know where they get these numbers.

I feel like they might be pulling a Witcher 2 by saying "Our projection was X! The game sold X - Y! That must mean people pirated it Y times!"

Not to say it doesn't happen, I just think the story would be quite a bit better if they showed us a source of some kind.


On the topic of the article, I think this is actually a pretty bad thing. While using the absurdly high price tags of triple A games as a defense for piracy is almost legitimate, this is just silly.

I'm the kind of person who defends pirates. I argue for file sharing and things having to do with it. I think piracy is a FAR more complicated issue than just people stealing. But these guys are just cheap.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Don't you just love it when the times change and business is forced to innovate?

No, because fuck those lazy, cheap-ass pirates who feel that ONE FUCKING DOLLAR is too much to pay for a game.

Usually means the game wasn't worth buying for the price they were asking, if your game is one dollar, that's saying a lot.

More like fuq those lazy, cheap-ass businesses who feel that ONE FUCKING DOLLAR is too little to pay for a game.

Change with the market not against it.

You are obviously a child or an adult with the mental capacity of a child. Grow up.
Or better yet, stay the course and go get a job that doesn't pay you anything (volunteer) and tell me all about how you plan to "change with the [employment] market" and pay bills.

Meh better than being a sheeple with no brain of their own.
Hate to say it but facts tends to side against your easy and false logic.

 

[Signa]

I don't know what to say about this. I have no idea why a single dollar would be too much for a game, but then I don't know what this game is, or how irritating it is to buy something from a phone store. I can imagine people being merely curious about the game balking at the existence of a cost of entry, but after they pirate it, they should still buy it. I can only hope that the greater majority of those pirates found the game unlikable so they didn't buy.

I'm certainly willing to acknowledge that some games are just simply not worth paying money for, regardless of how the dev feels about their work. It's just that it would have to be so utterly undesirable to not be worth that single dollar. Hell, I consider Bejeweled a valueless game because I can play it for free almost anywhere, and I'd still drop a buck for it to own it.

 

[smudgey]

One dollar is too much. One dollar. One. Fucking. Dollar.

People can afford to spend however many hundreds of dollars for the mobile device itself, but they can't spare one dollar for a game.

Bullshit. Just...just bullshit.

You know what you do? Don't download it.
You know what you DON'T do? You don't pirate it!

I think Total Biscuit said it best (in this podcast [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfuptVs94_U], around 2:22:00) when he observed that "it takes no strength to pirate a game." If you've got a problem with a game, you can protest it by not buying it, but you are not entitled to be a freeloader.

Exactly THIS. It's the exact same as the music industry; people spend thousands of dollars on a computer, high speed internet, MP3 players and high-end headphones and then steal all their music. It's like a reverse Robin Hood, people are stealing from the poor (hard working creators of our entertainment) while handing craploads of money to big business.

 

[theultimateend]

Even a s***** game can give you more value than, say, a candy bar from a gas station convenience store. Are you saying that it's alright to steal candy bars (or anything else) if you feel they're overcharging for it?

...

Did you really just say that?

I'm one of those folks with the revenue to buy stuff...so this isn't me supporting piracy (not that I feel it does anything negative) but...

Good lord. That was stupid. I'm not saying YOU are stupid, but that example was so terrible it caused my brain to bleed. Brains don't even have blood in them, and mine just bled.

That's how stupid that was.

So go back to the drawing board and please understand the literal difference between stealing a physical good and an intellectual property.

Because good heavens...you will never advance the conversation even a step if you immediately jump to the dumbest hyperbole imaginable.

(But dude, you used hyperbole) No man...my brain bled.

I might even be dead now.

Meh better than being a sheeple with no brain of their own.
Hate to say it but facts tends to side against your easy and false logic.

I stand corrected shadow...you are off the hook now.

I'm out, this thread has hit rock bottom in no time flat.