Comments on: Game piracy as a service

By: Henry Emrich

Henry Emrich — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:12:46 +0000

Personally, I think it’s all moving in the direction that the Net has been about for years:

1. A “gratis” layer (”Free as in beer”) — cynically known in traditional bidness circles as a “loss leader”)

2. Various “premium” stuff — members-only access, special bonuses, etc.

Ironically, online porn is basically leading the way on this one, with their “free preview” and a “member’s only” section with a lot more content.

(Or maybe that originated with the notion of “crippleware” — shareware that was semi-functional until registered.)

3. Another great idea would be for game and media companies to put out their older stuff gratis when the sequel/follow-up is rolled out:
Rockstar did this — released GTA and GTA 2. (Admittedly, the other GTA titles were available from torrent sites already, but you get the idea.) There’s also a music group called “Brian Jonestown Massacre” that does this — their website contains a lot of their older releases available for free download. (I personally don’t dig them that much — basically a bad Stones tribute-band, as far as I can figure), but the principle itself is sound.

4. Yes, this IS progress, to some slight degree.
A REAL step forward would be for game companies to offer the regular games gratis, but sell modding kits, level editors, programming tutorials, etc. Maybe even have a “mod showcase” type of setup where you could upload your user-created levels/conversions, and such.

Just some ideas.

By: SteelWolf

SteelWolf — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:46:56 +0000

Could this be progress!?

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:40:56 +0000

now this may be a workable solution to those who want to try before they buy.
Perhaps buyers should have to register to get access to the full content.
As long as the publishers don’t over restrict the non-registered copies.
I find demos are usually useless and don’t give you enough content to make you feel like purchasing the game.
This could be the right balance everyone has been looking for.

By: NO1UNO

NO1UNO — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:28:03 +0000

EA has always been one of the smarter games companies, even though of late (before Spore) alot of their racing games were total crap. If this attitude (of downloaded demo) can spread through the rest of the industry then PC gaming as a whole can survive after all. Alot of us grew up on PC gaming, and I for one dont want to see it end for a couple of, IMHO, good reasons. First, i drives inovation in hardware developement, and second it gives ME an excuse to upgrade my computer using all that inovative hardware!

Build your own & stw

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:51:23 +0000

I always download games to try before I buy. Do I consider this piracy or stealing NO. If games were returnable for full refund they would not have to worry about who was downloading what. Sure there will always be people who will steal but game companies have been stealing for years from comsumers and no one ever mentions that. Many games I have bought installed and almost immediately uninstalled. I can’t return them because the policy is you can only get the same game on a return.
The reason companies hate the internet is because people can try before they buy and they can’t make millions from crap anymore.
It has been proven with Music, Movies and Games, if you make a product people want they will pay for it. Long gone are the days where companies can put out what ever crap they want and still make lots of money.

This is a smart step for EA and it looks like they finally are adjusting to the internet age!

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:00:27 +0000

“best way to combat piracy” I’d say he means “best way to compete with free, encourage people to try before buy, entice them to upgrade to the full package, separate the people who would not buy from those who would all the while increasing the number of those that would buy.”

Kinda like TechDirt has been saying for half a decade? Kinda like how Ghosts was released with NIN? Parts free from the source (something EA could consider) and full released with purchase? You’ll always have someone convert the full and share it, but if the option is their along with a free version, you’ll get more people paying for it because… it’s an OPTION, not a DEMAND with fixed pricing that is not market driven.