iPhone Game Developer Claims 90% Piracy Rate

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kvn00

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Quote: "...found that the majority of those who are posting high-scores to the game are owners of illegitimately installed versions."

Recent statistics have shown that pirates are better gamers than non-pirates. According to the authors of the study, "We have found that pirating skillz correlate very well with gaming skillz." Therefore, it's not that 90% of the users pirated the game, it's just that the top scorers were pirates.
 

Supertrek32

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[citation][nom]dheadley[/nom]Your comment does not make sense for applications. Artist release free music to get you to come spend money at concerts. It has a payback in the long run. If a developer is having problems with people stealing their applications and they release a free application, what is the payback? Are you saying that down the road everyone will buy their next application due to the good karma of the free application and not steal it? I call BS on that. The problem is that almost anyone that makes any kind of argument that it is even remotely the developers fault are the same people that would say that if their stuff was better than people would use it. The truth is no matter how good you make it a large group of the people will say it still isn't worth it and steal it anyway. The simple fact is at heart those people are just thieves and that is their basic character.[/citation]
For some people this is true, but for the majority it's not. Yes, there will always be the hardcore pirates, but most are simply people who are mildly interested but don't think it's worth the money or aren't sure. These are people who, without piracy, would most likely never use the app because they don't think it's worth what the developer asks. When people make the arguement piracy is good for sales, these (the majority) are the people they're refering to. You don't make money off them, you wouldn't anyway, but you do get essentially free advertising. Is this enough to make up for the hardcore pirates? Is it the developers fault for asking too much or not adding enough? Those are questions that make things get hazy.
 

De La NoChe

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I will repeat myself... That is why SMART Developers ALWAYS have a LITE version... People get to try it for free and if its WORTH IT then they will PURCHASE IT!!!! [citation][nom]dheadley[/nom]Your comment does not make sense for applications. Artist release free music to get you to come spend money at concerts. It has a payback in the long run. If a developer is having problems with people stealing their applications and they release a free application, what is the payback? Are you saying that down the road everyone will buy their next application due to the good karma of the free application and not steal it? I call BS on that. The problem is that almost anyone that makes any kind of argument that it is even remotely the developers fault are the same people that would say that if their stuff was better than people would use it. The truth is no matter how good you make it a large group of the people will say it still isn't worth it and steal it anyway. The simple fact is at heart those people are just thieves and that is their basic character.[/citation]

I will repeat myself... That is why SMART Developers ALWAYS have a LITE version... People get to try it for free FIRST and if its WORTH IT then they will PURCHASE IT!!! That HELPS take out the problem of people wanting to pirate it right away.. But of course there will ALWAYS still be pirated versions of that app.
 

ssalim

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1) People pirate because they want to, or they think it's not worth the money, or they can, or they are human.
2) Piracy will never go away. Ever. It's like fighting poverty.
3) To reduce piracy, prices need to go down.
 

megamanx00

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Can't apple just kill the app remotely? Of course I also have to wonder if they are looking at unlocked phones as pirated and how they are coming up with these numbers.
 

kingssman

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well i'm a self proclaimed pirate. Yes I have pirated games. Why? well either i didn't feel like shelling out $50 or it was just too darn easy to torrent that i didn't want to pay the $3, or the game is so old I can't find it anywhere (Duke Nukem) nor willing to pay $25 on a game that is 4+ years old.
Course there are games i did pay for.
Games i can't find a good reliable torrent of
Games that are good but cheap that had no torrent of
Games with moderate DRM that I didn't mind (authentication CD placed in drive) [aliens vs predator][Battlefield 1942]
Games that are really good liked and only required activation once [Defcon]

Games that I hate due to DRM issues ruining the game experience because you need internet connection all the fricken time [Spore]
 

enforcer22

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[citation][nom]tayb[/nom]You guys needs to quit your bitching about DRM and copy protection. Clearly none of you have any works on the iTunes App store or have ever sold anything of value digitally. Who struck first? The DRM or the thieves? If I spend hundreds of hours working on an application only to find out that 90% of the people using it or playing it STOLE IT I have a right to be pissed and a right to place some copy protection on my software.If you idiots stopped stealing the DRM would go away because there would be no need for it. But, ironically, instead of blaming the thieves (probably yourselves) you blame the companies who put in the hard work making the games for TRYING TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF THEIR WORK. This is not Soviet Russia. If I make a game it's because I want to make money selling it. Next time you want to complain about DRM start bitching about the people stealing it because it's THEIR FAULT. 10000% THEIR FAULT.[/citation]


the funny thing is with out piracy all these crappy gameing companys would likely go out of business long before they could cry about thier lost sales.. i wonder how many people actualy paid for that game after seeing thier buddys play it and being the good people they are went tot he store and got it.

Btw if you made a game that only 10% of people paid for you should just quit because you apperantly have no talent and couldnt make a game that was worth playing for more hten a couple hours to save your life. However you would fit in perfectly with the current developers would make equaly horrible games and wonder why people dont buy it.
 

formin

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physical hardware - ill pay for - its a physically a thing, it has value
software for personal use - ill never pay for, information should be free
software for commercial use - ill pay for a license, making money with the aid of someone else's software/information requires them to be compensated.
 

kamar6

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Folks, folks, I've said this before and I'll say it again stop propagating the term 'Pirate' when talking about file sharing. Those that did not pay for the app and are using them for there own purpose are not pirates.
Ahh yes, and those who shoplift from a store and sell the stuff are bad.....yet those who shoplift from a store and use the stolen items for there own purpose well that's ok!
 
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Just make it impossible to submit scores on a pirated version, then. Server-side, of course. However - it's impossible to determine how legitimate these figures are by this alone.
 
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As a game developer these figures often amuse me. I have never been wrapped up in how many are pirating my game as chances are they would never have bought it anyhow. The way to increase sales and decrease piracy are through innovative ways to add value to the purchased product. Whether that be something physical in the package that can't be copied readily, or some online system in the PC which verifies the product, etc, the one thing I would never do is introduce measures that in effect end up penalising the legitimate users, this only serves to make the pirated version more attractive.
 

WheelsOfConfusion

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Jules: I'm awaiting the return of feelies in standard, non-deluxe packaging :)

[citation][nom]o0RaidR0o[/nom]Folks, folks, I've said this before and I'll say it again stop propagating the term 'Pirate' when talking about file sharing. Those that did not pay for the app and are using them for there own purpose are not pirates. Those that download for profit are the pirates.[/quote]
I think you can call it "piracy" whether or not redistribution is involved.
 

falchard

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I'm sorry, but $1.99 is way too much money. Do you think I am a billionaire or something. I think this continues to show, Apple users are cheap douche bags who are used to getting everything but their hardware for free in which case someone probably bought it on their behalf.
 

gravitygirl

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I am really surprised by the numbers here. 90% of those posting high scores have pirated their software!?

I figured the iPhone/iTouch app store distribution model would've minimized this to single digits (accounting for those who hack their devices). If you've ever had to completely wipe one of these devices which hadn't been properly backed up you might be surprised to find, as i was, that all the games you bought before can be redownloaded without charge. The app store remembers youve already paid for it and allows the download without charge to your account.

First off i'm going to have to take a look at this game to see what's so great about it.

Secondly i might suggest to these game developers that one change they need to investigate is how to verify ownership of the game before allowing the user to post "bragging rights" of their high score.

This could be reason enough for the "pirate" to pay "a dollar" for the game (i.e. to participate in the online community for it).

And if its really as big a problem as this article suggests, maybe Apple wants to offer the verification of ownership service (as it must already have in place somehow as noted above, for reinstallation of games) so that only a licensed game player can interface with the high scores screen before someone is allowed to post their high scores?

Basically, you can play with yourself for free but to play with others it'll cost you a dollar -- although I've phrased that a bit wrong somehow.
 

cptnjarhead

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Ah yes.. takes me back to when i first installed Halflife 2 good times good times... oh how i loved paying $50 just to jump through hoops and finally after an hour.. cool now can play the game.
Meanwhile illegal down loaders just enjoy the game.... just doesn't make sense. All these protections just hurt the consumer.. like gun control laws.. criminals don't bother with laws.
Just my 2 cents.
 

jabliese

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Find the unfortunately placed "Read more in the developer blog here" link. Click it and read, it's interesting. The developer even got a copy of his pirated software, commenting it was easier than the app store, and that the pirated version was available about 40 minutes after release. Which goes a long way to explain the figures. Let's hope they update this periodically.
 

ominous prime

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DRM is like using protection in the bedroom. And sure you can show me a graph and nice figures, but where are these results stemming from? Because I call bullshit.
 
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