THQ Director Blames Piracy for Iron Lore Closure [Mar 03, 2008, 10:06 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
GamesIndustry.biz reports on a post on the
Quarter
To Three Forums by THQ director of creative management Michael Fitch venting
his frustrations with the state of PC gaming following the closure of Iron Lore
Entertainment (story). The lengthy post outlines concerns about
rampant piracy, how Titan Quest's reputation suffered when pirates reported
crashes (which were caused by failure to properly crack the game's DRM),
complaints about hardware vendors creating compatibility issues, stupid users
and bad reviewers. He concludes trying to look at the bright side: "Alright, I'm
done. Making PC products is not all fun and games. It's an uphill slog,
definitely. I'm a lifelong PC gamer, and hope to continue to work on PC games in
the future, but man, they sure don't make it easy."
if you sell 10,000 games, and see 40,000 different IPs connected to a server to ply online or to download a patch, what do you think is happening?
I think you sold 10,000 games. Why worry about the 30,000 pirated copies? And btw, I seriously doubt that piracy is outpacing legitimate sales by a factor of 300%.
When you go to the pirate bay and see 400 people seeding a torrent of the game that isn't in stores yet, what do you think is happening?
Some asshole at gamestop pirated your game and put it online. Which is why you need to go digital. So that asshole can't get at your game early anymore.
Piracy is the #1 threat to the survival of PC gaming
DRM is the #1 threat to survival of PC Gaming. And World of Warcraft is the #2 threat to survival of PC Gaming.
But even so, PC gaming will survive. It always has, despite 15 years of people crying that it was about to die.
I speak as a PC gamer, ex-lionhead coder, and current indie game maker.
I speak as a guy who has been playing PC games since the 8088. And games in general since fucking Pong. Back in the early 80s, games as a whole were dying. And then came the NES. Back in the early 90s, console games were dying. And then came the Playstation. PC Games have been declared dead more times than I can count, and lo and behold, another game comes out that sells 5 million copies and suddenly everything isn't so bad anymore.
You can deny it all you like, but why the hell is everyone (even my pc-loyal old employer) shifting 100% to consoles?
Well, let me be fucking blunt.
1) Because you're greedy.
2) Because you're lazy.
You as in developers/publishers, not you personally.
You release a pile of shit on the PC, and it doesn't sell. You release that same pile of shit on a console, and it still sells 500,000 units.
You release a dumbed down piece of crap like Halo or Gears of War on the PC, and everyone says it's junk. You release it on a console, and mouthbreathers the world over hail it as the greatest fucking game ever, and buy 10 million copies.
So why would you stay on the PC? You can do half the work, design 1/4th the game, and sell 5 to 10 times as many units. Hell, you'd be stupid not to go to the consoles.
See? It's easy enough to explain without reaching for that tired piracy excuse.
Creston
I think you sold 10,000 games. Why worry about the 30,000 pirated copies? And btw, I seriously doubt that piracy is outpacing legitimate sales by a factor of 300%.
When you go to the pirate bay and see 400 people seeding a torrent of the game that isn't in stores yet, what do you think is happening?
Some asshole at gamestop pirated your game and put it online. Which is why you need to go digital. So that asshole can't get at your game early anymore.
Piracy is the #1 threat to the survival of PC gaming
DRM is the #1 threat to survival of PC Gaming. And World of Warcraft is the #2 threat to survival of PC Gaming.
But even so, PC gaming will survive. It always has, despite 15 years of people crying that it was about to die.
I speak as a PC gamer, ex-lionhead coder, and current indie game maker.
I speak as a guy who has been playing PC games since the 8088. And games in general since fucking Pong. Back in the early 80s, games as a whole were dying. And then came the NES. Back in the early 90s, console games were dying. And then came the Playstation. PC Games have been declared dead more times than I can count, and lo and behold, another game comes out that sells 5 million copies and suddenly everything isn't so bad anymore.
You can deny it all you like, but why the hell is everyone (even my pc-loyal old employer) shifting 100% to consoles?
Well, let me be fucking blunt.
1) Because you're greedy.
2) Because you're lazy.
You as in developers/publishers, not you personally.
You release a pile of shit on the PC, and it doesn't sell. You release that same pile of shit on a console, and it still sells 500,000 units.
You release a dumbed down piece of crap like Halo or Gears of War on the PC, and everyone says it's junk. You release it on a console, and mouthbreathers the world over hail it as the greatest fucking game ever, and buy 10 million copies.
So why would you stay on the PC? You can do half the work, design 1/4th the game, and sell 5 to 10 times as many units. Hell, you'd be stupid not to go to the consoles.
See? It's easy enough to explain without reaching for that tired piracy excuse.
Creston
Date
Subject
Author
Copyright © 1996-2025 Stephen Heaslip. All rights reserved.
All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Privacy Policy. Manage Cookie Settings.
News CGI copyright © 1999-2025 James "furn" Furness & Blue's News. All rights reserved.
Chatbear v1.5.0/blue++: Page generated 18 November 2025, 16:52.