People playing the warez versions of Sins of a Solar Empire and GalCiv 2 are playing a much inferior game to what the legal owners are playing thanks to Stardock's awesome support. I expect Demigod will be no different.
QFT.
This is how you sell games. Support them after release and secure that support and content. I love being a Stardock customer. It's a lot like being a Valve customer but much more focus on RTS. They just keep adding stuff and the games continue to offer hours of entertainment.
Relic deserves some props for this on CoH as well, the new expansion isn't the greatest value but their commitment to keep the older games up to date and functional with the new stuff is a HUGE reason I refuse to sell my copies of CoH. I hadn't touched that game in a year maybe, but I was delighted to see them release major updates for the old versions that make it possible to play beside the new players with new content. (I plan to buy ToV eventually, price is too high for now, too much other stuff to play so if everything else gets boring I might pay $30 but would like to buy it at $20 or so)
I think a lot of people have a hard time adjusting to the fact that Pirates don't matter. How companies treat the paying customer is all that matters. Treat them well and they will pay. Seems like so many companies have just adjusted to the idea that you can treat customers like shit and they'll still pay. And then they wonder why less people buy there games...it must be those PIRATES!
This comment was edited on Apr 17, 2009, 12:02.