There is a new game that recently released on Windows 7 and Mac (I say Windows 7 because it's been out on Windows 8 for awhile) which released at an unusually low price of $7.99, probably because the games topic competes with a mobile app called GameDevStory. Anyway the game is called GameDevTycoon and the company put an astounding article up on their blog about their first days sales figures and how many downloads were legitimate and how many were pirated copies. I was absolutely astounded that a small indie selling their game for under $8 could see such high and likely under reported piracy figures. It's a pretty interesting read even if some of the figures are off somehow.
Pirates vs Indies
GameDevTycoon: Piracy vs Indies
Re: GameDevTycoon: Piracy vs Indies
For what it's worth the site appears to be down for maintenance right now or something so if it doesn't work try the link again later. It's really worth the time.
Re: GameDevTycoon: Piracy vs Indies
They don't mention what percentage of the pirates would have bought the game if it couldn't be pirated. I'd imagine people who are pirating games are pirating a lot of games, and they wouldn't be able to afford to buy all of them, so they'd end up trying a smaller set of games.
The other benefit of piracy is that IF your game is good, it can give it far more exposure. Suppose of those 3000 people, 200 of them would have bought the game if they couldn't pirate it. Suppose the game actually is good, then a lot of those pirates will tell their friends, and many of them actually will buy it -- whereas if it weren't pirated they'd never have heard about it. (I've bought games based on recommendations from people who probably pirated them.)
Piracy has its pros and cons. I think its pros help indie developers a lot more than they help publishers, because indie games need more exposure to get popular if they're actually good.
If a game isn't good it won't spread by word of mouth and then piracy is only bad for it because it won't result in any more purchases.
I don't condone piracy but it's an interesting topic and I think its effects are a lot more complicated and two-sided than most give it credit for.
The other benefit of piracy is that IF your game is good, it can give it far more exposure. Suppose of those 3000 people, 200 of them would have bought the game if they couldn't pirate it. Suppose the game actually is good, then a lot of those pirates will tell their friends, and many of them actually will buy it -- whereas if it weren't pirated they'd never have heard about it. (I've bought games based on recommendations from people who probably pirated them.)
Piracy has its pros and cons. I think its pros help indie developers a lot more than they help publishers, because indie games need more exposure to get popular if they're actually good.
If a game isn't good it won't spread by word of mouth and then piracy is only bad for it because it won't result in any more purchases.
I don't condone piracy but it's an interesting topic and I think its effects are a lot more complicated and two-sided than most give it credit for.
Re: GameDevTycoon: Piracy vs Indies
In the article they don't say how many people would buy the game but they do acknowledge that not everyone would. The developer even says he doesn't hold anything against people who can't afford the game or purchase the game due to their location and payment restraints.
I don't know how much I buy the pros of piracy for indies. I think that's only relevant for mainstream games. For Wargames or more niche games it's probably more harmful though that's merely my personal opinion not anything based on other games success or any stats, I don't have access to realistic figures it's all my personal opinion.
However this developer was pretty brilliant incorporating this into their game imho. It's getting a ton of attention because of it, the site is constantly crashing because of the massive influx in traffic as a result of this. Though Obviously it remains to be seen if that will factor into sales.
I don't know how much I buy the pros of piracy for indies. I think that's only relevant for mainstream games. For Wargames or more niche games it's probably more harmful though that's merely my personal opinion not anything based on other games success or any stats, I don't have access to realistic figures it's all my personal opinion.
However this developer was pretty brilliant incorporating this into their game imho. It's getting a ton of attention because of it, the site is constantly crashing because of the massive influx in traffic as a result of this. Though Obviously it remains to be seen if that will factor into sales.
Last edited by Flanyboy on Mon Apr 29, 2013 6:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: GameDevTycoon: Piracy vs Indies
Also I think it's clear the route they went with this game sure beats any attention they would get from word of mouth via ignoring piracy.
They were featured on sites like Polygon, IGN, and Joystiq today because of their novel approach to piracy, further their site got so much attention the site is still struggling to stay up due to the traffic.
A commentator called the cynical Brit is live streaming the game on twitch right now and has over 25,000 people watching right now.
Not bad for a game that sold 200 copies on it's first day.
My friend suggested that Norb should somehow find a way to program a version of SOW where if you pirate the game then if you play as the Union then the British show up on the battlefield and crush your army for the CSA.
They were featured on sites like Polygon, IGN, and Joystiq today because of their novel approach to piracy, further their site got so much attention the site is still struggling to stay up due to the traffic.
A commentator called the cynical Brit is live streaming the game on twitch right now and has over 25,000 people watching right now.
Not bad for a game that sold 200 copies on it's first day.
My friend suggested that Norb should somehow find a way to program a version of SOW where if you pirate the game then if you play as the Union then the British show up on the battlefield and crush your army for the CSA.
They don't mention what percentage of the pirates would have bought the game if it couldn't be pirated. I'd imagine people who are pirating games are pirating a lot of games, and they wouldn't be able to afford to buy all of them, so they'd end up trying a smaller set of games.
The other benefit of piracy is that IF your game is good, it can give it far more exposure. Suppose of those 3000 people, 200 of them would have bought the game if they couldn't pirate it. Suppose the game actually is good, then a lot of those pirates will tell their friends, and many of them actually will buy it -- whereas if it weren't pirated they'd never have heard about it. (I've bought games based on recommendations from people who probably pirated them.)
Piracy has its pros and cons. I think its pros help indie developers a lot more than they help publishers, because indie games need more exposure to get popular if they're actually good.
If a game isn't good it won't spread by word of mouth and then piracy is only bad for it because it won't result in any more purchases.
I don't condone piracy but it's an interesting topic and I think its effects are a lot more complicated and two-sided than most give it credit for.