Humanizing Video Game Piracy

August / Jul 27 2006

No offense, but when you charge $60 for a game, what do you expect. It particularily stings when there is a previous-gen version available and there is no real difference in features between the two.

Many years ago, the development community said "If there was no piracy, we wouldn’t have to charge so much for games". The 360, until recently, had no way of using pirated games so you guys had no excuse for the crazy prices. On top of that, some publishers are taking advantage of people with crazy prices for downloadable content (Ubisoft).

WiNG / Jul 27 2006

I surely dont want to play as devils advocate here, but here in Spain, where our economy has surely advanced in the last years but still far from UK or Germany, you certainly cannot ask a 14-year-old boy to spend 50-60€ (and remember 1€ = 1.26$) into a game because he won’t have that ammount of cash in 3 months of saving. Even for me with 25 and a job its still kind of a luxury. What happens in here at the end? That when a kid ask their parents at their birthdays or christmas for a videogame (that will probably be forgotten in a week or two unless it is an exceptional one) they end up telling the kid that they won’t spend that much on a single game, instead they will try to get in contact with a pirate to get 5 or 6 games for half the price. It is nice? sure it is not, but my country works that way at the moment. Surely it could be just excuses, but take it this way, when we are starting to face 50 years mortgages for our homes, not being able to leave your parents till you are 30 and inmersed in trash jobs that may end at any time, it is not realistic (for us) to ask (us) for 50-60€ that easily

Fortunately enough, a few developers are selling some titles on cheap prices and titles are reissued in cheap editions in not much much time, but still imagine I purchased today Grand Theft Auto 3 and asked for support, would I even get a reply for such an old game now? Not to mention I would not even be able to return it to the store if it didn’t work or if I didn’t accpet the license terms (StarForce anyone?) because I would have had to open the box and no one here accepts returns of opened games…

Ozymandias / Jul 27 2006

One of the challenges is simply that the price of developing games continues to rise. Over the last 10 years games have gone from costing maybe a million dollars to five, ten, or even more. High definition art assets, surround sound, online gaming all cost time and money to implement.

I personally think prices for high-end games are pretty justified at this point, especially when considering the effect of piracy. An interesting question to consider is what might happen if there were ever a truely bulletproof anti-piracy solution. Could game prices come down? It’s possible… but the escalating cost of making those games might well eat up any advantage.

It’s a tough problem no matter what. I think Live Arcade is a good step in the right direction… and over the years I suspect we’ll see downloading games becoming more and more prevalent. That may also help control the price curve.

Kypdurron5 / Jul 27 2006

I hope you’re right. I sympathize with game developers…perhaps the best game we’ve seen in the last year or two is Half-Life 2, but I know it took them multiple years to get that title to market. I have no idea what it cost them, but I would imagine it was significant. Still, $50 is a lot to spend on a game, and while Half-Life 2 is surly worth it, this leaves all games which are not quite as good as being not quite as worth the full $50 price. Now with Xbox 360 and PS3 we’re looking at $55-60 games?! The cost of this kind of entertainment is just getting too high. In high school I used to save up my money to buy a $39.99 game; the prospect of being able to do that these days is looking less and less likely. Thus, I also sympathize with pirates. I think the best short-term solution would be a multi-tiered pricing structure. For whatever reason almost every current generation game came out at $49.99, and yet clearly we only had a few “greats” in the bunch. I like what PSP is doing; some games come out at $50 and some come out at $40. I realize Xbox Live Arcade is trying to do that a little bit by providing cheap non-next gen. games, but should I really buy an Xbox 360 for that? I understand what you’re saying about costs going up, but I honestly just don’t believe that costs have risen between the previous generation and this one to warrant an extra $10 for every game sold. Even though the $50 price tag debuted around 4 years ago with the current gen., I still see it as being “expensive.” I feel as though developers have used the next generation as an excuse to raise prices. Finally, there was a big thing recently about video game reviewers and how they are too harsh sometimes. In every response I read/heard the reviewers talked about wanting to make sure that when someone decides to spend $50 on a game they want to make sure readers get the most bang for the buck. I completely agree, but this shows that even people working in the industry (but more on the consumer side) have not lost the recognition that $50 is an appreciably large amount of money to spend on a game. I would agree with one analysis suggesting that even avid gamers may buy a maximum of one game per month; that’s still $600 per year on gaming alone, and you’ve only got 12 games to show for it. I think in the end high game prices will be mean fewer games sold. Xbox definitely has the price advantage on the console side, but add in the $100 wireless adapter and you’re only $100 away from the cost of a PS3. Thus, we’re also looking at $500-$600 just for the hardware to run these $55-60 next generation games. It’s just getting a little bit out of control. I’ve always been one to pre-order and wait in line on launch day, but this time around economics wins out over gamer loyalty. I hope to get into console gaming again one day, but these numbers alone have pushed me out of it for the time being.

BrokenSymmetry / Jul 27 2006

I have never understood how people can justify games piracy by pointing out the "high" price of games. Is stealing a BMW justified because you think its price is too high, and you never could own one if you didn’t steal it? Isn’t it extremely simple: If you think something’s too expensive, don’t buy it? Don’t complain about it, and let the free market do it work…

Anyway, I don’t see the PC game piracy issue solved anytime soon, so if I were to develop a PC game I would prefer a always-online (centrally validated) game, for which piracy is mostly a non-issue. I particularly like the Guild Wars model, which is an always-online game which you can play as a traditional MMO, but also (almost) as a single-player game. No piracy issues there.

Inactive Gamertag / Jul 27 2006

I also have to agree, the games are too expensive. I do understand developing games cost a lot more than a few years ago.

So, instead of buying games from day one, why not just wait a few months for the prices to drop?

devilscallmedad / Jul 27 2006

Well piracy does have some positives, for e.g here in pakistan about 30% of the population lives on less than a dollar a day even my father’s montly pay is $500 and we are rich by Pakistani standards! so $50-60 is impossible to spend on a game even if we want to we can’t because no games are available here and websites like ebgames, gamestop..etc are not willing to ship them into Pakistan. I once did import a game and it cost me $160! i had to save for 7 months for that game.

So if you ask me piracy is a life saver for people like me not just in Pakistan but dozens of other poor countries. Otherwise we’d never be able to play any games

bean / Jul 27 2006

My problem with this article is that the numbers are incredibly WRONG or publishers are unethically greedy. He states that a game must have $40 million in sales before a developer starts getting a cut of the profits. . . because the publisher fronted $2 to $5 million, they get to see a 800-2000% return on their profit before the developer gets a profit?

Sure, I understand that investors get the lion’s share of profits due to having to take the lion’s share of the risk, but let’s be honest about who the pirates are here.

Developers go under because publishers have the money and thus the power to create unequitable and unethical contracts with developers –not because a relatively small amount of games are pirated – games that don’t actually represent lost sales as more often than not, "pirates" are trying the games before they buy them (you can’t return used software – even on the same day) OR they are kids who wouldn’t have the money for the games anyway, but who are hardcore and provide more overall sales for the game by spreading the good word.

I’m not pro-piracy. It’s stealing, and I don’t practice it because of this. . . even to "play-before-pay", but I think it is ridiculous to point at piracy as the reason that developers go under.

Aedrin / Jul 27 2006

"If you think something’s too expensive, don’t buy it? Don’t complain about it, and let the free market do it work…"

I believe that 75% of the people who pirate games, would not buy it if they couldn’t copy it in some way.

A good game does not cost a lot of money to develop. But all the developers are slowly pushing themselves to cost more. Why? They can’t be creative so instead they release version 2 of an earlier game with high definition graphics.

I think Nintendo is still the best example of how it should be done. Cheap hardware and high quality games. If only people cared about how much fun a game is, not how many polygons each model has.

J.Goodwin / Jul 27 2006

You can’t return software BECAUSE OF THE PIRATES!

It’s a vicious cycle.

WiNG / Jul 27 2006

Same as I pointed out the ridiculous prices games in general have to our chances in here, I have to say that every single Ubisoft game this year has been on a 20€ price, including Heroes of Might & Magic 5 on its first day. If Ubisoft is able to do that (always taking that no matter the price, there will always be some piracy) I do not see how the rest of companies cannot really (I doubt that Ubisoft is deliberately losing money, they are sure getting profit out of it)

OzyAussie / Jul 27 2006

I think Aedrin is spot-on when he says that piracy numbers are greatly inflated by people who have a casual try of games via piracy. I have played pirated games before to try them out. It really is no different to borrowing a legitimate copy off a friend. Is that piracy? I didn’t pay for it??

I consider myself a collector. If I like a game because I have tried the pirated version then I will buy it because I want an original copy for my collection. If I don’t like a game, then I won’t buy it, and the act of playing the pirated game hasn’t cost anyone anything, because it is a sale that the developer would never have got. In fact in my case (and I don’t pretend for a second that this is the norm) by actually playing a game first, albeit pirated, this can sometimes lead to a legitimate sale for the developer.

The problem in the PC world is try before you buy. My local EB has a 7 day return policy on console games, no questions asked. So I have the confidence to take the plunge on a 360 game that I have not tried. But there is no such confidence with PC games because there is no safety net: buyer beware. That’s where XBLA and Marketplace have got it 100% spot on with downloadable demos.

My second point is another perspective on the whole price thing. Multi-platform games. Here EA are the masters of rorting the consumer (although there are others). Lets take a game like Fifa World Cup, or in fact any of their sports franchises. Now in Australia EA realeased a version for every system known to man. Why then did the PC version retail for A$69.95 and the x360 version for A$119.95? What a joke. Even if they were worked on by different teams the synergies that must have been present by creating literally 6-8 versions of essentially the same game must have been massive. There is simply no justification for the difference in price point other than sheer greed. And for that reason I feel sorry for the independent and smaller developers by companies like EA get everything that they deserve.

Loraan / Jul 27 2006

Hey, Ozymandias… I think you hit a sore nerve. w00t! I think your next post should be about how video games lead to violence in teenage boys.

I started to write a long reply to this, but in the end it was stuff we’ve probably all seen before in piracy discussions generally. Ultimately, I think it’s the same issue whether it’s games, music, or movies. Here’s my solution, though: I don’t go to movies in off-matinee times anymore (>$10 to watch a re-tread sequel to a movie inspired by a theme park ride? no way, man!), I don’t buy CDs anymore (the RIAA can suck my… um… yeah), and I rarely buy video games (only the ones I think will be special… like Idea Katamari[/i]). As for the rest: if I’m not willing to pay to see the movie or listen to the music or buy the game, I don’t bother with it at all. I’m too stinkin’ proud.

nschrag / Jul 27 2006

Video games are entertainment. Compared to other forms of entertainment, they are not unreasonably priced, at least in the US. Assuming all things are equally fun, you can break it down as time for your money. A two hour movie at the theater costs you $10 ($5/hr). A four hour concert of a well known band might cost you $40 ($10/hr). A day at an amusment park costs around $40 (~$3/hr). A good novel is $8 (~$0.75/hr). A 15 hour adventure game, $50 (~$3/hr). Claiming that videogames are outrageously priced is well…outrageous.

The people who create this entertainment do it for a living. They need to be compensated to support themselves. Sure they could support themselves in other ways, with other jobs, but then they wouldn’t be creating anymore. Maybe if we go back to patronage of the arts there would be less of a problem with piracy. The creators and artists would be supported, and they would get to create for the pure sake that they enjoy creating. Shame on any who wouldn’t.

The real problem is the selfish, capitalistic, individualistic society we live in. People who create just for the money need to have a reality check. Pirates who can actually afford what they are stealing don’t have their ethics in line. A little more giving on both ends would do everyone well.

DT / Jul 28 2006

well OzyAussie i agree with every word you said…

and people have you ever tried spending 200 bucks on games and end up spending only an hr on all of them… i mean not every single game a like fable, ninja gaiden, katamari… thatz why thatz piracy and in my country therez no renting games… so you either buy the real thing or get the pirate copy~

bean / Jul 28 2006

There are interesting gray areas about this discussion that are never addressed by the martinents and the renegades who generally dominate this discussion.

The culture of American television teaches people that being pigheaded moral absolutists is "good".

Is piracy stealing and thus immoral and wrong? Yes, totally. Are there other things that stem from this discussion that are interesting like: the inequitable contracts between developers and publishers and the high expense of games in poor markets and the economic difficulties of providing those games for them at a local price that is not absurd (translation costs and arbitage)? Yes, definitely yes!

But we’ll never hear those discussions unless someone writes about them directly. . . and the topic will still get mired down by moralists in the discussion.

maynard / Jul 28 2006

The price of the game should be more relative to the cost of developing it. Is it fair for EA to charge $60 a year for a roster update and a hit stick for Madden? This is where the developer takes too much advantage of its clients. Not to mention that, on top of that $60 price tag, they are also charging those foolish enough to pay $20 just to watch the preview! Games such as Madden take advantage of the higher prices, undeservedly, which hurts the whole market.

But, I feel that if a game costs, say, 20 million to create, as opposed to another game that costs 10 million, the prices should represent those dev costs.

Ozymandias, FYI, the word "truly" has no ‘e’. Just saw you made that mistake a couple times.

HcC / Jul 28 2006

He meant "Truley", it’s French.

Ozymandias / Jul 28 2006

Arrgh! No, I meant "truly" – and thanks for pointing that out. One of those words I know how to spell but my fingers don’t.

JimmyDanger / Jul 29 2006

Interesting discussion.

So what points do we have?

1) Games are more expensive because development costs are higher these days.

2) Per hour, games are still a good entertainment investment.

3) No matter how you put it – "wilfull infringement" – whatever – piracy is still stealing. It’s always funny how people get so defensive – "I can’t afford it", "The studios are milking out higher prices". Some people seem to think they have a divine right to Intellectual Property, that is often 2 – or 3 years of work for a group of people.

Because the White Stripes record an album in 2 weeks should it therefore be cheaper? Codswallop.

Like literature, sequential art, film and music – videogames are an entertainment artform. If Madden equates to Nsync for you – just don’t buy it. But we live in a free market, and often what appeals to the masses, the masses will lap up. And if they pay x$ for it one year, and it sells gangbusters. Free market dictates they’ll pay $x for it next year. That’s economics. Keep informed of the industry, read reviews, find things you actually like. Download demos. Wait for that game/dvd/cd that you aren’t realy sure about to show up budget price – or in the 2nd hand section.

My tastes are broad – but selective – and just because every week (!) – there is new software coming out for my CD player, DVD player and there is new television programming every day (!) – I don’t feel the need to have most of it.

Sorry about the long post…my chest feels lighter now…

wuffy / Jul 29 2006

Piracy is more real than you guys think it is. I live in Asia and nearly 80% of all software that is sold here is pirated. Nobody here cares about testing a game using a pirated software before buying…they just buy the game and that’s it.

There is a general lack of education when it comes to software, how its made and its true value. But even if people knew that won’t stop them from buying pirated stuff. It’s not about the morality of the issue but in the end what people care about is their pockets.

There are only a few things that can beat piracy. The first is vigilance on the part of the developers and, in the case of the XBOX 360, the platform providers. Piracy will not end and as such the people who offer software services should not stop in their campaign against piracy. Speaking of which, what is Microsoft doing about that DVD firmware flash that lets you play pirated games? The pirated XBOX 360 games are now hitting Asia…while its increasing the installed base of the XBOX 360, I would have expected a lot more action from Microsoft themselves to combat that hack.

The second thing is to provide actual market support. In Asia, many countries are ignored by publishers / developers and there is no other way to play a videogame other than to buy the pirated version.

Third, the videogame industry must rethink their royalties scheme.

bean / Jul 29 2006

Wuffy – I don’t have the 360 hack, but I noticed that my copy of legitimate copy of Prey demanded that I update my system in order to play.

You think they could be fighting it by forcing people to upgrade their firmware to something without the exploit in order to play newer games?

WiNG / Jul 29 2006

"You think they could be fighting it by forcing people to upgrade their firmware to something without the exploit in order to play newer games?"

Sony does that on the PSP, so go figures

Chris / Jul 31 2006

Another big reason people pirate and this is one that I dont think has been addressed yet. Go to google and type in game torrents, see how many results you get and thats the reason. Its so incredibly easy its not funny, all you have to do is mount,install,place crack and play. I myself have never pirated a game and do not intend to, I put in the 6 hours work a day and save for my games, support the devs as if we dont we wont see many new IPs soon mainly just regurgitated EA games.

David F. / Jul 31 2006

Video game piracy – or any software for that matter – can not be completely compared to theft. The BMV analogy used above isn’t a valid comparision because stealing a car is stealing physical goods. If the cost of games is too much for a person to buy then they simply won’t purchase the game. The business is lost. Period. Now consider that the same person has the opportunity to obtain the game via a pirate for low or no cost then they will likely take it. The business to the game company is still lost either way.

I guess the only way for the company to compete is to lower their price. If they don’t make them affordable then they will not get the business of the individuals who can’t afford or refuse high prices.

But anyhow the real point this this: if a game is copied nothing is really stolen. The game company doesn’t suffer physical losses as would a car company.

Marco / Aug 1 2006

Whoever placed the analogy about the BMW is incorrect.

You don’t steal an expensive car; you buy a modest one (within budget) instead. Some people do not have the choice to buy a modest "game" as they all cost $50 in the USA. Here in Costa Rica we are talking around $80-$100 per XBOX360 game buddy and the average income here is $500-$1000 per month. See where we are going with it? If games were significantly lower, much more people would prefer to buy originals. But with those costs at that income, things aren’t going to get better.

I do not pirate videogames, as my income ALLOWS me to buy $80-$100 games but trust me that that vast majority that pirates games here, is justified. People want to play videogames, they want to entertain themselves, and if there is a cheaper way to play, by all means then!

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