I’m curious to every body’s opinion on this;

Creative Director of EndWar Michael de Plater recently stated “Piracy’s basically killing PC,” This comment coincided with the recent announcement that EndWar’s PC version will be released after the consol versions.

Artical Link Here

Personaly I do think the piracy has gotting out of hand, but after I buy a game on the console I don't really want to pay another $70 to play it on the PC, honestly I think the game companies should offer a deal that if you have a console version you pay $15 and they'd let you download a digital copy for the PC. Just spit ballin.
I have perchased 2 Orange Boxes, Oblivions, and most likely with buy 2 copies of Fallout 3.

Maybe they should all start pirating console games to balance out the market.
You can buy a xcm xfps that will let you plug in your kb and mouse to your 360.

For me, it should come down to game play. I bought Castle Crashers on xbox arcade because the game is genius. If you havent heard about it, i suggest you do some research. <-- this is how good game companies make their money

The whole, "piracy is the problem" outlook just means that the people affected havent adapted to the market. I use Pandora, iMeem, and youtube to listen to music these days. there is no need for filesharing.... you can stream it to your cell phone whenever you want... thats much better than having a copy of the mp3 for every computer, or device....

The same is happening with games now. and its not the piracy community's fault for adapting to a broken system.


or atleast thats my opinion...

Rada

I think the excessive DRM is also killing the market. Lookie at all the problems that SECUROM has caused. I should be able to install that game as many times as I format my PC, or buy a new one.


I don't think PC Game piracy was a huge problem in like 96' ish. So the question is... why now?

Quote: Originally Posted by Master Yunk I think the excessive DRM is also killing the market. Lookie at all the problems that SECUROM has caused. I should be able to install that game as many times as I format my PC, or buy a new one. I don't think PC Game piracy was a huge problem in like 96' ish. So the question is... why now?

some of the reason is because of the costs of creating next gen games. texture mapping, higher quality models. better physics do not come cheap. porting high end games for multiple platforms is very expensive because there is not 1 standard game engine format for all the platforms.

the margins for loss are larger because of how big the bubble has gotten. but this same thing happened with mp3s, and the companies that embraced the desires of the masses have benefited in a large way.

DVDs also changed a lot. and people's ideas about how they can use technology. the world is being educated about comptuers, so there are more people to steal games. My mom uses BitTorrent. thats what im talking about.

Yet, the Xbox360 version of Fallout 3 has already hit the torrents, but piracy is killing the PC?
Have you looked at the list of games available on Pirate Bay lately? Way more console games. Sure, you have to hack your console to play them, but many people do.

Here is a great article on PC Games, DRM, and Piracy. I really suggest you take the time to read that.

In my opinion there are 4 categories of people who download pirated games:

1. Try-n-Buy
2. Because-I-Can
3. Pirates
4. DRM Haters

The problem is that games are expensive, especially the good ones, and people need to know that they are going to enjoy the game before dropping $50-70 on it, especially the way the economy is now. And despite the widespread of broadband and the ability to mass distribute good demos of games so people can sample them, many companies don't do it. So the only way left to try a PC game before buying it is to pirate it. There are a large number of people who fall into this category, the "try-before-you-buy" pirates. These are the people who if they spend more than an hour or two playing the game will go out and buy it. Now granted, there are a percentage of the try-n-buy group that never do buy and play the game all the way through. These are most likely people who would buy the game, want to, but can't for whatever reason.

Then you have the "because-i-can" pirates. These are people who never would have bought the game to begin with, and probably never even install it. They just download it to say they did.

Then there are the people who, well, are pirates. They download the game knowing full well they are going to play it with no intention of paying for it.

Finally there are the DRM haters. These are people who buy the game, get pissed off at the DRM, and download the no-cd hack or pirated version so they don't have to deal with the DRM.

The only lost sales in this group honestly are the try-n-buys who don't buy the game. The others who pirate it were never going to buy it so it is not a lost sale. If companies want to sell more games they need to make games that appeal to a larger audeince (look at PopCap games for examples) and are good (look at Bioware for an example). Then they will make money no matter how many pirates there are.

Quote: Originally Posted by DickNervous Yet, the Xbox360 version of Fallout 3 has already hit the torrents, but piracy is killing the PC? Have you looked at the list of games available on Pirate Bay lately? Way more console games. Sure, you have to hack your console to play them, but many people do. Here is a great article on PC Games, DRM, and Piracy. I really suggest you take the time to read that. In my opinion there are 4 categories of people who download pirated games: 1. Try-n-Buy 2. Because-I-Can 3. Pirates 4. DRM Haters The problem is that games are expensive, especially the good ones, and people need to know that they are going to enjoy the game before dropping $50-70 on it, especially the way the economy is now. And despite the widespread of broadband and the ability to mass distribute good demos of games so people can sample them, many companies don't do it. So the only way left to try a PC game before buying it is to pirate it. There are a large number of people who fall into this category, the "try-before-you-buy" pirates. These are the people who if they spend more than an hour or two playing the game will go out and buy it. Now granted, there are a percentage of the try-n-buy group that never do buy and play the game all the way through. These are most likely people who would buy the game, want to, but can't for whatever reason. Then you have the "because-i-can" pirates. These are people who never would have bought the game to begin with, and probably never even install it. They just download it to say they did. Then there are the people who, well, are pirates. They download the game knowing full well they are going to play it with no intention of paying for it. Finally there are the DRM haters. These are people who buy the game, get pissed off at the DRM, and download the no-cd hack or pirated version so they don't have to deal with the DRM. The only lost sales in this group honestly are the try-n-buys who don't buy the game. The others who pirate it were never going to buy it so it is not a lost sale. If companies want to sell more games they need to make games that appeal to a larger audeince (look at PopCap games for examples) and are good (look at Bioware for an example). Then they will make money no matter how many pirates there are.

could you supply a screenshot from piratebay with those statistics, i just checked mininova and pc pwned 360 by 30,000 torrents

with this economy i wouldnt be surprised if a lot of game companies pull similar stuff. join their linkedin group and ask some questions.

Okay, let me qualify that a bit: I meant all consoles (Wii, 360, PS3, PS2) and I only really looked at more recent games. I didn't do any number crunching, just casual looking. It seems like there are more console games (individual titles, not actual torrents) available than PC games. I'll take a deeper look when I get a chance.

The thing with modern PC demos is that they're generally 800+ megs to download, and with a budget internet connection, its a very time consuming thing, on top of that the demo only lasts say 15 minutes.

Just earlier today, I downloaded a game called Armor Heros or something for XBLA, and the demo was over as soon as I ran out of ammo. I only started with 150 gattling rounds. 800 megs. Done with in less than 5 minutes.

Quite frankly, demos are starting to be a waste of time.

The answer to the problem would be if game companies listened to the views of the gamers.

1) No more DRm and if you do implemenet DRM at least make sure it works. Securom is like a permenant headache.
2) Decent demos so we can try a game, if I can't do that i'm not just going to go out and spend a days earnings on it.
3) NO more copies of old games which were copies of even older games, give me something origional every now and again.
4) Finnish games before you tell us "its gone gold", If I have to download a patch the day the game is released and then an other 1gb of patyches in the following months then you obviously didn't finish the bloody game before you released it.
5) Leanr that we as a community have the knowledge and skillz to play your games illegially and will do unless you start to produce quality entertainment and at a reasonable prices.

Maybe they will sit up and listen when they have lost a shed load of money.

I also want my Nintendo Seal of Quality back.

DN I thought of one more kind of pirate for ya, "I can't find the freaking game." I can't tell you how many times I've had the itch to play a game and could not find the thing in a store.

I personally seem myself becoming a DRM hater even though half the time I don't even think about it. Someone gave my crap on here for buying spore because of the DRM, honestly I didn't even think of it otherwise I wouldn't have bought it.

DN when you where talking about Console games out numbering pc games as far as pirated lists showing up on The Pirate Bay, you're talking about the Ration to new relases as in 5 new console torrents to every 1 new pc game torrent, correct?

DRM dose frustrate the hell out of me some times, like some games not working without an internet connection.

Yes, I was refering to the new stuff. Overall I am sure there are way more PC games on TBP and other sites, but the new stuff it seems to be the other way around.

And the "I can't find the freakin game" pirate is different. That *IS* a lost sale, but it is because of the publisher failing in it's job.

Normally what I do to avoid the DRM is just download the no-cd crack or whatever after I install the game. Though that can sometimes be problematic when the game get's patched and your old saves don't work anymore....

Quote: Originally Posted by DickNervous Yes, I was refering to the new stuff. Overall I am sure there are way more PC games on TBP and other sites, but the new stuff it seems to be the other way around. And the "I can't find the freakin game" pirate is different. That *IS* a lost sale, but it is because of the publisher failing in it's job. Normally what I do to avoid the DRM is just download the no-cd crack or whatever after I install the game. Though that can sometimes be problematic when the game get's patched and your old saves don't work anymore....

anyone notice.. that alot more R&D dollars are being spent on Online games vs non-online games?

its simple. they can scan for hacked / pirated games when they log into the game. yes the online model doesnt fit all gaming genders, but you will see a decline in that style of gaming... (or some really nasty DRM)