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A Portrait of the UK Game Pirate
Next Generation has a report up on a British study that indicates something like 84 percent of 15 to 18 year olds pirate video games in Britain. 72 percent of those folks pirate games because they can't wait for the UK releases. From the article: "This study shows very clearly the drivers behind videogame piracy...Most respondents who have and will continue to illegally download games are young males, between 15 and 19 years old. They feel videogames are too expensive and resent the long wait for many games released in the US or in Asia before the UK. With a high level of computer literacy, it's easy for them to find a game online and download it. Their friends all do it and why shouldn't they?"
72 percent of those folks pirate games because they can't wait for the UK releases.
If this was a tangible product, then it would be expressed as "they get it on the black market because it isn't commercially available".
There's really no good reason for a game to be released in the USA, and then wait months before releasing it in the UK. It's marketing gone wrong.
They feel videogames are too expensive and resent the long wait for many games released in the US or in Asia before the UK.
Imagine that - something is overpriced, so they get it from illegitimate channels instead. Is there any market where this isn't true?
The main difference between video games and physical products is that copyright gives the publishers a monopoly. It's not a free market.
... but I do think that cost is a major cause. The target market is in the late teens and while this segment has a lot of purchasing power, they're also a hotly metketed-to segment.
This inevitably results in fierce competition for the teen dollar, and hey, "if I can get this game for free, I can afford to spend the money on that neat pair of sneakers everyone says are so cool" and so on...
Now, for me, as an adult with a bit more of a budget than the average 18 year-old, the release date thing really annoys me. In Australia we usually have a long wait for product 'x', but I can buy online if I so choose and bypass the release date problem (except where a PAL version of a console game isn't available until long after the NTSC version)
So yeah, I think cost is the biggest factor.
Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
This is all rather similar to the DVD region-coding tactic. Splitting the world into isolated markets where you can charge more or less for the same product just doesn't work any more. People will just get on the internet and, for example, order their Futurama DVDs from Europe earlier or for less than they can in the US, or they'll just pirate them. Companies know that piracy equals lost sales, so why don't they just release as widely as possible so people can just get what they want?
that that is is that that is not is not
One of the reasons for the long delay in a game making it to England is sometimes the fact that the UK is treated as part of the Europe market in terms of release. The wait is then for the translations to happen for the major continental European languages.
I guess as voice becomes more and more popular as a replacement for text for explaining things/moving plots along etc this process gets more complicated.
If its only a couple of weeks between release dates I don't mind - it gives me a chance to check out reviews and change my mind on buying it if it appears to suck.
Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
whenever you see people breaking the law with intellectual property, you are looking into the eyes of an untapped market. Apple saw this and created iTunes.
A surprisingly large portion of illegal downloaders download songs, movies, and games because they want to download them, not because they want to steal. So sell it to them electronically.
Problem: Teen blokes in the UK download US games before their native release?
Solution: Release the US version in the UK and the US on the same day. Make it available for download in the UK and take $10 off the price because the words are all spelled wrong and the voice overs have that horrible American accent. Also, you don't need to package the box, press the CDs, and ship it to the UK. Give the online purchaser in the UK the same price you give to the chain stores here in the US.
I think you'd see the percentage of illegal downloads go down.
I just bought a couple of used Gamecube games on Ebay, because I think $50 is too much.
What I did was legal, but Nintendo didn't make any money from me.
That is one of the things driving DRM... making media non-transferable.
The kids pirate because its easyer than asking mommy and daddy for 30 - 70 USD. I mean who really thinks that a teenager discusses the social ramification about piratings games. They do it cause its cheap and its easyer than asking the 'rents for cash. Then when they get to univ. its more about saving money for school than paying for games. Then once you've graduated and have a job your saving for a house or a car or rent. In all honesty i dont understand how game companies make any money?
I can buy CDs for $9.99 off of iTunes now. Do I?
I can buy CDs from allofmp3 for $3. Do I? Yes. Close to $100 worth in the last year. Would I do it if it were $9.99 and DRMed? No.
Same with CDs.. I'm not going to pay $15-$20 for a CD.
Just as the open source attckers often say "only if your time is free" the same applies to piracy.
There's an opportunity cost involved, and if someone wants to sell me a product cheaper than my opportunity cost, then I'll buy it. If they don't then that's their loss. I'll find some other way to get what I want or just do without it.
This is what copy protection has always tried to do, raise the opportunity cost for piracy. It hasn't been very successful, ever. The content producers should give up on trying to raise the opportunity cost and just sell below it. They would see their profits soar (especially the music industry that has literally hundreds of thousands of songs locked away).
So the path is simple. Release your entire library of music online. No DRM. And keep the price very low, 10 cents a song is reasonable. You'll see the music industry become one of the largest industries in the US overnight.
Or keep the blinders on and keep suing your customers. We'll see how that works out.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
I'm pretty sure that every video game console still does this (I know for a fact the GBA does), but legally it's a lame threat in the USA.
The real reason. The BASE reason is because its free and easy. You could charge $15 for every game. You know what? The people would still pirate.
No! They wouldn't! You fail to grasp the problem. Who'd want to spend 24-72 hours downloading an iso off bittorrent, burn it to DVD and end up with a crappy black marker denoted copy that you can only play on a chipped console, when you could just roll down to the store and buy it for $15 dollars and get a shiny case and booklet as well.
Market rules still apply. I will "purchase" the cheapest product. Most people would value $15 as less than a three day wait and a crappy disc. You don't think so? Talk to Steve Jobs. Ask him how many mp3s he's sold lately, and then wonder why, oh why the fact people could download crappy id3less versions off p2p networks, didn't disusade them from forking over cash.
What's that? Ohh yes! It's the old TCO argument cropping up again. Turns out, time and effort is money too! The cost may be $0, but how come Linux has a higher TCO? The cost may be $0.99 but iTunes mp3's often have a lower TCO than the alternative.
Imagine that - something is overpriced, so they get it from illegitimate channels instead. Is there any market where this isn't true?
Nobody pirates newspapers, magazines and books.
Does anybody think newspapers, magazines and books are overpriced?
Piracy only starts to spring up when people are dissatisfied with the leggitimate option
And one form of dissatisfaction is considering something to be overpriced.