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."
Of course the crisis of PC gaming isn't ONLY due to piracy, but the amount of punks in here who think it's got nothing to do with it at all simply amazes me, especially when they go on and at the same time bash consoles, console- and mainstream games and then wonder why their own games "suck" and why there are hardly PC-exclusive games anymore.
1st... I'm not a punk... I'm probably older than you. I've been using computers (not dumb terminals) since the mid-70's (Before there were even personal computers available to the general public).
2nd... I don't think any of us were claiming that "piracy doesn't hurt" or is not "a factor".
That said... there is a lot of things the industry (PC games industry specifically) has done to slit it's own fucking throat and market. Some of us have stated that we have very little pity, because we have been screaming about the problems for ages... but the developers and publishers ignore us... and keep churning out SHIT.
That's not to say all games are shit... but most of them are. The QA sucks (badly), the customer service sucks, and they limit their target market by cutting off the lower end hardware (not necessarily integrated graphics low end, but even budget level low end), that a majority of the market has as an install base.
Then you get an asinine statement from Todd Hollenshead (and other developers) blaming the decision to go "multi-platform" entirely on Piracy.
That's bull fuckin' shit, my friend. Pure and simple. Again... none of us that are legit purchasers, yet complaining of the state of things, are saying Piracy isn't a problem... We're saying "fix your shit first, before you get high and mighty and blame everything related to poor sales on Piracy".
THEN some sympathy may be in order.
Wasting all that effort and money going after hindering the pirates, just takes even MORE away from producing a decent flippin' PC Game. Produce GOOD games FIRST (and they always sell well, regardless of the piracy situation)... THEN go after hindering Pirates. Quit fuckin' us legitimate purchasers over, then pointing the finger at pirates.
Get your games from GOG DAMMIT!
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