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."
So really, what would you have, a bunch of non-violent, white collar copyright infringers which a smart person can also use for free marketing. Or a bunch of violent thugs itching for their next gaming fix?
Wow, now that's some stretching. Now we aren't supposed to eliminate piracy because people "might" become violent? Right.
Guess what, even rich people run out of money. but you can't sell more of your product, because eventually everyone will have it and there will be no new customers and your revenue will dry up.
Ok, you obviously aren't in business. "Everyone" won't have it, because you don't sell it to "everyone". You license it to Publishers. They, in turn, pay you either a yearly fee, or an amount based on the number of games they protect with it. It's not like it's a non-renewable commodity.
If there was suddenly no crime or war..who goes out of business? The same applies here.
Uh, no, it's not the same. Military suppliers don't have the stated goal of eliminating war, they supply the military for war. Anti-piracy companies are specifically trying to eliminate piracy. Not the same situation at all, your analogy doesn't work.
If there suddenly were no more pirates. anti-piracy also goes out of business.
Once again, yes, wave your magic wand and sure, the anti-piracy companies go out of business. But it is extremely improbable that every pirate on the planet is going to wake up tomorrow and decide to stop pirating. Dealing with such an unrealistic hypothetical is pointless.
This comment was edited on Mar 10, 17:30.
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