Developer pirates own game, with a twist!

[LiamH]

A indie game about developing games was released recently, the Dev's (2 blokes) decided to preemptively strike the pirates by releasing their own cracked copy of the game.

 

The catch? the users playing the pirated game get all their in game games (arrgh too many games!) hit by piracy killing all profit.

 

Some pirate's didn't get the hint however and actually looked for advice on their failing play through on the forums.

 

Genius

 

Game Dev Tycoon forces those who pirate the game to unwittingly fail from piracy • News • PC • Eurogamer.net

[sparkeh]

Awesome, the irony of some the gamers' comments!

[JJonas]

Reminds me of an Amiga game (the name of which escapes me) there was a scene about half way through where you had to collect three beer mugs from a bar. On a legitimate copy there was no problem but a pirated version of the game would only give you two mugs.

[X-13]

hit by piracy killing all profit.

 

Which doesn't happen in real life. If it did, Game of Thrones would have been cancelled after 1 season.

 

Devs need to realise piracy helps them through word of mouth advertising and letting people try things out.

 

Also, pirating something you bought to remove shoddy DRM != pirating because you don't want to pay.

 

 

But after a day on sale, 3104 of the 3318 copies being played were pirated.

 

source or STFU.

 

And finally, they're hypocrites. They stole the entire game from Kairosoft.

[LiamH]

Played this game for a bit last night, it is a lot like Game Dev Story with added complexity.

 

Pretty addictive, was doing well until i tried publish a few bigger games that flopped would recommend it for £5 especially if you liked game dev story

[Valyyn]

source or STFU.

Source:

What happens when pirates play a game development simulator and then go bankrupt because of piracy? | Greenheart GamesGreenheart Games

 

Genuine version: 214 users

Cracked version: at least 3104 users

 

Over 93.6% of players stole the game. We know this because our game contains some code to send anonymous-usage data to our server. Nothing unusual or harmful. Heaps of games/apps do this and we use it to better understand how the game is played. It’s absolutely anonymous and you are covered by our privacy policy. Anyway, the cracked version has a separate ID so I can separate the data. I’m sure some of the players have firewalls and some will play offline therefore the actual number of players for the cracked version is likely much higher.

 

I don't know about "stealing the entire game" from Kairosoft, I'm sure it helped get the ideas down but not much more than, say Theme Park and Rollercoaster Tycoon! There's a lot more stuff in their game, not to mention that it was all actually coded and made by them, from the graphics up, they didn't actually steal any code or anything from Game Dev Story.

[X-13]

FFFUUUUUUU~ I can't actually read that... it gets filtered here.

 

Also, they aren't "stolen" versions. They're copies of something they gave away for free.

 

I’m sure some of the players have firewalls and some will play offline therefore the actual number of players for the cracked version is likely much higher.

 

Which also applies to people who bought it. Though, I'd question the legitimacy of the souce, as it's from the company making the claims.

 

This was all a big publicity stunt, not many people had actually heard of the game before all this. It wouldn't surprise me if most of the "cracked" versions [There is no crack, it's DRM free] were downloaded by them, seeing as they're not adverse to posting it on torrent sites. Or the numbers are just made up.

[localzuk]

Which doesn't happen in real life. If it did, Game of Thrones would have been cancelled after 1 season.

 

Devs need to realise piracy helps them through word of mouth advertising and letting people try things out.

 

Also, pirating something you bought to remove shoddy DRM != pirating because you don't want to pay.

 

Doesn't really work that way for a little indie shop. A little indie shop spends $200k or whatever developing their game. They release it, put it on Steam for people to vote for etc... and people pirate it instantly - the DRM free version was bought and put on pirate bay within a couple of hours of it appearing for sale, where it accompanied the one with the piracy message one in it.

 

So, great, word of mouth got out about it, but most people head to torrent sites and download. The game is only $8. Its not like its a £50 AAA title. Just buy the damned game.

 

Not to mention, there is a demo available to 'try things out', completely defeating the argument that people like to try it out so they pirate it.

 

source or STFU.

 

And finally, they're hypocrites. They stole the entire game from Kairosoft.

 

There's only one place that can give us the figures - the developers.

 

And what planet are you on that writing a game from scratch is stealing it? Creating one with a similar idea, ie. in the same genre, is not stealing. Else we wouldn't have all the different COD/Battlefield/Modern Warfare/whatever games - as they're all basically the same. Or racing games.

[LosOjos]

Which doesn't happen in real life. If it did, Game of Thrones would have been cancelled after 1 season.

 

You're completely missing the point, and TV is a very different kettle of fish - we don't pay to watch TV, the networks pay to show the programs, so piracy doesn't hit TV shows until it comes to DVD sales.

 

Every single person who decides to download a pirate version of a game is doing the developer out of that sale (unless of course they later go on to buy a legitimate copy). There is no getting around that, it's a fact.

 

The point the devs are making here is that piracy does hurt development. It may not have such a crippling effect as displayed in the game on the likes of EA or Ubisoft, but for a small team of indie developers every sale counts. Was it a marketing ploy? Maybe, but so what? They don't have the budget to put ads on the TV or billboards like the big studios and if this'll help their sales, good on them!

 

Now, this is not to say that I support DRM (I don't, at least not in it's current format), but I'm getting sick of hearing people defend piracy for all the wrong reasons. It's one thing to download a cracked DRM game because the DRM makes it unplayable, it's another to download a game just because you have no intention of paying for it - that is damaging the industry.

Edited May 8, 2013 by LosOjos

[LiamH]

Just noticed their April fool's post

 

Announcing first expansion for Game Dev Tycoon | Greenheart GamesGreenheart Games

 

Its nice to see developers with a sense of humour.

[X-13]

we don't pay to watch TV, the networks pay to show the programs, so piracy doesn't hit TV shows until it comes to DVD sales.

 

To go back to my Game of Thrones example, that's on [iIRC] NBC. Which is a subscription channel, they also have ad revenue. They also have online streaming, I think. Which is locked behind a pay-wall.

 

They don't pay anything as such. It's all money that came from ads and customers.

 

Every single person who decides to download a pirate version of a game is doing the developer out of that sale (unless of course they later go on to buy a legitimate copy). There is no getting around that, it's a fact.

 

No it isn't, it's an opinion.

 

I've downloaded games that I wouldn't have bought. [i tested them out and really didn't like them, so I deleted it.] I've also bought games which I didn't like, with no way of getting my money back, which is why I grab a cracked version.

 

There's also the issue of some demo versions not actually representing the proper game. [Archive version as the full one gets filtered...] Demos are hard to get right, which is why some companies don't even bother anymore.

 

Just noticed their April fool's post

 

Announcing first expansion for Game Dev Tycoon | Greenheart GamesGreenheart Games

 

Its nice to see developers with a sense of humour.

 

 

So, EA-mode?

[localzuk]

To go back to my Game of Thrones example, that's on [iIRC] NBC. Which is a subscription channel, they also have ad revenue. They also have online streaming, I think. Which is locked behind a pay-wall.

 

They don't pay anything as such. It's all money that came from ads and customers.

 

They don't pay? What about the $6m an episode it costs to make? What about the very real value of the timeslot it is given to show on TV? That slot is worth advertising dollars...

 

No it isn't, it's an opinion.

 

No, it is actually a fact. Whether or not the end user liked the game is a separate matter - but the developer has in fact lost a sale.

 

There's also the issue of some demo versions not actually representing the proper game. [Archive version as the full one gets filtered...] Demos are hard to get right, which is why some companies don't even bother anymore.

 

One game does not mean everyone does that...

 

Do you not see the issue that GreenHeart Games has pointed out here - the piracy of games is one of the big drivers to this always online, subscription model, or micro transaction play gaming model?

 

I hate micro transactions. They destroy games for me, but its going to keep happening if muppets keep pirating those games which aren't of that model.

[tmcd35]

Now, this is not to say that I support DRM (I don't, at least not in it's current format), but I'm getting sick of hearing people defend piracy for all the wrong reasons. It's one thing to download a cracked DRM game because the DRM makes it unplayable, it's another to download a game just because you have no intention of paying for it - that is damaging the industry.

 

I've pretty much changed my view on DRM over the past few months. I completely agree, the developer needs to be able to regain control of their artistic work in order to turn a profit, stay in business and produce more work. Same goes for books, movies, music and games. I've started to think that the "everything for free" culture might just be the disease of the Internet.

 

I've downloaded games that I wouldn't have bought. [i tested them out and really didn't like them, so I deleted it.] I've also bought games which I didn't like, with no way of getting my money back, which is why I grab a cracked version.

 

There's also the issue of some demo versions not actually representing the proper game. [Archive version as the full one gets filtered...] Demos are hard to get right, which is why some companies don't even bother anymore.

 

I particularly like Sony's answer to this problem in PlayStation Plus - 1 hours free play. I bought the entire Assassins Creed series off the back of 1 hour limited game play of the first game. Rumour mill on the PS4 says they are improving this to every game and all users (not just PS+ subscribers), nice one!

[X-13]

I've started to think that the "everything for free" culture might just be the disease of the Internet.

 

Partially agree.

 

I have no problem with people wanting to make money off of their work, but I also think it should become free if it's no longer possible to obtain it legally. [Or in a way that gives back to the creators.]

[CAM]

Gamers are partly to blame for failures in the industry. People have already rushed out to pre-order The Sims 4 (took so much to fight my reflex not to caps lock that title ) even though barely anything has been announced for it and the last outing from EA was a total scam.

[happymeal]

Yar. I tend to download pirated copies when I've lost/damaged my CD/DVD and just want to play it for a bit.

But I know some people who are of the mindset of "well I pre-ordered GTA2 back in the day, didn't live up to the hype/my expectations and now I feel like they owe me forever" - which is saddening and tends to dent the industry a bit. Future developers tend to think "I'll make it a masterpiece, but it'll be cracked and on to download for nothing in a day" and then go overkill with the copy-protection.

 

If I like a game, I'll buy it - it's giving back to the guys that spent those long nights coding away for my entertainment. It's an incentive to do better, develop sequels, and so on. It's like having braggers rights to own a quality piece of scripting, coding, and a good game. Plus if the company is a small-ish one, then it's a boost to them.