Piracy versus PC Gaming [Mar 09, 2007, 7:23 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Next Generation recaps a GDC talk titled "The Videogame Piracy Problem:
Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest" by id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead about the
impact of piracy on the game industry. They outline how Mr. Hollenshead says the
estimated $3 billion economic loss caused by piracy in 2004 does not include
piracy that takes place on the Internet. There is also an article about this
talk on
Joystiq that focuses on the statement that piracy is a factor in id's
embrace of consoles, quoting Todd as saying "Piracy has pushed id as being
multiplatform." On a related note,
Can PC
Gaming Survive in a Console World (thanks
Digg) recaps a panel discussion on the topic that brought up a similar
point:
Part of the problem is piracy. Big titles get stolen by cyber thieves, and it hurts revenue. "The market," said Capps, "that would buy a $600 video card knows how Bittorrent works."
Does that mean casual games, which exponentially outsell what PC gaming traditionalists think of as A-list titles, will one day rule? Hilleman made a point: casual is a poor choice of words. The average player on EA's Pogo "casual" game network plays "for 24 hours a week. There's nothing casual about that."
There is some light in the PC gaming world. World of Warcraft, for instance, is a massive hit, and the upcoming Spore looks not only creative and different, but promising. The MMO and other social networking games could become the norm for PC gaming, with big-ticket titles growing rarer with each passing year. Johnson added that MMOs are "successful because you can't pirate WoW. You cannot pirate an MMO. Period." Therefore, he said, "game design on the PC is going to bend toward persistence."
Online distribution sucks cuz u can't sell the game used after you're done. Selling stuff on Ebay is how I can afford to play games. Multiplayer focused games, I have to keep. But most games are still singleplayer adventures, and like a movie, you don't really replay the game right away. You might play it again after a few months, or a year or two. But why own a game for that?
I think a good solution to combat piracy would be online distribution, as you said. But also make sure games can be traded through this online distribution system. Let's say I play Half-life 2 on Steam. I'm done with it, and I sell my "copy" to another Steam user for whatever price I can get. Now that he has it, I can no longer play it. Seems good to me. Right now I have Half-life 2 but I never play it, But since I downloaded it from Steam, it's just sitting there.
This would be absolutely ideal to me because Ebay is a clumsy, low-tech system of transferring games to others. I have to ship the physical product, pay Ebay commisions, setup auctions, and put stuff in the mailbox. It's all very ancient stuff to be doing when we're dealing with 0s and 1s, u know?
I think a good solution to combat piracy would be online distribution, as you said. But also make sure games can be traded through this online distribution system. Let's say I play Half-life 2 on Steam. I'm done with it, and I sell my "copy" to another Steam user for whatever price I can get. Now that he has it, I can no longer play it. Seems good to me. Right now I have Half-life 2 but I never play it, But since I downloaded it from Steam, it's just sitting there.
This would be absolutely ideal to me because Ebay is a clumsy, low-tech system of transferring games to others. I have to ship the physical product, pay Ebay commisions, setup auctions, and put stuff in the mailbox. It's all very ancient stuff to be doing when we're dealing with 0s and 1s, u know?
Adventures of a video game mercenary
http://virtualmerc.blogspot.com
http://virtualmerc.blogspot.com
Date
Subject
Author
Copyright © 1996-2024 Stephen Heaslip. All rights reserved.
All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Privacy Policy. Manage Cookie Settings.
News CGI copyright © 1999-2024 James "furn" Furness & Blue's News. All rights reserved.
Chatbear v1.5.0/blue++: Page generated 9 December 2024, 20:42.