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."
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.
You're proving my point, you've just turned it back into an issue of greed where you illustrate you're not about solving the problem, you're just out for a paycheck. Which is fine, but man up and admit that piracy isn't the problem you're concerned about, that you're just looking for a continued paycheck.
What do you not understand about this system Bhuric?
A company releases a game. someone pirates it. eventually enough people pirate it to prompt some beancounter to say: "Hey, if we could somehow stop people pirating our game, we'd make much more money" The company comes up with a way to stop pirates. Lets suppose this system is successful for a time and people stop pirating. But inevitably, someone beats the system and piracy resumes. Which again prompts someone to say the same thing, that if they could somehow stop the piracy, they'd make more money. They have to pay for these anti-piracy systems, so they charge more money. eventually the whole anti-piracy system becomes so complex that they make entire businesses around it. Lather rinse repeat.
So yes, I equate stopping piracy to a magical hypothetical, because there will ALWAYS be piracy. Whatever is made by humans will be undone by humans. To believe otherwise is moronic.
The question is, do you want that cycle to perpetuate? or stop? If you want it to perpetuate, then you can't complain about piracy, as they are part of the system. They aren't the problem. If you want the cycle to stop, great, but if you're going to target the pirates, either you have to somehow use magic to get pirates to stop, because pirates will always eventually circumvent technology. Or you have to find a psychological solution that makes pirates not want to pirate in the first place. How do you go about that? lower prices? make better games that people WANT to buy? the possibilities are endless. But the bottom line is that you don't blame pirates. They're just part of the system. They'll pirate just for the challenge of it. Who are the ones actually raising prices in order to maintain their already wealthy lifestyle?
In addition, how do you think these anti-piracy companies get their talent? They recruit former pirates. So the idea that pirates are the source of the problem is just insane.
So don't try and pretend to have this noble goal of trying to eliminate a crime, when that crime actually enables you to earn more money.
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