News - Developers not too worried about piracy

[HEXUS]

Game developers are finding ways around software piracy, with many not seeing the problem as critical to their business.

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[badass]

Developers prepared to change their business models in a changing environment like any good business that has a future.

Music and Movie studios trying to change the world to better fit their outdated business models and actually believing they can?

Funny that. One market is increasing in size whilst another is shrinking. Guess which is which


I'm currently loving digital distribution as I have an adequate broadband connection. Got a load of gamkes for less than a fiver last week in fact thanks to steam and EA.

[Zhaoman]

Videogame developers are artists and although i imagine it would hurt to see their work getting copied illegally I'm sure that as long as they have a sufficient income they would rather more people experience their work through whatever means than a strict clampdown that meant much fewer people can experience it. As REM said in an interview: We would rather 100 people buy our CD and 10,000 people listen to it, than 1000 people buy our CD and only 1000 people listen to it.

Of course this would only apply to the creative developers who have put so much into their designs and creations and are passionate about their work than a purely profit driven cashcow company with a cashcow franchise...

[MrPink]

Although not in the gaming industry, I am a software developer myself. I know how much time and effort goes into a large software project. While I don't like the idea of people taking the result of all my hard labour for free, I also know that ever pirated copy is certainly not a lost sale, and might even generate a future sale.

If I was a games developer I'd be more concerned about over-zealous publishers enforcing over-the-top anti-piracy systems which really annoy and turn-off the people who are actually paying for the games.

[aidanjt]

Developers don't think software piracy is a threat to their livelihood? What a complete shock.

All publishing houses/record studios are rapidly becoming redundant, and should hurry up and die.

[Sippin40oz]

Developers prepared to change their business models in a changing environment like any good business that has a future.

Music and Movie studios trying to change the world to better fit their outdated business models and actually believing they can?

Funny that. One market is increasing in size whilst another is shrinking. Guess which is which

I think the Music and Movie studios seem to have the wrong attitude with their products. The truth is if you create a quality product people will buy it and the company will make money. They seem to still be holding onto the old business model of if it sells lets copy it again and make as much money as possible. I guess they have had it easy for so long that they are upset they have to work for their profits now!! Its refreshing to see game developers have really grasped the changing markets and are looking to the future instead of constantly complaining how things are not how they used to be!

[Saracen]

I think the Music and Movie studios seem to have the wrong attitude with their products. The truth is if you create a quality product people will buy it and the company will make money. They seem to still be holding onto the old business model of if it sells lets copy it again and make as much money as possible. I guess they have had it easy for so long that they are upset they have to work for their profits now!! Its refreshing to see game developers have really grasped the changing markets and are looking to the future instead of constantly complaining how things are not how they used to be!

As a generalisation, I'm not convinced about that first assertion.

In my opinion, a LOT of people won't pay any more than they have to for products and won't pay for it at all if they can avoid it. If you create a quality product, some people will buy it, for sure. But a lot will rip you off if they can, and think they can get away with it.

In my opinion, the truth lies somewhere between what you said, and what movie, music and software companies generally suggest, which is that every pirate copy is a lost sale. As MrPink pointed out, that certainly isn't true. A lot of people will pirate MS Office, for example, if they can, but if they couldn't, would buy a cheap alternative or use an open source alternative like OpenOffice. The same is true of a lot of high-end software, for sure. But it's also true that some users that would buy it if they had to will pirate it if they can. There's enough companies that could afford legit software that have been caught with pirate stuff, and it can't all be staff installing without the company's knowledge.

[aidanjt]

A lot of people would pirate MSO no matter what, a lot of people would fork out cash if it were sanely priced, some people wouldn't use MSO even if they were given a legal license for free.

At the end of the day, piracy always has, and always will be. Stripping the people of their civil liberties to appease the corporates and lobbies is wrong beyond description.