Are video game developers getting hurt by piracy due to the economic c

[Link5084]

With Sony definitely taking a plunge on it since PSP piracy is more popular than DS piracy, I wonder if this will affect them to not make any high quality games for the PSP anymore. With the economic depression, piracy is increasing by a huge margin every day for people to find ways to save money but get the game they need. What's your stance on this?

 

[Canonbeat234]

Um, LOL WUT? Seriously though piracy is now more common this time and age because of the economic crisis. The problem is now that we will get whinny people who needs to know that the new R4DS are fake.

 

[Smuff]

Don't care - fuck em

 

[Advi]

true, true

But of course even piracy itself is a challenge, as many of us have probably experienced.

 

[alex]

We caused the economic crisis.

But piracy doesn't hurt a lot, I see a lot of people at GameStop buying games still(including "shovelware" games, saw someone around x-mas time buying High School Musical 3 for the Wii. :\ )

 

[Advi]

We caused the economic crisis.

But piracy doesn't hurt a lot, I see a lot of people at GameStop buying games still(including "shovelware" games, saw someone around x-mas time buying High School Musical 3 for the Wii. :\ )

EXACTLY..........in reality us pirates are simply smarter then the mainstream. Most people don't even know HOW to.

 

[deathfisaro]

Short answer, no.

Long answer, game developers that put out "worthy" games don't get hurt much.

For example, Blizzard stated that recession won't hurt World of Warcraft because people think they are getting more value out of $15 a month playing WoW than spending more money on other entertainments.

Also, look at this: http://i.gizmodo.com/5139226/video-games-o...st-time-in-2008
With one minor correction from "outsold" to "out-revenue-ed"


My guess is, given the sea of information about piracy available, if people wanted to pirate they would have already. I don't think there'll be a sudden massive jump in piracy.

I'd admit though, me and my Japanese friend gave up purchasing the Japanese version of Dissidia:FF on PSP because it cost somewhere around $80 to have it imported to Canada. I was like "screw it, I can't afford additional $20 out my wallet just because of this insane f/x rate."

So I'll surely import less, but how much do imports count in the first place anyway?

 

[NeSchn]

Hmm, I do always kinda feel bad for pirating games.

And we are in an Economic Recession, not a depression.

 

[Diablo1123]

I'd say they might be, but not much.
I would go with what this guy said about World of Goo's piracy rate:

I also don’t think 2DBoy is going to be missing the money. Chances are, most people who pirate a game would not have bought the game anyway. I don’t think a 80-90% piracy rate translates to them losing 80-90% of sales, not by a longshot, just like it doesn’t for the music industry. Despite the ads, stealing a game is not like stealing a car.

Source: http://www.1fort.com/blog/piracy-rampant-for-world-of-goo/


For example, I wouldn't have gotten a DS / PSP if I didn't have games.

 

[UltraMagnus]

gah.

people seem to forget that they are hooked up to internetwork forums... I am sure piracy here is far more prevalent than among the general public.

most people are so computer illiterate that they don't know how to change their automatic update settings in windows, or even know what they are.

 

[alex]

I'd say they might be, but not much.
I would go with what this guy said about World of Goo's piracy rate:

I also don’t think 2DBoy is going to be missing the money. Chances are, most people who pirate a game would not have bought the game anyway. I don’t think a 80-90% piracy rate translates to them losing 80-90% of sales, not by a longshot, just like it doesn’t for the music industry. Despite the ads, stealing a game is not like stealing a car.
Source: http://www.1fort.com/blog/piracy-rampant-for-world-of-goo/


For example, I wouldn't have gotten a DS / PSP if I didn't have games.

This.

If you steal a car, the company had to pay something to get it in their shop, a wholesale price that is usually a bit cheaper(or a lot sometimes)that the sale price. When you [digitally]steal a video game, the stores didn't lose any money, it's just like you didn't buy it.It doesn't really hurt them, since more than half of the people in the world can't pirate. You didn't go to Gamestop/random game store and take it. You got it, but it could have been a potential sale, but it like if you put it back and said no. But you get it online anyways. Not a lot of harm done.

QUOTE(UltraMagnus @ Jan 29 2009, 02:20 AM)

gah.

people seem to forget that they are hooked up to internetwork forums... I am sure piracy here is far more prevalent than among the general public.

most people are so computer illiterate that they don't know how to change their automatic update settings in windows, or even know what they are.

Yup, this too. People would probably need a media manager(especially parents[no offense]getting kids their a cart to stop paying so much)like the PSP to copy it over. And people still think hitting the computer monitor helps make it go faster. It's a great stress reducer though!

 

[SoLuckys]

In my country yes because a nds game is 40+ euros and if the kids wouldnt buy the game it will be a disaster for the game developers

 

[halljames]

I dont know about the economic state at the moment, but I do feel that Piracy seems to have become mainstream. Since I had my first Gameboy Colour, I have always messed around with Flash Carts etc. I always seemed to be the only one in terms of people I knew and worked with.

Now, in a building full of 18 people, ranging from the ages of 30 to 65, there are probably around 13 of them with Nintendo DS's with flash cartridges, 4 of us have PSP's hacked, 3 of us have Wii's hacked, and that doesnt included family members of each of these people who have been given Nintendo DS's with Flash Kits by my work collegues.

These are all people that a while ago wouldnt have thought about it, but now all of a sudden, everyone is into piracy.

 

[dewp]

TBH it really doesn't put much of a dent in any of the industrys, Sony has it's finger in so many fucking pies and has had for years - from tv's stereos, radio's etc etc,.

The regular Joe just wouldn't have the know how to hack a psp, or even want too, the same goes for DS carts, they seem like common knowledge to us but really are not, an example of this are games on the main rom sites (popular ones) are only downloaded say 2000-5000 times, that is a very small number of people in comparison to the millions of Ds's sold

 

[UltraMagnus]

I dont know about the economic state at the moment, but I do feel that Piracy seems to have become mainstream. Since I had my first Gameboy Colour, I have always messed around with Flash Carts etc. I always seemed to be the only one in terms of people I knew and worked with.

Now, in a building full of 18 people, ranging from the ages of 30 to 65, there are probably around 13 of them with Nintendo DS's with flash cartridges, 4 of us have PSP's hacked, 3 of us have Wii's hacked, and that doesnt included family members of each of these people who have been given Nintendo DS's with Flash Kits by my work collegues.

These are all people that a while ago wouldnt have thought about it, but now all of a sudden, everyone is into piracy.

do you work in the IT industry by any chance?

although, I get what you mean, I overheard two of the railwaymen talking about "R4s" on my way to uni today....