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DRM-Free Game Suffers 90% Piracy, Offers Amnesty
bonch writes "Independent game Machinarium, released without DRM by developer Amanita Design, has only been paid for by 5-10% of its users according to developer Jakub Dvorsky. To drive legitimate sales, they are now offering a 'Pirate Amnesty' sale until August 12, bundling both the cross-platform game and its soundtrack for $5. Ron Carmel, designer of DRM-free puzzle game World of Goo, stated that his game also had about an 80-90% piracy rate, claiming that the percentage of those pirating first and purchasing later was 'very small.' He said, 'We're getting good sales through WiiWare, Steam, and our website. Not going bankrupt just yet!'"
I don't know how people can doublethink away the idea that Pirates stealing 5x the number of copies being sold legitimately for a top selling game somehow DOESN'T hurt the industry.
Doublethink is not required. Software is a nonrival good, meaning that enjoyment by one consumer does not detract from its simultaneous enjoyment by other consumers. Simple, straightforward ‘piracy’[1] does not increase the costs incurred by the publisher, nor does it directly reduce the revenue generated. It may indirectly reduce revenue, by displacing sales that would otherwise have occurred. Whether that actually happens is an open question (and a difficult one to answer when every game is different).
To be clear, I'm not saying that this would necessarily justify ‘piracy’ even if the economic effect is zero or positive, but if you want to argue against it on economic rather than moral grounds then I would like to see some evidence.
[1] I'm assuming that you mean copyright infringement as opposed to robbery on the high seas. If the latter then I concede that would have an adverse effect on the publisher.
>Piracy is sometimes their only choice. I'm not saying that's right, but if my fictional next door neighbor who lives paycheck to paycheck and has no disposable income pirates a game, I don't consider that a loss to anyone.
Hey lets rephrase this:
Piracy is sometimes their only choice. I'm not saying that's right, but if my fictional next door neighbor who lives paycheck to paycheck and has no disposable income takes some food from the store, I don't consider that a loss to anyone.
After all they have no disposable income and hence could not buy that food in the store ANYWAYS... So no loss right?
F**K off! I am sorry for blowing my top here, but piracy has gone overboard. Yes there are some who would like to try before they buy, and some who would never buy. But these days it is a sport! People would rather just get the pirated edition then actually pay any monies whatsoever. And what bothers me is that these are the people who talk about freedom and open source, and what have you. Open source and free as in free beer are not the same thing! I donate money to open source! I do it because everybody needs to live on something.
I for one am not for 100% DRM, but then again I buy all of my DVD's and buy all of my music because I want to support those actors or musicians I like. I want fair use for my music and my movies. But with 90% piracy rates we ain't gonna get balance. I think if there were only say 50% piracy rates most of the companies would just close their eyes. But 90 is over the top. Come on people! We need some balance.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
Sales on AC2 were lower because AC1 wasn't a very good game, especially on PC. Sales on sequels are always driven by what people thought of previous games in the series.
As for the other point, it does match mine. People want to play game X. If they can't play game X for $0, they're more likely to buy it then if they can play it for $0. Even if it weren't true, preventing cheapskate pirates with a sense of entitlement from playing things they didn't pay for is still a worthwhile cause.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
Or to put it another way.
My life long, brainwashing as the result of government propaganda and supported, licensed and run institutions has taught me the following.
America: Land of the brave, home of the FREE.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.