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Console Players Are Pirates

Posted by Zonk on from the yo-ho-ho dept.

According to a study by Macrovision one in five console gamers is a pirate, or uses pirated software. Interestingly the study, detailed on GamesIndustry.biz, also found that "three quarters of them would have paid for the games if they hadn't been available for free." Coverage also available on IGN.

2 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Well.. by evil-osm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But you are supporting consoles, you bought the unit didn't you? That is all that MS needs to know that they sold X units, which gives them bragging rights, plus it gives them sway with games developers as to what platform games should be ported to first. Remember the good old days when GTA was on the PC only? when Halo was originally developed for the PC?

    You are playing the games, albeit they are pirated (so you say). However have you played these games in absolute silence? or did you tell friends about how cool game X is?

    So unfortunatly your still supporting them...

    --


    E.

    Never rub another man's rhubarb - The Joker
  2. Same with crippled shareware vs the "honor system" by mc6809e · · Score: 5, Interesting


    In the article here, shareware author Colin Messit discovered that less than 20% of the people using his software would pay for it voluntarily.

    He wrote his software in such a way that a user installing it would have a 50/50 chance of getting a crippled version or a non-crippled version at time of installation. When people registered, they sent their serial numbers which encoded whether or not they had the crippled version or the "honor system" version.

    He discovered that the crippled version was registered (people sent money) 5 times as often as the "honor system" version.

    Conclusion? Most people only pay if they have to.