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Cracked Game Released To Get Back At Pirates

Posted by samzenpus on from the and-nothing-changed dept.

John Wagger writes "When Greenheart Games released their very first game, Game Dev Tycoon (for Mac, Windows and Linux) yesterday, they did something unusual and as far as I know unique. They released a cracked version of the game, minutes after opening their Store. The pirated copy was completely same as the real copy, except that after a few hours into the game, players started noticing widespread piracy of their games in the game development simulator."

38 of 509 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting comparissons by pinkushun · · Score: 5, Informative

    The ratio of pirate copies vs bought copies may be obscured by platform.

    Looking at past Humble Bundle stats (games _without_ DRM management) it shows that even though piracy is still as abundant, the same amount of people are still willing to pay. Even more interesting, though Windows buyers ouranked 75% of others, Linux users payed the most on average. ... and that site link in TFA just went down.

    1. Re:Interesting comparissons by beltsbear · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They paid the most because their market is undeserved for high end games.

    2. Re:Interesting comparissons by RoccamOccam · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They paid the most because their market is undeserved for high end games.

      I'm hoping that you meant "underserved".

    3. Re:Interesting comparissons by LordLimecat · · Score: 4, Informative

      The linked forums indicate that the piracy rate is, in fact, 6.4%, and that only ~214 copies were legitimate.

      Kind of puts holes into all of the "just make a better product" arguments, huh?

    4. Re:Interesting comparissons by crazycheetah · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Valid.

      There's other potential reasons, too, however. Let's see if I can come up with more:

      1. There's a higher percentage of people running Linux who have more money to throw at games like this. Having the more money, the higher average paid is really the same (potentially less!) when you're talking averages of their income. (Don't know if there's any truth in this one, but you can test it probably the easiest out of them all, in theory.)

      2. Linux people are used to and very comfortable with setting their own price. They regularly get completely free software and donate back to the original project whatever price point they choose. Many have probably watched projects that they donate to succeed, and many have probably watched projects they donate to fail. As such, they've learned some lessons about paying whatever they want and what tends to be a more successful level of pay for a project. Seeing this, they are aware that paying the more money is worth it, because they want these projects to succeed, and being more experienced than most Windows users in doing so, they pay more.

      3. Maybe the Linux folk value these games more than the Windows folk do. Thus, the Linux folk pay more, regardless of the other points.

      4. There's a lot of cheap people who get a cheap computer running Windows from their parents, and then only pay anything for the Humble Bundle at all, because they can get away with only paying 1 cent or 1 dollar. This isn't as prevalent in the Linux world, where more people buy their computer to their own desires, taking budget into account but not taking it for free off of their parents as much. As such, they're also more willing to pay more for products.

      5. Because all of these reasons (including yours) can exist alongside one another and easily interact with one another (amplify each other, even), it could be a combination of all of these factors to various different degrees. Where income could be involved, that could influence the willingness to spend said income. With less games available for Linux, the games that are available could be seen as worth more due to the lack of supply. Putting all of these into play, you can get a complex system resulting in Linux users paying more on average when given the choice.

      ... There's probably more that I didn't even think about, but I figured that's a good start.

    5. Re:Interesting comparissons by schnell · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And what % of the 3130 people that pirated it actually would have bought a legit copy?

      Why is this meaningful? If I sneak into a movie theater and watch a movie without paying, it doesn't make it OK just because I would never have paid to see it. Sure my watching it doesn't "cost" the theater anything - I'm not really lost revenue for them - but that still doesn't legitimize my doing something for free that other people are paying for and in effect subsidizing.

      You can persuasively argue that piracy by people who wouldn't pay for a product doesn't translate to lost revenue. You can't persuasively argue that it's "the right thing" to do, though.

      --
      "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
    6. Re:Interesting comparissons by Internetuser1248 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Being dickish? This sounds like an excellent addition to enhancing realism and add to the challenge. I hope they also support creating free to play and open source games, as well as donation based monetisation models. I am totally getting the pirate version of this game.

    7. Re:Interesting comparissons by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      6. Because many Windows people already bought the game at full price and don't feel the need to rebuy.

      Windows has a pretty vibrant game market, and has good digital distribution. Many of the non-cheapskate Windows users already bought the games prior to the humble bundle happening. For example I remember when the first one came out and Linux users were spraining their arms patting themselves on the backs for paying $14 for the bundle, or about $3 per game. All I could think was that the two games I wanted from it, I already owned and had paid full price for. $20 for World of Goo and $10 for Gish. I was happy with that too, felt I got my money's worth.

      So I didn't buy the bundle, there was no need. I didn't want the other games.

      What you have to appreciate about the slightly higher average Linux numbers is it is still highly cheapskate. Paying a couple bucks for a game is not much at all. One game at regular price can be a good bit more than that.

      I think that is no small part of it. I've only ever bought one humble bundle, and that one I didn't pay much for because again, I owned many of the games. I bought the Introversion bundle because I wanted to try Darwinia. I already owned Defcon, Uplink, and Dungeons of Dreadmor. I spend quite a bit on games, but I do it outside of the humble bundle. I think you'll find many of the non-cheapskate Windows gamers are the same.

  2. Re:So basically by ctid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You really need to read the article.

    --
    Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
  3. Not that unique by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    >they did something unusual and as far as I know unique
    If I rememeber correctly, the devellopers of Serious Sam 3: BFE did something very simlar a while back. An invincible monster would appear in the later levels of the game.

    1. Re:Not that unique by newcastlejon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ah, the invincible pink scorpion. It appeared fairly early in the game, which was probably a good idea. If they'd put it in too late then pirates might have been put off (more so) from buying the game, but since it was so early it gave pirates a chance to get a feel for the game but not have to replay too much if they decided to buy it.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    2. Re:Not that unique by Gerafin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is unique insofar as they released their own cracked version, whereas I believe Earthbound and Serious Sam would detect modified launchers and activate their DRM. One of the Batman games (Arkham asylum, I think) did the same thing, it messed up your batarang so you couldn't complete certain parts. People posted about the issue, thinking it was a bug, on the official forums and then got publicly shamed by a moderator who exposed the fact the 'bug' was related to pirating the game. I don't like DRM but at least they're being creative! But with Game Dev Sim, you could argue it's not DRM.

    3. Re:Not that unique by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ah, the invincible pink scorpion. It appeared fairly early in the game, which was probably a good idea. If they'd put it in too late then pirates might have been put off (more so) from buying the game, but since it was so early it gave pirates a chance to get a feel for the game but not have to replay too much if they decided to buy it.

      False Dichotomy. Assuming competence (which I realize is an unsafe assumption) they could have made the savegame from the warez version work on the official version, and the players would not have to replay anything. Just don't load the pink scorpion.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Hilarious Irony by bravecanadian · · Score: 5, Interesting

    People posting for help trying to progress.

    I'm going to buy this game just because they have illustrated their point SO well.

    1. Re:Hilarious Irony by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 4, Funny

      If I buy their game, do I also get access to the cracked version to teach my kid a lesson?

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    2. Re:Hilarious Irony by Bieeanda · · Score: 5, Informative
      Reminds me of the infamous Deus Ex boat bug.

      For those that aren't aware, the original Deus Ex was released when pirated games were heavily distributed via sneakernet and usenet in the form of spanned 2 MB (or 2.88-- it's been a while) RAR images. Needless to say, this was a lot of diskettes for the games that were coming out on CD at the time, so the cracking teams would cut out every ounce of fat that they possibly could: cutscenes, non-vital sound effects, you name it. The games ran, but you were likely to miss a lot of story and fluff.

      An early Deus Ex rip went through the same process, but for some reason would just stop at an early point in the game-- specifically, when you hopped on a police boat and sailed off to the next level. It turned out that the scripts used to drive the in-game cutscenes weren't designed to fail cleanly, and one of the missing sound effects caused this one to hang partway through.

      People with pirated copies started complaining and looking for tech help with this baffling bug. It didn't take the devs long to figure out what was going on, and only took slightly longer for people who'd paid for it to start leaping down the throats of anyone asking for help getting past the 'buggy' cutscene.

  5. That's pretty meta by kruach+aum · · Score: 4, Funny

    but what happens when the in-game pirates start playing their pirated pirated copies of Game Dev Tycoon? And the next generation? And the next? This game was mislabelled. It's not a game at all, it's an infinite pirate creation device.

  6. The game itself was Pirated from another game by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The real irony of course is that the game itself is a rip off of Game Dev Story by Kairosoft for IOS/Android.

    1. Re:The game itself was Pirated from another game by MaerD · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Annnd by this logic Xplane pirated MS Flight simulator. Halo pirated Wolfenstien 3d. etc.

      It isn't piracy. If the gameplay is exactly the same (such as some clones that ONLY change the graphics) you might have something. If the game plays differently, adds features, etc, it's just another entry in the genre.

      --
      I put on my robe and wizard hat..
    2. Re:The game itself was Pirated from another game by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny

      Right. Because the whole concept of "Making Computer Games For A Living" is so obscure that no one else could have ever thought of it, especially not someone who makes computer games for a living.

  7. Re:So basically by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 5, Informative

    You skipped the second half of TFS.

    The game is a game about game development, right? In the pirated copy, the games you develop will have a chance of getting pirated (!) which goes up as time goes on, eventually causing you to lose as you are then unable to make enough money to continue. It's delicious irony.

  8. New feature for the pirated copy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Web cams only, something like...

    Dialog Box: "The boss is angry about our games being pirated! Go see him quick! [Click here to see the boss.]"

    *click*

    Webcam turns on showing the person sitting at the keyboard playing the pirated game.

  9. Re:So basically by Daemonik · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's pretty sad when someone can't even work up the reading comprehension to grasp the story from a short summary.

    In total, if you play the cracked version of the game, the simulator will ramp up the rate of piracy for your simulated company's games, so you will lose. It stacks the odds against you.

  10. Re:So basically by slashmydots · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It really is down due to traffic. And cloudflare really is playing medical insurance company again. If you're not familiar, it's where you pay and pay and pay for their protection and then that one time when you critically need them, they're useless and refuse to properly do their one single job that they had (they claim there's allegedly no cached version of the page for them to serve up off their servers).

  11. Re:hehehehe by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Don't forget Serious Sam 3, who's DRM manifested as an invulnerable pink scorpion.

    This is what happens when games are made by gamers. It's mainly the big, long-disconnected companies that think DRM will save their games from pirates; everyone else just acknowledges it with a little fun.

  12. Re:So basically by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I read the article. Most of it just read like a game dev who was pissed because his game wasn't the next angry birds.

    They claim 93% piracy after 1 day but I wonder how many of the 3000 (yes that many) downloaders only found out about the game due to being on the torrent site.

    I'd be interested in seeing the numbers after a month and more interestingly what the reviews of the game say. Nobody will buy a rubbish game after playing it. Thats why most games companies dont usually offer game demos & hate piracy.

    How many of them would have bought the game if it wasn't broken?

  13. Re:So basically by rioki · · Score: 5, Funny

    What do you think Game Dev Tycoon is about? Railroads?

  14. slashdotted, cloudflare fail, here's a copy-paste by slashmydots · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's the world's worst barely formatted copy-paste job for those of you who can't access the site because it got slashdotted (and cloudflare dropped the ball)

    When we released our very first game, Game Dev Tycoon (for Mac, Windows and Linux) yesterday, we did something unusual and as far as I know unique. We released a cracked version of the game ourselves, minutes after opening our Store.

    I uploaded the torrent to the number one torrent sharing site, gave it a description imitating the scene and asked a few friends to help seed it.

    A minute after we uploaded it, my torrent client looked like this:

    Soon my upload speed was maxed out (and as of the time of writing still is) and my friends and I had connections from all over the world and for all three platforms! How does piracy feel?

    The cracked version is nearly identical to the real thing except for one detail Initially we thought about telling them their copy is an illegal copy, but instead we didn’t want to pass up the unique opportunity of holding a mirror in front of them and showing them what piracy can do to game developers. So, as players spend a few hours playing and growing their own game dev company, they will start to see the following message, styled like any other in-game message:

    Boss, it seems that while many players play our new game, they steal it by downloading a cracked version rather than buying it legally. If players don’t buy the games they like, we will sooner or later go bankrupt.

    Slowly their in-game funds dwindle, and new games they create have a high chance to be pirated until their virtual game development company goes bankrupt.

    Some of the responses I found online (identities obscured to protect the guilty):

    Is there some way to avoid that? I mean can I research DRM or something

    And another user:

    Why are there so many people that pirate? It ruins me!

    As a gamer I laughed out loud: the IRONY!!!

    However, as the developer, who spent over a year creating this game and hasn’t drawn a salary yet, I wanted to cry. Surely, for most of these players, the 8 dollars wouldn’t hurt them but it makes a huge difference to our future! Trying to appeal to pirates

    I know that some people just don’t even think about buying games. They will immediately search for a cracked version. For this reason, when we released the game, we also published a page which targets people who search for a cracked/illegal version. Unfortunately, due to my lack in search-engine-optimization skills, that page has had no impact yet, but I hope it will convince some to buy the game in the future.

    []if years down the track you wonder why there are no games like these anymore and all you get to play is pay-to-play and social games designed to suck money out of your pockets then the reason will stare back at you in the mirror.

    I do think it’s important to try to communicate what piracy means to game developers to our consumers. I also tried to appeal to a particular forum a day earlier after someone who I gave early-access to the Store seemed to have passed on the copy to others:

    We’re just a start-up and really need your support. The game is only 7.99USD, DRM free

    Clearly, my post hadn’t worked too well since on the same forum someone posted the earlier screenshot (“Why are there so many people that pirate? It ruins me!) just a bit after I made my appeal and this was followed by many others complaining about piracy.

    I still hope that it made a difference to someone.

    Anyway, how many really did buy and how many did pirate our game during this first day? The awesome/depressing results

    Today, one day after release, our usage stats look like this:

    Genuine version: 214 users

    Cracked version: at least 3104 users

    Over 93.6% of players stole the game. We know this because our game

  15. Re:So basically by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Informative

    What part about the title "Game Dev Tycoon" leaves you wondering what the subject matter of the game is? Even if that didn't make any synapses flash, the last sentence should have done it: "...players started noticing widespread piracy of their games in the game development simulator."

    See that "game development simulator" bit? Combine that with the title and let your brain run wild.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  16. Re:So basically by nurbles · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Where are the statistics about how many game companies have closed due to piracy? They sure don't show up with any of the quick attempts I've been trying with Google.

  17. Nice idea by KraxxxZ01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can't wait for rockstar tycoon, where piracy takes heavy toll on main characters cocaine habit.

  18. Re:So basically by amiga3D · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is a game. Not the real world. In this pretend world they have in the game if your games get pirated you lose income. Whether that is the case in the real world or not is irrelevant.

  19. Re:So basically by war4peace · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The fact that you will LOSE because of that is not obvious from TFS. TFA is /.ed anyway.

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  20. Re:I suspect their simulation is flawed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Normally I'd say RTFA, but since it has been slashdotted, I'll give your ignorance a pass and just correct your errors as I encounter them.

    Game prices are too high

    This game was $8 USD.

    People don't want to spend any amount of money without knowing what they will get in return

    They offer a free demo to give you an idea, and also offer a pirated version of the game which gives several hours of unadultered gameplay before they introduce their "bug."

    So many completed games simply stop being played and it's no longer useful. Is it really worth the $50+ ? Especially since you can't resell it any longer?

    Again, this game was $8 USD. Additionally, the game is DRM-free, available on all platforms, and is being ported to Steam as well. This is an indy company with very consumer-oriented and forward-thinking ideas who simply conducted a fun little experiment on sales versus pirated copies.

    Every single legitimate argument pirates spout cannot be applied to this situation. The game was DRM free, ported to all major OSes, offered a playable demo on their website, and very reasonably priced at $8 USD (cheaper than many mobile games).

  21. Re:hehehehe by geminidomino · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pretty sure they stole that idea from "Top Gun" on the NES, except that in Top Gun, the DRM was active even in "legit" versions.

  22. Re:So basically by Vanderhoth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I haven't played this game yet, but if I downloaded the "pirated" version knowing it was a demo of sorts, by reading this /. article or having a short "you've downloaded the torrent demo. It's the full game, but blah blah blah" and I liked the "pirated" version, I'd buy the full game. If I downloaded the "pirated" version and there was no disclaimer, I'd assume the game was broken. No way I'd give up money for that.

    This from someone who's kicked in a lot of money for beta's and less than stellar Linux releases (Minecraft, Humblebundles, Steam, extra donations to kickstarter's to be on beta tester list). If the game is available and I try it and like it, I will buy it. If the game is crap, "pirated" or not, it's off my list. There are many other things to spend money on before wasting it on crap games.

    Kudos to these guys for trying something "new", but I think they, as with all developers, need to lighten up on the "piracy is killing our business". If you're not making money because piracy is hurting your bottom line so much, don't make games. It's obviously not a viable industry. Instead we constantly read about awesome new game selling millions of copies and turning huge profits and then hear the developer screaming about how piracy is running their business. I'm inclined to believe it's a bunch of horse shit. It also makes me believe when a developer of a less than awesome game starts screaming piracy, they're full of it too and are just on the "We'd make so much more money if it wasn't for piracy" bandwagon despite the fact that their game was just crap.

  23. Sundog did something roughly similar back in 1984 by bfwebster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In Sundog: Frozen Legacy (Apple II, 1984), we had a fairly robust, multi-level copy protection method. However, many of the 'cracking' tools out at the time would actually produce a runnable copy of the game -- it was just that the game wouldn't pass its final internal DRM check. In the game, including in 'cracked' versions, you started out on the surface of a given planet (Jondd); you could drive around the planet's surface, walk around the cities, go into stores, buy and sell goods, etc. But when you attempted to lift off into space, if that final DRM check failed, you'd get the message "Clearance to lift denied due to pirate activity" and you would be unable to take off and travel to any other world or system. (Note that you'd never see that message in a legitimate copy of the game.)

    Now, the game actually had space pirates who would attack your ship, so a lot of people didn't realize just what the message meant. We would get occasional phone calls from customers asking what they were doing wrong and how they could get clearance. We'd listen for a minute, then say, "Well, just mail us your Sundog floppy disk, and we'll send out a new one for free." Heh. On the other hand, we had at least one person call us up on the phone and say, "Yeah, I get it" and then order a legit copy.

    Note that for those customers who did buy an actual copy of the game, if they sent in $10 along with their registration card, they'd get another Sundog floppy disk -- that is, a second complete copy of the game, which they could keep as a backup or give away (or, frankly, sell). Also, if anyone actually did have a legit Sundog floppy that died or was otherwise damaged, we'd exchange it for a new one for free.

    Sundog (Apple II) was on Hardcore Computing's "Top 10 Wanted" list (for a cracked version) for quite some time. It was eventually cracked, but I believe it took a year or two. You can find runnable Apple II disk images (for Apple II emulators) online.

    I really don't know what copy protection was in place for the Atari ST port of Sundog, since that happened after I left FTL Games. ..bruce..

    --
    Bruce F. Webster (brucefwebster.com)
  24. I HAX THE HAXZORZ!!! LOLZ! by TiggertheMad · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's pretty sad when someone can't even work up the reading comprehension to grasp the story from a short summary.

    In total, if you play the cracked version of the game, the simulator will ramp up the rate of piracy for your simulated company's games, so you will lose. It stacks the odds against you.

    Anyone have a link to a hacked .exe that fixes this behavior?

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!