Game Theft

[nicrd]

Im really amased by how many people copy pc games all the time. These guys give the excuse that its too expensif and not always good and that the developers have a lot of money and blah blah... But I feel this is wrong. There are some human beings behind games that work really hard and do a lot of overtime work to make a game. And these humans need to feed there families.

Because a game is just a series of bits stored on a cd and you never get a direct contact with the people behind it, it doesnt feel like stealing, but it is. If everyone bought the games instead of copying them, they would be cheaper. When your honest and you buy a game, you pay for everyone who stole it.

Something that I find even more irritating is those hard core pc gamers that hate consoles and complain that developers are giving too much attention to consoles while they copy all their pc games. If developers make more money with consoles, its because console gamers buy there games instead of copying.

Since I sometimes get laughed at when I buy a game instead of copying it, I want to know what are your thoughts about this, am I complaining for nothing or is there really a big problem?

 

[craig]

If the game is good then the developers deserve to earn money from it. If its some shit thrown together to get your money (i.e. 80% of E.A's products) then why the hell should you part with hard earned cash for it?

That and the fact that most games nowadays are too high priced, makes warez popular. IMO if games were £15 / £20 GBP then more people would part with the cash and the dev's would still make a wedge.

 

[EVIL]

This is off course a huge problem. Copying pc games is like adding a tile to the road of the destruction of the game community. The more pc games are getting copied the more losses game developers will get and the higher the prices will be of the product. It’s a hyperbolic curve that leads to nothing, but the end of gaming if nothing is done to stop it. But that’s the big problem, it is almost impossible to stop.

The big question is what can be done, I don't know, but I do know it has to be drastic to have effect.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

In the end only EA and their sports games will survive the copyfest....


£15 is really pushing it, i mean, new DVD's are 20 and they are much more popular than PC games. Perhaps they could make them that priced but they would have to sell a lot to make a decent profit. Otherwise they would ahve to keep churning out games to stay afloat.

 

[Stormy]

Generaly i am only intrested in games which i think will be good, any game i know is going to be good i will buy, eg, HL2, STALKER. But games that im not intrested in or not sure if its any good i will download. A good example of this is Hitman contracts, i loved the origanl 2 and bought the first one, i downloaded contracts because i wasnt sure if it was going to be... err up to my standerds shall i say, well it wasnt, it had been dulled down for console use, i didnt like it, so it was deleted. On the other hand, if it was good i would have bought the game and added it to my collection.

 

[Direwolf]

Weren't the first two hitmans console games too? I just heard that the problems stemmed from the fact that you can just kill everyone now, instead of having to be careful.

 

[Rico]

Stealing games makes me giggle. In fact, that's the biggest mistake I ever make whenever I do it because I just start laughing uncontrollably as I am running out the store with game in hand... MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

[Kyorisu]

If developers make more money with consoles, its because console gamers buy there games instead of copying.

Are you sure? There are things called mod chips these fine things allow one to use a burnt disc.

 

[theGreenBunny]

If everyone bought the games instead of copying them, they would be cheaper.

Though most of your points are valid, this one is a bit naive. More games sold = more money for publishers. Now why would they take down the price? To make less money? As everyone is buying them they are apparently priced just fine, so why lower it? They're not going to lower prices out of charity, you know.

I would be interested in how much of the game price goes to the publisher, and how much the devs get. I wonder if it's like music cds where the artist gets less than a dollar for every cd sold and the big chunk goes to the record company.

 

[PvtRyan]

If the game is good then the developers deserve to earn money from it. If its some shit thrown together to get your money (i.e. 80% of E.A's products) then why the hell should you part with hard earned cash for it?

There's a simpel solution to that: don't play them.
I'm not gonna waste my money on mediocre/bad games, so why would I waste my time playing them? You don't have the godly right to play all games, nor will you die when you don't play them all. Just ignore those games.

That and the fact that most games nowadays are too high priced, makes warez popular. IMO if games were £15 / £20 GBP then more people would part with the cash and the dev's would still make a wedge.

Games are NOT too expensive, if you buy the right games, you get at least 15 hours of fun on singeplayer (with games like HL2 and STALKER 30 to a 100 hours) and possibly hundreds of hours of fun on multiplayer, and the price for that is €40/$50. Is it really that expensive if you look at what you get in return? Developers spend 3 years or more of their lives on making this, geez going to the movies is more expensive per hour, so is drinking in the pub and pretty much everything. If you make games as cheap as you say, developers would earn nothing, the publishers take most of the money, and what's left of that £15 goes to the developers.

And it's completely untrue what you say about low prices will make sales go up. NOLF2 was €30 here, instead of €50, and guess how well it sold? Very poorly, despite the fact that it was a great game.
Beyond Good and Evil was also very cheap, and a quality title, didn't sell very well either. €30 spend buying it is still €30 more than copying it.

That and the fact that most games nowadays are too high priced

Funny, because it isn't a fact, the prices didn't rise anything the last years, if any, they got lower. Especially console game prices dropped. Hell, I spend €75 on Perfect Dark, and if you buy online I'm sure you'll find most games under 55.
It's lame and completely false to complain that games these days are so much more expensive. Didn't SNK have a console where games were like €150?

 

[Direwolf]

There's a simpel solution to that: don't play them.
I'm not gonna waste my money on mediocre/bad games, so why would I waste my time playing them? You don't have the godly right to play all games, nor will you die when you don't play them all. Just ignore those games.

The idea there is to find out whether its a bad game or not before you buy it.

 

[Razor]

Games have gone down in price, a top game used to be £35 with the addons ranging from £15-£25. The top games now-a-days are £25 each.

 

[nicrd]

Are you sure? There are things called mod chips these fine things allow one to use a burnt disc.

This is true, but the scale is different. There are much much more pc games being copied than console games.

Though most of your points are valid, this one is a bit naive. More games sold = more money for publishers. Now why would they take down the price? To make less money? As everyone is buying them they are apparently priced just fine, so why lower it? They're not going to lower prices out of charity, you know.

Think about movies: it is much more expensive to make a movie than a game, but when you buy it on DVD it is much cheaper because they sell a lot. Even the bad movies that dont do alot of money in theatres are still cheap on DVD. Seeing as the game industry is in expansion, I believe games will one day cost as much as DVDs.

And it's completely untrue what you say about low prices will make sales go up. NOLF2 was €30 here, instead of €50, and guess how well it sold? Very poorly, despite the fact that it was a great game.
Beyond Good and Evil was also very cheap, and a quality title, didn't sell very well either. €30 spend buying it is still €30 more than copying it.

If games were cheaper I'd buy much more. Great games like HL2 or doom3 I know im going to buy them, whatever the price. But each time I go in a game store I check all the budget priced titles. So I bought Beyond Good and Evil which I wouldnt have bought at full price. There are many other games that I never thought I'd buy, but when I saw them cheap, I bought them. And I dont think im the only one who does this.

The idea there is to find out whether its a bad game or not before you buy it.

Read a review or something. You cant have everything given to you on a silver plate. Good game or bad game, the developers have the right to get paid for the hard work. And pls be honest : will you always buy a good game that you downloaded?

dont answer this, just think about it.

 

[The Mullinator]

Games seem cheaper to me now than they were a few years ago. I remember buying some new games for $120 (CDN) when they were first released (not SE or anything) but now the only games I see going for that kind of price are those rare games that have an SE version. So really the price is not so bad at all. In fact games are really the cheapest kind of software you can get for a PC.

 

[Alig]

Although the only game i have copied in my bedroom is cosacks (or whatever) i still see why people copy games....the devs have already been payed by the time the game comes out because the games get bought of retailers who are LEGIT then they sell them to us (or thats what i think anyway).

Its just like you buying something of the back of a truck...most people buy copied games from car boot sales and stuff and dodgey shops for 1/3 the price, imagine how many people copied HL...out of 2 people i knew that had it had a ripped version of HL (i dont of course...i want to play online) and that didnt stop Valve from putting 40million dolla's or however much into HL2. Devs are rolling in money i think, i mean the game market has/is catching up the movie market with all the piracy going on, in both markets might i add. It doesnt stop them being loaded and filthy rich.

 

[Cybernoid]

Pirates are funny people. Their reasoning is beyond all logic. Can you imagine that some people steal a game because it's so stupid that it isn't worth the money? Hmm. I wouldn't play a crap game even for free, but that's just me.

 

[A2597]

hey, I'll admit I warez games, but it if's good, I buy it. If it wasn't, well..then I'm not playing it either.

there are exceptions...UT2k4, HL2...GTA3...those were insta buys.

 

[PvtRyan]

Although the only game i have copied in my bedroom is cosacks (or whatever) i still see why people copy games....the devs have already been payed by the time the game comes out because the games get bought of retailers who are LEGIT then they sell them to us (or thats what i think anyway).

Its just like you buying something of the back of a truck...most people buy copied games from car boot sales and stuff and dodgey shops for 1/3 the price, imagine how many people copied HL...out of 2 people i knew that had it had a ripped version of HL (i dont of course...i want to play online) and that didnt stop Valve from putting 40million dolla's or however much into HL2. Devs are rolling in money i think, i mean the game market has/is catching up the movie market with all the piracy going on, in both markets might i add. It doesnt stop them being loaded and filthy rich.

Yeah, developers all so filthy rich, a lot of them decided to just close down the company and drink champagne in their Ferrari's. Oh wait, no... they just went bankrupt. Yes the gaming industry is growing, but that's the console department, where copying is limited. The PC industry just takes up a few percent and is slowly dying (yes it's probably still growing but it's severely lagging behind consoles).
Developers are switching to consoles more often and often, there's simply more money in it.

The idea there is to find out whether its a bad game or not before you buy it.

I have never bought a bad game, a little bit of research before you buy a game never hurts. And most of the time they release a demo. And if you're still not sure you wait until the game gets a bit cheaper before you buy it.
You don't need warez for it, it's a lame excuse from people 'yeah if it's good I'll buy it' and 19/20 times they end up not buying it, but oddly enough they do play it, I thought it was a bad game?

 

[theGreenBunny]

Funny how games seem to be more expensive here (Netherlands) than in the US and the UK. They haven't lowered either. When we switched to the euro new games went from f100,- which is the equivalent of roughly 45 euro (30 pounds) to 50 euro (f110 and 33 pounds), that's a 10% increase. (I didn't include the dollar price as it doesn't differ all that much from the euro)

Not a justification of course, but it sucks nonetheless. I buy my games in english online stores these days, where I pre ordered HL2 for something like 35 euro for example.

And don't tell me it's way more expensive to ship games here instead of the UK, countries are right next to each other. Somewhere along the way someone is grabbing a nice profit margin, and I think it's the publisher.

edit to include this:

Yes the gaming industry is growing, but that's the console department, where copying is limited. The PC industry just takes up a few percent and is slowly dying (yes it's probably still growing but it's severely lagging behind consoles).

Not entirely true. The console business is high volume - low margin, you sell a lot of games, but there are more parties involved who all want their share (like the console builder, those guys don't make their money off the consoles, they make money off the games). This means less profit for the publisher/dev.

Nevertheless, some publishers are buying into the console boom/hype and switching to consoles. It'll be interesting to see what happens when console piracy starts growing and decreasing the sales volume. But perhaps that's just my pc fanboyism talking.

 

[Direwolf]

Something to note: don't pretend this is a simple issue. It's not. And to see it as only black in white is just annoying and ignorant.

 

[EVIL]

Funny how games seem to be more expensive here (Netherlands) than in the US and the UK. They haven't lowered either. When we switched to the euro new games went from f100,- which is the equivalent of roughly 45 euro (30 pounds) to 50 euro (f110 and 33 pounds), that's a 10% increase. (I didn't include the dollar price as it doesn't differ all that much from the euro)

Not a justification of course, but it sucks nonetheless. I buy my games in english online stores these days, where I pre ordered HL2 for something like 35 euro for example.

And don't tell me it's way more expensive to ship games here instead of the UK, countries are right next to each other. Somewhere along the way someone is grabbing a nice profit margin, and I think it's the publisher.

Higher development costs

 

[StardogChampion]

If the game is good then the developers deserve to earn money from it. If its some shit thrown together to get your money (i.e. 80% of E.A's products) then why the hell should you part with hard earned cash for it?

That and the fact that most games nowadays are too high priced, makes warez popular. IMO if games were £15 / £20 GBP then more people would part with the cash and the dev's would still make a wedge.

I think they've left it way too late, warez has taken a hold and people that've started will just warez forever. If they had stopped ripping us off before the warezing became huge then maybe it would work. Now they're getting ****ed over for ****ing us over.

 

[theGreenBunny]

Higher development costs

Nope, they're the exact same games as in the UK, not translated or anything like they do in Germany.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

i think part of the problem with games and pricing is that generally the audience is young and may not have a job to support their hobby.

then u take into account that parents don't always buy every game their kids want, so when u combine this 2, u get pple downloading illegal versions.

is it a good thing to do? no, of course not.. and i am not trying to make an excuse for those who download these illegal versions.. but it is somewhat a result of the situation pple are in.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Devs are rolling in money i think, i mean the game market has/is catching up the movie market with all the piracy going on, in both markets might i add. It doesnt stop them being loaded and filthy rich.

You're confusing publishers with developers. Developers rarely see more than 8% of the price of a game.

 

[DarkStar]

I also have to admit to warezing on occasion. However I ONLY do it when the company does not release a demo for the game. And if I like the game, I will ALWAYS go to the store and buy a copy. For instance, I was about to download Thief 3, but then they released a demo. I think I'm going to go buy the full version next week.

I just don't understand companies that don't release demos of their games. You should be able to testdrive a car before you buy one, why not the same with games?

 

[Rico]

Exactly... Almost every good demo is a buy from me. You can do all the research you want but you will never knows if you will TRULY like the game until you actually play it. Heck, I was hyped up about FarCry before I actually got int othe beta test and played the SP demo, after that I knew the game was complete crap (in my opinion) and decided to never look at it again. On the other hand, I recently download the GroundControl2 demo without ever having played the first game (I heard it was quite good from some people) and I was pleasantly surprised, this is the best RTS I've played since Starcraft! I loved this game and I will definitely buy it.

 

[EVIL]

Nope, they're the exact same games as in the UK, not translated or anything like they do in Germany.

Thats not what I meant, the costs to devlop a game are getting higher every year, and the big warez problem. This all, has a stab at increasing the prices on games.

 

[CrazyHarij]

Don't like warez, I used to warezor stuff alot, but now I do my best to buy all games that I find interesting.

 

[Ames]

there are exceptions...UT2k4, HL2...GTA3...those were insta buys.

Wait..."were?"

On topic: I used to copy sometimes, but I stopped after a while. Of course, that was after my computer broke down and I lost all my files. :E

:bounce:

 

[thehunter1320]

games are so bad nowadays... there isn't anything even worth copying/downloading

 

[theGreenBunny]

Publishers don't release a demo if they don't want to spend more money. They have to pay the devs for getting a demo together, and a bunch of Q&A to make sure it's not a bugfest.
Apparently they think this investment won't pay itself back, despite what just about everyone says.

Thats not what I meant, the costs to devlop a game are getting higher every year, and the big warez problem. This all, has a stab at increasing the prices on games.

True. But I was talking about the price difference between my country and the UK & US.