Ubisoft recently announced they weren't porting games onto the PC because of piracy. They claim that 90% of the players are playing pirated copies of their games which is ironic because when they implemented the always online DRM they claimed that it was working and helped their sales and that was the reason they kept their DRM. Who are Ubisoft anyways? They're a publisher that is known for their hatred for PC gamers and their use of draconian DRMs in their games. DRMs that break people's cd/dvd drives and other stupid shit making paying customers suffer. Why? All because of their irrational fear of pirates.
PC games must be completely horrible and a dying industry right? Everyone should stick to consoles! Nope. In fact PC games seems to be higher than ever right now. Especially with the release of games like Battlefield 3 and Skyrim. You don't see them whining that their games are being pirated. Why? Because they're still making money even after they got pirated. The problem isn't piracy itself, its if they can still make money. Its about turning pirates into potential buyers. Have you ever heard stories of pirates pirating a game then finding out that game is the best shit they ever played and decided to buy a real copy? Perhaps not now but later in the future for their future games? Yes you have because its not as uncommon as developers like to think.
To quote Gabe Newall, the co-founder of Valve and Steam:
"In general, we think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable. Most DRM solutions diminish the value of the product by either directly restricting a customers use or by creating uncertainty.
Our goal is to create greater service value than pirates, and this has been successful enough for us that piracy is basically a non-issue for our company. For example, prior to entering the Russian market, we were told that Russia was a waste of time because everyone would pirate our products. Russia is now about to become our largest market in Europe."
Full article can be found here.
That sounds familiar. Didn't my last post on piracy mention something like that? Oh yeah! CD Projeckt Red and Witcher 2. Guess what? Witcher 2 is the most pirated game in history because they don't have DRM and yet they managed to sell over a million copies. How? I thought no DRM means no profit because everyone would pirate it! Not everyone is a cheap ass. People want to support you guys but when you make it hard for them they don't. Your DRM encourages pirating. The problem isn't to stop people from playing your game for free, the goal is to make money in the end isn't it? Would crazy ass DRM really help?
Look at GoG, a niche digital distribution company like Steam except for one distinction. THERE ARE NO DRM FOR ANY OF THEIR GAMES. Re-read that a couple of times. Read it again. Done yet? Ok one more time. THERE ARE NO DRM FOR ANY OF THEIR GAMES. Now you're probably going HOLY SHIT NO DRM THEY MUST HAVE FUCKED UP THE ENTIRE GAME INDUSTRY THEN PEOPLE WOULD BUY A COPY AND PUT IT UP ON TORRENTS FOR EVERYONE. Yes they do, but guess what? Its successful. They sell old games for cheap without DRM but now more and more developers want to put their newer games up there for sale as well and they had to change their policy of selling old games. Games like the Witcher 2 were on there and was the first to get pirated but it didn't hurt their sales. Infact CD Projekt Red said they were swimming in money and is able to take more risks on new games.
How were they a success? They didn't have DRM they have the highest piracy rate ever in history yet they're making money. How do they do it? They are very dedicated to their fans. They take what they say to heart and change things based on popular opinion. They said DRM was lowering frame rates? Fuck it take it out. Shit was unbalanced and make the game less challenging? Fuck change it. There was not enough content? Fuck it more free DLCs.
According to GoG.
"If you make the whole gaming experience more complicated and more frustrating for people who buy the game; if it's easier to play a game that is pirated because they removed all the technical restraints, then I think there is a big issue on the plate now. It should be easier to play a game that you bought legally than play a game that you pirated."
You hear that Ubisoft? Maybe your game sucks thats why its failing. No other company seems to be having a problem. The biggest mistake that developers are making are that they refuse to let anyone play their game for free. Why do they get to play it for free for the time and money we spent in making this? Thats why there are no demos because they don't like to give shit out for free. Instead of trying to find a way for people to not play your game, why don't you find a way for people to pay for your game instead? You know how many games are now Free-to-Play these days? That concept single handedly killed the majority of piracy in Asian countries where piracy rates were skyrocketing.
Because people are able to play a game they can decide if they want to pay for the full game or for other content. Its something that works and is proven to work. PC gaming right now is shifting and Ubisoft is one of those that refuse to change. It will be one of those that will eventually collapse and fall because of their stubborness and they won't be missed. Another company will rise and take their place. The PC game industry is growing at an alarming rate afterall. Its at an all time high right now. Some companies just can't see it.
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/10/07/opinion-ubisoft-piracy-and-the-death-of-reason/
"In fact, the decline of sales even calls into question the decline in piracy rates."
Your games are so bad even pirates don't want to touch it.
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1 comment:
When I was younger, I pirated a lot of games I found was inaccessible to me.
Later on, I only pirate games I was curious in playing, but not enough to pay for. For developers, the publicity generated by gamers like me stealing and experiencing their game can only benefit them, since the other scenario was for me to not play it at all and let it pass.
In fact, there are even cases where after pirating a game, I liked it enough to buy it right away, or at least at a later date. Had I not played it, I wouldn't have even been interested enough to give it another glance in the bargain bin.
Things would be a different if developers still released PC demos, but they complain of overhead and extra development time... Well, a freelance band of pirates are doing your publicity work for you.
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