Piracy versus PC Gaming [Mar 09, 2007, 8:23 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."
It's funny how all of these high and mighty developers overlook other examples of "piracy" in order to blame PC gamers.
For example, game rentals. If console gamers feel questionable about a purchase, what do they do? They go rent it. What if a console gamer just wants to play through a games story and then never play it again? They go rent it.
I've done both with my 360. I rented Crackdown and deemed it was worthy of a purchase, however not good enough to warrant an immediate purchase. I rented Gears of War to play through the single player, I beat it and returned it, I have no desire to play it again.
So am I a pirate? Technically by definition of ID and the high and mighty developers posting here, I am. I played a game without buying it, in fact I was playing someone elses copy.
But oh no, the software organizations can't come down on rental places, they're a large part of their market share.
About 10 years ago you could rent PC games at video places. I actually purchased several games because of being able to try them at rental. Many games didn't have demos then and if they did, most people got their demos from magazines, which were selective about what demos they put on them.
Maybe they should bring PC game rental back? I mean afterall...the "piracy" of renting console games certainly isn't hurting console game sales, I would know because Mr. Hollenshead would tell me...and certainly NO one rents a console game or DVD in order to copy it at home.
For example, game rentals. If console gamers feel questionable about a purchase, what do they do? They go rent it. What if a console gamer just wants to play through a games story and then never play it again? They go rent it.
I've done both with my 360. I rented Crackdown and deemed it was worthy of a purchase, however not good enough to warrant an immediate purchase. I rented Gears of War to play through the single player, I beat it and returned it, I have no desire to play it again.
So am I a pirate? Technically by definition of ID and the high and mighty developers posting here, I am. I played a game without buying it, in fact I was playing someone elses copy.
But oh no, the software organizations can't come down on rental places, they're a large part of their market share.
About 10 years ago you could rent PC games at video places. I actually purchased several games because of being able to try them at rental. Many games didn't have demos then and if they did, most people got their demos from magazines, which were selective about what demos they put on them.
Maybe they should bring PC game rental back? I mean afterall...the "piracy" of renting console games certainly isn't hurting console game sales, I would know because Mr. Hollenshead would tell me...and certainly NO one rents a console game or DVD in order to copy it at home.
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