WarpCrow wrote on Nov 25, 2011, 08:51:
1. Make buying and playing games easy and convenient, and let the consumer decide how they'll do it. Region locks should be rare or nonexistent. Services like Steam, GFWL, and Origin should not be forced on the consumer, nor should intrusive DRM. As soon as the pirate has an easier and more convenient time acquiring and playing the game, the studios have made a big mistake.
2. Stop charging sixty bucks for a linear, eight hour experience with zero replayability. People will pay a reasonable price for decent games, but sixty bucks will give anyone pause and make them wonder if the purchase they're about to make is really worth it.
3. Stop treating your customers like criminals. I pay for games because I want to, not because I have to, because I want to support a particular developer or do my part to make a particular style of game profitable. Piss me off enough and supporting you becomes much less of a priority.
I agree with #1 and #3. I think that when pirated games have higher value-added because of being less hassle, then publishers have failed at delivering content. And publishers do need to focus on paying customers as opposed to trying to punish the non-paying ones.
For point #2, I can't entirely speak for games pricing. However, $60 for a game today is cheaper than games were 15-20 years ago on an inflation-adjusted basis. And in the past, you'd still get games that would last 8 hours, yet would cost more in today's dollars. I think gamers are a little spoiled in this regard.