Piracy vs. Crap: Why PC Game Companies Fail

Submitted by George Walker on July 26, 2006 – 8:55 pm11 Comments

So, this whole SiN Episodes piracy bruhaha has been swirling for a few months, now. Well. Okay, maybe not a bruhaha. More like one really pissed off Ritual employee, Michael Russell:

The copies of “SiN Episodes: Emergence” that you buy pay my salary. Retail copies of Windows are more expensive partly because Microsoft has to factor support costs into those sales. More and more companies are moving to console games, not only because they make more money (they do because there’s less piracy in the console space), but because they save major bank on support costs.

A valid point, for sure. No doubt that piracy affects video game sales and profits, right? I mean, we all know that. The BSA has been shoving it down our throats for years. It must be true… or is it…

There’s this pesky little company called Stardock. They made a game called Galactic Civilizations II, which for some strange reason has NO COPY PROTECTION whatsoever. Yet, amazingly, they make money. They seem to make a lot of money. GalCiv2 was the best-selling software at Wal-Mart for quite a stretch, there.

What is the difference? I don’t think it has to do with lack of copy protection. Like many, I just think copy protection is totally irrelevant in any discussion regarding piracy. It just doesn’t do any good in stopping it. So, what’s the deal then? Why is Stardock so profitable in the face of all this piracy?

Coming up is the part where I’m going to sound like a total butthead… Michael Russell recently stated this in an interview with Shacknews:

I’ve been in this industry for seven years, and I’ve seen the effects of piracy. I’ve seen studios close as the result of it, I’ve seen people lose their homes. I guess I’m more vocal than a lot of people because I’ve seen the personal side of it, and it’s just sad that we have so many people looking for a way of justifying it.

There’s no doubting his sincerity and passion. In fact, I agree that piracy is a problem, and it is stealing. However, I think it’s somewhat of a cop-out to blame all the ills of the PC game industry on piracy, especially when so many high-quality products like Oblivion and GalCiv2 still seem to make a lot of money. And here’s the butthead part: Maybe the PC game industry isn’t failing because of too much piracy, maybe it’s failing because of too little quality.

Told you I was going to be a butthole. I’m basically saying that the piracy isn’t the cause of failing game companies, but instead it’s releasing low quality garbage. (I am certainly not saying that SiN is total garbage.) Stardock made an excellent game. And it sold really well, as a result of that. EA spits out an endless stream of poop, and of course they’re going to have record losses. I just get a little tired of people immediately saying that piracy is to blame, when it’s obvious that overall quality has gone WAY downhill in the PC game space.

But, then again. I’m just a gamer. What do I know?

Bogie

It is certainly developers releasing crap titles, but also a lack of sufficient marketing. This could be directly from the publishers, in store (or online) ads, and word of mouth. Look at crap like Deer Hunter which sold like gang busters for years. It was an abomination of a game, but it had a great distribution channel through Wal-Mart. It’s a shame when great game companies fail (or are acquired by behemoths like EA), but in the end I believe it’s due to a variety of factors with suspect quality definitely being one of them.
http://www.methylblue.com Max Howell

People will blame things like piracy rather than admit they made a mistake or produced poor quality merchandise. It happens everywhere.

I work in software development and am certain piracy is inevitable, copy-protection just pisses off the people who buy your product. Producers blame piracy because it’s easy to do and takes the blame off their shoulders.

Doubtless piracy causes some earning’s loss, but supermarkets factor in theft into their bottom line, it’s about time the software industry shut up and did the same IMO.
Luke

I think it is a case of crap games, basically, that is doing in some companies. If you look through a site like gamespot randomly, the amount of rubbish you come up against is tremendous. Some people just arent cut out for the industry.

And then on the other hand, there is marketing. There was a brilliant game that I recommend a few years ago called Startopia, which without seeing a tiny little square article in an ancient PC gaming magazine I wouldnt have bought. The company was shut down and a sequel cancelled even though the game was a wonderful little game.

Piracy? No, just incompetent publishers and crap ideas.
You Retard

Stealing is wrong… it’s stupid to say that just because something isn’t very good you can steal it. You don’t walk into a Used Car lot and take a car because is kinda sucks. That is BS.

It’s greed, and the human nature of people who want more then they can afford. George, your an idiot.
Who’s the retard?

um, try reading the article. George never said stealing wasn’t wrong, or that piracy wasn’t stealing. He said that piracy isn’t the root cause of PC game company failures, and he’s right.
Ted Brown

Ah, right, you are just a gamer, and that’s the problem with your perspective here.

You aren’t taking into account the economics of making a game. GalCiv2 was pretty sweet, and pretty small. It did not cost a lot of money to make, and so it didn’t need to sell as many copies as, say, SiN, to make its money back and start turning a profit.

It’s easy to say “crap games are being made”, but how easy is it for a hardcore gamer to say, “You know what? I think Doom 3 is just a crappy remake, so I’m not going to buy it. I’m just going to grab a copy off the internet.”

If it’s crap, THEN WHY ARE YOU PIRATING IT AND PLAYING IT?

You don’t play games and plunk coins in a tip jar after you’re done. That might be a nice way to supplement hard working game dev’s incomes in the future, but for now, if you’re going to play it for any serious length of time (ESPECIALLY if you plan on finishing it), buy it.

Otherwise, you’re just lying to yourself to avoid the guilt that comes from petty theft.
Diman

[quote]If it’s crap, THEN WHY ARE YOU PIRATING IT AND PLAYING IT?[/quote]
Here is a question for you. How do you know if it is crap if you never tried it yourself? And Are you gona risk it buying a $50 game that you can’t return because it sucks?
First realize that there are different Pirates out there. There are ones that want to justify the cost of their PC parts through piracy, ones that download a game to try it out and buy it if it is good, and of course there are the ones that are just cheap fools.
Ted Brown

Bullshit. I bet you download movies and CD’s, too, just to “try it before you buy it.” And, lo, somehow, after you’ve watched the movie once or listened to that CD about ten times, you decide “it’s just not worth it.”

I bet you’ve completed a whole bunch of top ten games that you never paid for, because you justify it with a snobbish turn of the nose and a comment like, “It wasn’t that good.”

What, you can’t go to GameStop or EB Games and turn in the game for a credit? Your time and money is so tight that you can’t afford to take risks? Are you really that picky? My God, man, this is a hobby! Learn to support the industry that makes the things you love! Not every game is going to be the best game you’ve ever played!
http://www.notofficial.co.uk Gazz Williams

The bottom line does seem to be that thousands of millions of people steal content rather than pay for it (because they won’t get caught.) To a degree I think that ‘industry’ is reaping what it sows: Rabid consumerism. I doubt that a lot of software downloads would translate into sales, or that even many downloaded games get played more than once. Remember that potentially these people have access to most games ever made and are also hyperconsumptive (if that is a real word…) Those that are into emulation will probably be familiar with the feeeling of being so spoiled for choice that they play every game for 10 minutes before the curiosity of what they are missing makes them load up another title…

On the other hand I also have no doubts that many people ignore there ethical duty to support the software industry and unfortunately it seems to me that digital-content providers (music, films, games etc) are all at the mercy of the consumer and so depend upon the few of us that are ethical.

Obviously ethical consumers exist because industry hasn’t crashed…yet.

Let us also not forget that if industry had it’s way we wouldn’t be able to use emulators, make compilation CD’s for our friends, catch up on TV programs (that we pay a licence fee for) using Bittorrent and not selling our ‘not-for-resale’ content 2nd hand when we had enough of it.

…And we would still be paying
gazz williams

I apologise for my terrible punctuation
http://www.cybersnipa.com Cokes

As consumers, we can make the difference. Think about it, can we return what we eat – or drink – or wear for that matter? No, you eat food, you digest it – and then it’s gone, never to be seen again other than a piece of dump which is flushed out into the ocean or wherever!
And as a pc gamer & consumer, there are some cool gadgets available at http://www.cybersnipa.com – not only do they increase gaming performance, but they are also affordable!