[ALL] Video game piracy: Is it good for business?

[Chrispy]

Although as old as gaming itself, software piracy has been making headlines lately, seen by many as a growing danger to a business just coming to grips with the transition to digital.

But amidst a growing call to stem the bleeding, game makers may be missing the greatest opportunity to connect with players that they've ever witnessed.

Sony's PlayStation 3 has recently been the subject of an industry outcry as the latest system to fall victim to enterprising thieves. Credit the launch of the PS Jailbreak, a plug-and-play USB device that lets you copy retail games to, and play them from, the system's hard drive.

New strategy game "Elemental: War of Magic" has also sparked debate by promising to forego digital rights management, restrictive protection schemes that inhibit the copying and distribution of electronic data.

Complaints over used game sales, which developers don't see a penny from, are further fueling the uproar, causing some insiders to draw parallels between the practices. THQ's Cory Ledesma recently told ComputerAndVideoGames.com that "we get cheated" when titles are bought secondhand, while popular online comic Penny Arcade likened used sales to a "parallel economy" from which only retailers benefit.

But what's interesting about these issues isn't that they're suddenly garnering attention. It's that they're the same problems that have plagued the industry since the '80s, when computing enthusiasts casually exchanged floppy disks containing the latest software releases.

Read the rest here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/09/09/video.game.piracy/index.html?hpt=C2

Pretty good read

 

[stevsta]

lmao thats a retarded question

Is piracy good? of course its not no matter how many people say they use it to judge the quality of a game before buying it most just end up stealing it anyways

 

[Chrispy]

lmao thats a retarded question

Is piracy good? of course its not no matter how many people say they use it to judge the quality of a game before buying it most just end up stealing it anyways

did u even read the whole article?

 

[stevsta]

did u even read the whole article?

what hes talking about is basically madden for free except paying for the football + the air inside of it + the teams you want to play. imo its a stupid Idea that works well with flash based games and mmos but not commercial games on consoles

 

[Herm]

i laugh at the games companies crying about used game sales. Guess what clowns Ford and Mercedes dont see money when their cars are sold on used lots either.

 

[Prodigal Son]

i laugh at the games companies crying about used game sales. Guess what clowns Ford and Mercedes dont see money when their cars are sold on used lots either.

Because people return week old cars?

 

[JeremyHight]

Because people return week old cars?

If a game loses all replayability in a week, I'm not exactly blaming Gamestop for game producers not seeing any more profit. It is their own damn fault for selling a game that runs out of stuff to do in one week.

 

[Twigg4075]

If a game loses all replayability in a week, I'm not exactly blaming Gamestop for game producers not seeing any more profit. It is their own damn fault for selling a game that runs out of stuff to do in one week.

A week for a video game is a pretty decent investment. $60 for a week of entertainment is damn good. You're not paying $60 for a fucking car.

Not every game has to have multiplayer that you play for months. If so every game would be the same and boring as shit.

 

[leaffan]

Piracy good for gaming... No.

Pricing your game properly though... Good.

A single player game such as Assassins Creed would probably sell more if it was lets say 29.99 on release day. People such as myself would buy it instead of paying the 10 bucks or whatever it is to rent it and beat it in a week and never see it again.

 

[killgod]

A week for a video game is a pretty decent investment. $60 for a week of entertainment is damn good. You're not paying $60 for a fucking car.

Not every game has to have multiplayer that you play for months. If so every game would be the same and boring as shit.

But that's the problem.

Some games give you months of entertainment and some don't. This has devalued the games that are SP only and finished in a week.

 

[JeremyHight]

Not every game has to have multiplayer that you play for months. If so every game would be the same and boring as shit.

Not every game needs to have multiplayer to be addictive. Look at Dragon Age. ZERO multiplayer, but not only got buys for the game itself, but also for the tons of extra downloads. A well made game doesn't need to have multiplayer to have replayability and even encourage more micro-transactions.

 

[Twigg4075]

Piracy good for gaming... No.

Pricing your game properly though... Good.

A single player game such as Assassins Creed would probably sell more if it was lets say 29.99 on release day. People such as myself would buy it instead of paying the 10 bucks or whatever it is to rent it and beat it in a week and never see it again.

I was just discussing this with my wife. I just don't understand why all games have to be the same price. It doesn't amke any sense, business or otherwise. I'm not just talking about this generation either. I know some games have multi-million dollar budgets and maybe they should be $60, but not every game does.

Not to mention tons of games end up quickly dropping in price anyway because they sell like shit. I just don't understand why they just don't enter the market at $30 or $40 in the first place? It seems like simple business to me.

 

[PP]

Game prices have climbed up to 70$ after tax. Its absurd. Consoles like N64 had games costing that because of the cartridges and the memory used were expensive. Now everything is on dvd(dirt cheap) and bluray (still not that expensive).Along with the fact half the games now are shovelware I would pirate most of this shit because the game sucks. I gladly put my money for a game like NHL when i play it for a few months.

 

[Twigg4075]

Not every game needs to have multiplayer to be addictive. Look at Dragon Age. ZERO multiplayer, but not only got buys for the game itself, but also for the tons of extra downloads. A well made game doesn't need to have multiplayer to have replayability and even encourage more micro-transactions.

That's a great point, which also ties in to what Leaf and I are saying. Hell, a lot of these games could easily hook people with a lower price and then keep them hooked with cheap DLC down the road.

I don't know why I don't work in marketing at a game company. I'd be a rich motherfucker.

The whole set prices ($50 for the last several generations and now $60 for this current gen) is fucking retarded.


What other businesses do shit like that? To go back to the car thing, could you imagine if in the auto industry every car was $30,000? Some cars are obviously better than others and are more reliable, just like some games are better than others and have much more replay value. They should be priced accordingly.

 

[Twigg4075]

Not to mention if companies continued to supporttheir games with add-ons and DLC gamers would be much less inclined to trade them in, helping to alleviate a lot of the used games that the developers hate so damn much.

 

[leaffan]

After taxes in canada I just finished paying 79 bucks for nhl11.

Its been like this for a few years now and I thought they were supposed to level out when our dollar was the same.

 

[killgod]

I was just discussing this with my wife. I just don't understand why all games have to be the same price. It doesn't amke any sense, business or otherwise. I'm not just talking about this generation either. I know some games have multi-million dollar budgets and maybe they should be $60, but not every game does.

Not to mention tons of games end up quickly dropping in price anyway because they sell like shit. I just don't understand why they just don't enter the market at $30 or $40 in the first place? It seems like simple business to me.

I've ALWAYS agreed with that.

A game like NHL 11 and Assassin's Creed are so fucking far apart on the entertainment scale that I just don't undertsand how they are valued the same.


Personally, I would think those SP only 10-20 hour adventures should price themselves like this.

20-25$ retail price point.

You get one playthrough. After getting halfway through the game your playthrough becomes used, meaning you can re-start as you wish until you actually dig in and play half the game.

5$ to buy another playthrough or whatever, but tie that in with additional/quality DLC to encourage those multiple playthroughs.

Some people will shell out their 20-25$ for that one playthrough instead of the 12 dollar rental. That's a win for the developer.

Some people will still fork over 60+ playing the game a few times w/additional content.

Used games now require a purchase of "playthroughs" thus taking money out of Gamestop's pocket and putting it into the developers.




Seems perfectly logical with how EA and other companies are approaching things with the Online pass.