What can Developers & Publishers do to combat Piracy?

[Assassin Xaero]

Make games, not console ports. Take the time to make the game optimized for PC, so we can take advantage of how much more powerful PCs are then consoles. Oh, and quit that $60 retail bullshit. The reason why console games are $60 and PC games are $50 is because of licensing fees on consoles. I don't like to pay 20% more to cover a charge that doesn't even exist on the worst version of the game. Paying more (in a way) for a shittier product is what would get people to pirate. Honestly, I'd be happy to wait a month or so after the console release of a game for the PC release if they took the time to make it good for the PC and not some half-assed port.

 

[Veylon]

They can move to streaming services like OnLive.

Aside from that, nothing. Pirates don't care about the publishers, the developers, the customers or the price. DRM can and is broken, often before the game even comes out.

The best thing for companies is to recognize that pirates are not, and most likely never will be, their customers and stop worrying about them. They need to concentrate on making the best possible product so that can attract the sort of people who are happy to pay for it. Shrieking about supposed "lost sales" is pointless.

 

[Athinira]

For serious: There isn't a damn thing you can do to stop pirates in the long run. Lowering prices won't stop the pirates. Anti-piracy software won't stop the pirates.

Lowering prices is actually a VERY good way to stop pirates.

Core problem is piracy is that people simply don't have enough money. And the customers goal is to get as many games as possible as cheaply as possible with as little wait as possible. You are hopefully aware that most pirates actually DO buy games right? They just do that within their budget, and pirates everything that is beyond their budget.

That's why lowering prices is a great way to make the customers budget extend farther, which reduces piracy because they can buy more games. In fact, good deals/sales can actually persuade people to go beyond their budget (taking a cut somewhere else), especially if we are talking limited time deals. Steam sales is a great way to make people spend more money than they usually would on games.

Yes there exists pirates out there who is cheap/greedy, meaning that they pretty much only pirate, and wouldn't give a sh*t for paying even if the companies put up at 95% discount. These are the kind of people that will never pay, even if piracy wasn't an option. If they couldn't pirate, they would just go back to playing Counter-Strike or some other game that is very very cheap and has a very long lifetime (i played Counter-Strike almost exclusively for 5 years, and it cost me $20 when i bought it. That's the biggest return i have ever gotten from any single game in terms of entertainment).

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

How about independent license keys so you can't use a keygen for it? Wait... ah dang it.

A data scanner or checksum program to make sure nothing was modified when you first run the game? No no no...

Retailers being able to scramble keys and then hand it out to you for your copy that only they have? Maybe...

If all else fails... puzzles!

 

[cainx10a]

Remove all DRMs and useless security measures used that will be cracked in a matter of hours.

Store the game code on the cloud. Use measures of encryption that will give thieves a hard time decrypting for another millenia.

Bottomline: Remove all physical and logical piece of code that can become the legitimate possession of someone other than the developer. Use a method like steam to acquire and trade games, and a method like onlive to remove the middle man that is, the possession of the code. This way you don't get to share your games, and pirates well will find something else to pirate. Sounds cruel for people who don't have a good ISP? Well, I'm a in 3rd world country and I'm able to download MW3 via steam in a matter of days, I'm sure you guys have it better with slightly better internet connection.

Do I want this to happen though? No. As a honest customer, for the past 6 years, I am tired of the methods publishers are using to prevent me from enjoying a game I purchased whether it's limited activation or otherwise. Screw DRMs and Screw pirates as well for making publishers use these underhanded security systems.

 

[The Madman]

I got a warning for saying this once, so I'll have to figure out how to word it so that I don't get another one...ah...oh. I know.

I have this friend. He only pirates games as a sort of 'tech demo' because his computer is rather shit. If the game doesn't run properly, then that's that. It gets deleted because the game can't be played. But if the game does work without issue, then this friend will delete the pirated copy and go buy the game. Of course, games with actual demos are exempt from this because the demo serves as...well...the demo.

So...I guess my point is, some excuses are sliiiightly more valid than others. But I still don't condone piracy. I'm sure that my friend doesn't condone it either.

Well if that's the case then your friend isn't really who we're talking about when we say pirates. I don't really count people downloading abandonware as pirates either. Still while I think there are better ways for your friend to be testing these things I'm not so uptight I can't at least see the reasoning behind this IF, and this is a big if, they do what they say and don't occasionally 'accidentally' go overlong on the demo and then say 'I'm poor right now, but maybe...' only to conveniently forget down the line. Something I suspect all too many people do.

This confuses me. You're suggesting that people who can't afford something (therefore will never buy it) can get it for free, and you condemn them. Why? It's no lost sale, if they can't afford it, they can't afford it, and as someone in Australia where games are marked up to a stupid degree, I can understand. You say "Hur, why can't you just live without it", but why would they?

If someone offered to give you a Ferrari for free, would you just say "No" because you can live without it?

That's exactly what I'm saying. I'm poor as hell these days and as a result have only bought a grand total of two new games this entire year, both of which I had to set aside money to afford in advance and had to carefully plan into my limited budget (Witcher 2 and Deus Ex if you're curious.). And while there are a ton of other games I'd sincerely and truly love to be playing right now: Skyrim, Arkham City & Rage among others, I realize I just can't afford to be buying these games right now and so am living without.

Why? Because it's only a game. You can live without them, quite easily in fact: millions upon millions do it every way. Saying you're pirating because you can't afford it isn't really an excuse especially considering that means you spent however much on a PC or console with the full knowledge you'd HAVE to acquire games illegally to enjoy it, which frankly is just a selfish thing to do.

And no, I wouldn't accept a stolen Ferrari. I'd much rather save the money up myself, as inconceivable as that seems given this particular example, and feel rewarded and happy with myself for having earned this little prize rather than taking it greedily without thought or concern about where it came from and who might be hurt by my taking it.

But then I'm strange like that.

 

[Azo Galvat]

Remove DRM. Completely. No serial codes, no online pass, no "always online" requirement, nothing. Just make a great game. People will buy it if it's great.

Hell, I've bought a bunch of the games I pirated years ago.

 

[GeneralFungi]

Find a way to reward people who bought the game, while leaving Pirates without.

Maybe not in game content, but I'm sure there's some small thing you can give customers to incentive.

 

[Flying6LeggedWhale]

I suggest the stop "stop giving a fuck" plan. Sounds good to me.

 

[flaviok79]

Include great online funcionality that attract people into buying original games. And also drop prices.

 

[Lenin211]

Come up with a ridiculously complex plan to make it so that if a program is installed illegally it makes the pirate's computer explode and pepper the room with pirate seeking shrapnel that has aids

EA is doing that, but it activates if you install the game on more than one computer, if you buy used or if the game disk just don't like you.

 

[Blade1130]

I would say to have the developer / publishers not be assholes. I've never minded giving Valve my money because I love Valve. Unfortunately, the developer can't always help their publisher's asshatting... (if that's not a word, it is now) I've always liked DICE, but EA kind of screwed them over, especially with Origin. Of course, that's just having goodwill with your player base, and while it would work for me, I don't think most people care that much.

Mainly this is the PC crowd, since console games aren't pirated AS MUCH (yes they still are, but PC games are pirated much more). So, I would think games that really don't work on PC wouldn't be pirated often. From my experience, fighting games generally don't work on a PC, the keyboard just isn't a good controller. Of course there are exceptions and the games are still playable, plus some people have ports to plug in console controllers to their computers, but I would like to think RTSs are much more often pirated than say, racing games. Unfortunately, that does sort of imply that developers should simply stop making games that work well for PC, and that would mean no StarCraft, no Half-Life, no Diablo, no World of WarCraft... Scary world...

Scratch that second idea, I don't like it.

Just whatever you do devs, don't force us to buy new just for the content already on the disk! I bought Arkham City new because "I'm a good little boy, girl, or intermediate who supports game developers" but I would not like having the Catwoman sections removed just because I tried to save a couple bucks. If this was a game I was unsure about, I would've said "Fuck no, I'm not going to spend the extra money I wasn't sure about just so I can get the content already on there. Plus if I wait you'll already have come out with 3 more DLC packs and I won't want it then, so I probably won't get it at all." Although, I admit that it did have to download something when I put in the Catwoman code, but nonetheless, I should not have to buy new for something available on launch day!

 

[thewaever]

Lower. The. Price.

Honestly, having to pay 50 bucks for a game, THEN add 25 bucks for the DLCs that pop up over the following year simply is too much. Why on Earth would anyone want to pay that much money for a game they don't even know whether they'll like? Of course that ends up with them not paying at all - if possible.

I agree with this.

I think pirating is alot like the more conventional kind of theft: you don't steal if you don't have to. With the price of games going up, with either no or really-pain-in-the-ass demos available, who's going to shell out nearly $100 for something that they may or may not enjoy? That's money I could be spending on food or rent.

realise the vast majority of your games out there are being played by honest people who payed for it and those few who had no intention of paying for it anyway arn't really harming you as much as you're harming yourself and your honest customers.

This is a good point, too.

 

[efAston]

Make games that people want to pay for, by not adding DRM (which affects paying customers more than pirates).

 

[Don Reba]

Why would we want to combat file sharing? Copying files costs next to nothing and benefits the society as a whole ? we should embrace it. If we can agree that games benefit the society as a whole, like science does, then we should finance it like science, using public funding and peer review. The system has been tested by centuries and we know it works.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Still while I think there are better ways for your friend to be testing these things I'm not so uptight I can't at least see the reasoning behind this IF, and this is a big if, they do what they say and don't occasionally 'accidentally' go overlong on the demo and then say 'I'm poor right now, but maybe...' only to conveniently forget down the line. Something I suspect all too many people do.

No way, bro. I have enough disposable income that buying games new isn't a problem for me. I think I still have like $400 left for video game expenses. Of course, this is because I have no life and my ENTIRE entertainment budget goes towards video games. No clubs, no movies, nothin'. Just video games. Which is lame.


I-I mean, my friend...Eh. Bored of that now.

 

[Aprilgold]

Nothing, or just simply fucking MAKE paying, legal customers rewards for buying it new, or donate products to a well meaning orginization, BUY CALL OF KILL ALL MUSLIMS 72 and feed all the hungry muslims with half of the profits.

I ain't got much more, but DRM is no way to do anything to stop, and it will never stop.

 

[AnotherAvatar]

Release their games for free.

 

[zerobudgetgamer]

I say adopt Steam, or at least its policies. Sell all your games online, have constant sales going on, and, probably most importantly, stop blowing the rage horn every time one of your games gets pirated and treat the people who buy your games with some damn respect.

 

[Bocaj2000]

Lower. The. Price.

Honestly, having to pay 50 bucks for a game, THEN add 25 bucks for the DLCs that pop up over the following year simply is too much. Why on Earth would anyone want to pay that much money for a game they don't even know whether they'll like? Of course that ends up with them not paying at all - if possible.

It would only work if they pay people to play their games.

You can't beat 'Free'.

OP: Include a virus with every copy that completely melts your computer if you do anything do the game files besides play the game. Everyone wins!

free sounds too expensive. must pirate it.

OP: On a serious note, the only thing a publisher can do to make piracy work for them is to do what Deus Ex did: a month before the game gets released, leak a preview of the game. I'm NOT talking about a demo; a preview is the first chunk of the game up until the first boss is beaten (which took a while). I have seen the comments in the demonoid page saying, "holy shit! I'm so buying this!" This is not a lie nor an exasperation; that is a direct quote. So... it looks like something worked irl.

EDIT:

I say adopt Steam, or at least its policies. Sell all your games online, have constant sales going on, and, probably most importantly, stop blowing the rage horn every time one of your games gets pirated and treat the people who buy your games with some damn respect.

I agree. I have bought more games on steam than anywhere else. Mass Effect 1 & 2 for $10 - Bioshock for $5- etc. I have never bought a game off of steam for more than $20 and I have a large variety from indie to AAA titles. Steam is the BEST thing that I have ever come across to combat piracy. The only reason that I would still pirate is to preview games that I am considering buying, but don't know if I would like them or not.