GamePro - The Cost of Piracy. Thanks Mike Martinez.
Indeed, while it may not always be the case for every new video game, it's hard to imagine that piracy does not result in a significant loss of revenue. Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which has recorded over 10 million copies sold, has been the target of piracy on the PC. In an online post, Infinity Ward Creative Strategist Robert Bowling ironically muses, "They wonder why people don't make PC games anymore." Bowling writes that while the number of PC gamers playing the last Call of Duty game was "fantastic," what wasn't fantastic was "the percentage of those numbers who were playing on stolen copies of the game." Piracy tends to be more rampant with PC games, and thus the platform serves as a cautionary tale for the rest of the industry.Ars Technica - Why lack of StarCraft 2 LAN play still matters.
We'll see how many of those people break down and buy the game for the single-player campaign. What's clear is that a large part of gaming's past is being deemphasized. This story isn't over, but for now, LAN gamers are going to angrily shake our canes at the younger gamers and even—amazingly!—Blizzard, the company that used to be so welcome to frolic on our lawn.BitMob - Badvertising: The Art of Abusive Marketing.
Both Blur and Saints Row 2 openly attack the games posing a threat to them. In both instances, the games they poke fun at happen to be obvious inspirations for their respective creation. Without the success of Mario Kart's power-up racing, Blur would likely have been a very different game. Without Grand Theft Auto, the similar Saints Row probably wouldn't exist. These commercials shouldn't be insulting their origins. They should be acknowledging them -- beyond saying "look how terrible this is" -- or simply ignoring them.
This is utter nonsense. A licensed copy of the game should not have any limitations other than it can only be played by one person at any given moment. The second you have another person playing the same licensed copy at the same time as the first (when the software does not support it) then I'll agree you're doing something wrong. But publishers/developers should not be exploiting the trust consumers give them to try and stop people from using a licensed copy of a game anyway they choose. If they wanted to setup a computer in the street and let anyone who walked by to play it the developer/publisher should just smile and say thank you for purchasing the game.
KilrathiAce wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 14:52:
Problem with no lan in sc2 is the stupid region block implemented by blizzard. If i am in usa and i have a friend in europe thanks to blizzard stupidity i cant play sc2 with him.
StingingVelvet wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 14:13:
There are a lot of reasons. Piracy is only one of them, and no one knows how big a percentage of the problem it is. All that said, none of it would be an issue if the PC sold more software units, end of story. That is the problem.
ASeven wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 13:26:
Though I'm not denying that my point is that as far as anyone knows console piracy may be rampant, far higher than on PCs. We do not know. I know there's piracy but what I'm against is the constant whining of the industry that the PC is the hotbed of all piracy in the world and the universe and beyond. My point is, again, for all we know console piracy may be bigger and may have a bigger impact even if console games sell more.
PC gamers have to stop preaching the piracy argument, that PC piracy is rampant and all that shit otherwise it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy and PC gamers won't have anyone to blame but themselves for eating up that shit and spewing it everywhere. The less we obsess about piracy and all the negatives and the more we talk about supporting good developers and start acting on that the sooner we may see PC games sell a little bit more. Instead of whining on piracy, find an indie game that you enjoy and spread the word about it. Find a mainstream game you enjoy and encourage people to buy it. Constantly whining about piracy has the effect of people saying fuck off, and that's pretty much what some PC gamers are saying to the industry at large.
StingingVelvet wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 13:15:ASeven wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 12:58:
But that's the whole point of data, we have no idea. None! Of all those torrent downloads on the PC and consoles, we have no idea, other than what the publishers keep on preaching, if there were indeed more sales on the PC or consoles or how piracy impacts the consoles or the PCs. We DO NOT KNOW. Saying what you've just said is blind conjecture and assumption.
Dude, we know console games sell a lot better, and we know PC games are pirated at least on equal measure. Those are common sense statements, not conjecture.
It's a big fish in a little pond scenario.
If you can't afford a nice new 50" flat screen tv, and then you go smash the window of your local electronics store and steal one from the showroom floor, are you saying that the manufacturer and the store doesn't lose because they've sold 'enough' already? Doh! Stealing is stealing. There's no argument. Anyone who defends piracy is a thief.
ASeven wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 12:58:
But that's the whole point of data, we have no idea. None! Of all those torrent downloads on the PC and consoles, we have no idea, other than what the publishers keep on preaching, if there were indeed more sales on the PC or consoles or how piracy impacts the consoles or the PCs. We DO NOT KNOW. Saying what you've just said is blind conjecture and assumption.
StingingVelvet wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 11:29:Sempai wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 10:56:
How bout we report something more accurate like the fact that when i hit up a Torrent site i see more Xbox360 ISO's than PC's, Oh but we must keep blaming the PC platform for all our troubles.
Piracy is a bigger deal on PC because it sells much less to begin with. Millions of downloads on a platform that sells 200,000 copies is a lot bigger deal than millions of downloads on a platform that sells 4,000,000 copies.
Kajetan wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 11:38:
if it has any impact at all.
Steele Johnson wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 11:34:How do YOU know?
How the fuck do you know???
That's just stupid ... Anyone who defends piracy is a thief.You havent understood anything. Its not about definding anything. Its about acknowledging hte fact, that piracy doesnt go away and that no one knows for sure, what impact it has, if it has any impact at all.
Sempai wrote on Aug 1, 2010, 10:56:
How bout we report something more accurate like the fact that when i hit up a Torrent site i see more Xbox360 ISO's than PC's, Oh but we must keep blaming the PC platform for all our troubles.
it's hard to imagine that piracy does not result in a significant loss of revenue