Kim Dotcom Teaches How to Stop Piracy in 5 Steps

[casualcolors]

It's interesting that no one has touched on what is probably the most insightful part of Kimdotcom's quote. "Simultaneous release". Staggered releases be it staggered by region or platform account for a good deal of day-1 piracy.

 

[tobalaz]

[citation][nom]wedouglas[/nom]Um, I remember when Playstation came out 20 years ago and new, mainstream games were definitely $49.99+. N64 games were sometimes $59.99. I even remember some games from the cartridge era being $69.99.Taking into account inflation, game prices are way cheaper than ever.Also, what the hell is up with a bunch of grown men crying about the prices of content? Don't like the price? Then don't buy it and save some money to move out of your parents basement. Whining about paying $50 in 2014... jesus christ... the cost of one night out for an adult doing just about anything is probably more than $50.[/citation]
DRM was started as a way to region lock games, movies and music to certain areas so companies could maximize their profits.
Nintendo was the first company to region lock (by hardware designs) so gamers couldn't order Famicom games cheaper from other countries and play them on the NES. Sega and NEC both followed along. Its been going on a lot longer than you think.

 

[hitman400]

Well 3 steps are easily solvable if you buy used games, on the internet..not gamestop.

 

[Guest]

3 is very important for most people in the world, because they cannot buy a lot of music, episodes and movies. I am pirating US TV series, because I cannot buy them when Americans can.

 

[Guest]

Yet another totally nothing article from WG / Toms. Maybe the SSD label was hot in comparison.

 

[razor512]

[citation][nom]Aoyagi[/nom]Works on any device? Yeah, that will improve controls and progression. Presonally I agree only with 2 and 3. They already make great stuff, people still pirate it. If it's not great, there is no reason to pirate it and waste time with in to begin with. Price is what the customers will pay. Most of pirates would still torrent (or whatever) the game even if it was $5. And really, why the hell would I want to make games run on everything? That would not only kill any kind of more complex controls, but would most likely stop progression altogether. AND not to mention that a PC pirates wouldn't pirate Heavy Rain, would they? Or PS3 player wouldn't pirate Diablo 3. Whoever created this list didn't give it much thought.[/citation]


When people say make it run on any device, they don't mean running crysis on a PDP-8, and a statement that will cover their true meaning will have to be a few paragraphs long and then no one will want to read it.

today, DRM prevents content from running on devices that are fully capable of runing it and the only reason it is not running is because the company decided to purposely prevent certain devices from running it.

Most people do not understand how truly flexible the content they have is when all they experience is DRM.

(if you have content when the DRM removed, try for yourself to see just how flexible that content can be, try weird stuff like installing it to a NAS and have multiple computers launch the same application from the same NAS and all run the same app at the same time from that 1 location.

try throwing a highly demanding game on a flash drive and watch it work on any computer that will run it (With modern flash drives, they are fast enough to handle this)

(Did you know that for a while, windows mobile 2003 devices could run hulu smoothly? while it is an extreme example it shows just how limiting their DRM is now )

Kim most likely does not mean design the software or other content to work on more hardware, he most likely means, just don't limit it, let the device functionality determine what it can run and not the DRM

Also why does toms guide not allow us to edit comments to correct typos?

 

[razor512]

@kinggraves

you have to understand that while games today are more complex, technology is also more advance and allows game consoles and computers and also programmers to do more.

The first 1GB hard drive cost $40,000

based on your arguement it would be justifiable for todays multi hundred gigabyte or terabyte hard drives to also cost in the $40,000 range because all of the bits they have to fit on 2 or 3 platters.virtually everything in the technology world has gone down in cost while going up in functionality and complexity except things like games. (even professional software has gone down in cost, (applications similar to adobe aftereffects cost nearly $100,000 and the visuals still look cheese by todays standards for those early 90's science fiction movies)

The videogame industry is the only industry that did not drop their prices.

And sure games cost a lot of money t make (well most AAA movies that come out today, cost many times more to make than many of the AAA games, guess whats more expensive to buy, a game or a movie? )

 

[trandoanhung1991]

Why do people pirate?

Cause it's easier, more often than not, do pirate and get working software instead of having to jump through loops to buy it legally.

Piracy steps: Search -> Download -> Install -> Copy crack -> done.
Legal steps: Search -> Pay with CC -> Download -> Install -> !@#!@$!@#!@ DRM -> Play.

And amusingly these days it's often the pirated software that works more reliably compared to paid software, due to the ever more stupid DRM methods.

 

[eodeo]

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity

Purchasing power parity is an idea available globally since 1918. It may not be "fair" locally, but it would be globally. Expecting 60euros for a game in both western and eastern Europe is a good example of what isn't fair.

 

[kinggraves]

[citation][nom]Razor512[/nom]@kinggravesyou have to understand that while games today are more complex, technology is also more advance and allows game consoles and computers and also programmers to do more.[/citation]

Oh, I do understand that, but I disagree that the tools to make the product have risen along the same scale as the demands for the product. An old 2d game only needed to make a background, foreground, and character sprites with a handful of animations. A modern game needs to create an expansive 3d plane with concealed secrets, textures, realistic character animations, scenery, etc. Most old soundtracks could be made on a Casio keyboard, but modern soundtracks involve major label bands and orchestras. Old AI consisted of "run at player, jump at this range" but modern AI has to react to you much like another player would. Gamers are far more demanding today than the ones who played Pac Man and Mario Bros were. This is why devs really like the idea of mobile gaming, the demands are far lower compared to the profit.


Regardless of your justification, the publishers are already responding with solutions to the price vs production issue. They are not going to lower the initial cost of a AAA retail game. Retail games cost what they do because people with the stats and figures that none in these comments, myself included, have and know the situation better have decided that price was where they can best profit. Since they aren't reaping the ideal profits, they will move to other pricing schemes like DLC and lower cost game production, NOT lowering the initial price. They won't lower their prices, they'll get the money in other ways. Piracy is not a protest method and will not change that course. They consider piracy to be lost sales, not comments on the quality and pricing of their goods. You will not get better or cheaper games by pirating.

 

[grz09]

Ehm,.. Steam Sales

 

[razor512]

Piracy is never meant to be a protest. the content is available and there are people who want it and have the means to copy it and thus will do so.

The choice the game content producers have is do they want the people who are willing to pay for games, to buy their games, or do they want those people to also pirate their games.

As others have pointed out, there are people who will pirate a game even if they were $5 and those users, you will never get money out of them and thus spending lots of money developing DRM is a waste and if that DRM does the unfortunate thing of ever getting in the way of running a game, then those users will quickly begin pirating also.

And yes, games have gotten harder to make, but the gaming market has also gotten larger, (game consoles and games them self have never made as much money as they do today, and that is because the target market has grown exponentially. But one thing that games still have today is that a AAA game still cost less to make than a AAA movie but the movie will retail for less than the game. Pricing is unnecessarily high and are more or less fixed. Games with massive budgets sell for $60 and low budget "hey mom I made my first game"( *cough* Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor)

if this happened in other industries, there would be long court cases and massive fines (which actually happened with a few companies in the food industry agreed on fixed pricing)

The problem they are having is greed to a point where it is costing them money. Games share some elements with fashion, it has a time when it is in. If you wait too long then it will no longer be very desirable or fun to play. (if kid actually followed the ESRB, how many kids do you thing will be going out today to buy that snazzy N64 game that was hyped but were too young to play according to the ESRB? it just doesn't happen.

To truly find out the best profit model, you need to actually test different models which has not happened. Instead they see their model as perfect and any failure is just due to piracy and not enough people wanting to pay their "perfect" price.

 

[f-14]

[citation][nom]thecolorblue[/nom]brilliant comment! Exactly what the music industry has been driveling out for over a decade!Well done Sir![/citation]

glad to see some one bought into the drivel the RIAA has been spewing, their ad campaign is working.

cassettes were $6-8 then cd came out and the music industry promised us lower prices and they jacked the price to $12 despite that cds were faster, cheaper and easier to produce as they claimed to get us to switch to cd and had less features but better clarity. when the music industry phased out cassettes all the sudden cd prices jumped to $16 now new releases are $25

[citation][nom]kinggremlin[/nom]Not really. What are you smoking? I remember my parents bought me Zelda 2 for the NES when it first came out and it was $65.[/citation]

your parents weren't the brightest, but they just had to get you that shinney version of the cartridge didn't they
i bought xwing for $15 xwing vs tie fighter was $20-25. consoles were also over rated and over priced. your parents probably bought you a NEOGeo too and a laser disc player. they bought betamax too and mini disc didn't they.

 

[bystander]

[citation][nom]razor512[/nom]Piracy is never meant to be a protest. the content is available and there are people who want it and have the means to copy it and thus will do so.The choice the game content producers have is do they want the people who are willing to pay for games, to buy their games, or do they want those people to also pirate their games.As others have pointed out, there are people who will pirate a game even if they were $5 and those users, you will never get money out of them and thus spending lots of money developing DRM is a waste and if that DRM does the unfortunate thing of ever getting in the way of running a game, then those users will quickly begin pirating also.And yes, games have gotten harder to make, but the gaming market has also gotten larger, (game consoles and games them self have never made as much money as they do today, and that is because the target market has grown exponentially. But one thing that games still have today is that a AAA game still cost less to make than a AAA movie but the movie will retail for less than the game. Pricing is unnecessarily high and are more or less fixed. Games with massive budgets sell for $60 and low budget "hey mom I made my first game"( *cough* Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor)if this happened in other industries, there would be long court cases and massive fines (which actually happened with a few companies in the food industry agreed on fixed pricing)The problem they are having is greed to a point where it is costing them money. Games share some elements with fashion, it has a time when it is in. If you wait too long then it will no longer be very desirable or fun to play. (if kid actually followed the ESRB, how many kids do you thing will be going out today to buy that snazzy N64 game that was hyped but were too young to play according to the ESRB? it just doesn't happen.To truly find out the best profit model, you need to actually test different models which has not happened. Instead they see their model as perfect and any failure is just due to piracy and not enough people wanting to pay their "perfect" price.[/citation]

Do you think as many people buy a particular video game as there are people going to the movies, buying the movie and watching the movie when it reaches TV? Any given movie gets far more customers.

 

[bystander]

Have a read about the kind of profits they are making: http/www.polygon.com/2012/10/1/3439738/the-state-of-games-state-of-aaa

 

[beayn]

[citation][nom]bystander[/nom]There are a lot of games with every bit the duration of games back in the day. Many have more. Back in the day, games were made to be nearly unbeatable at times, perhaps the replaying to try and beat one gave you more hours than today's games, but that has not been my experience.Anyways, you think it is ok to pirate because you don't know if it is worth buying. I think that would be a good reason to not buy games at release. Wait until others have had a chance to play and review the game, then buy the best ones. Only buy new releases when you are dying to play a sequel of a game you loved. Not only would it increase your chance of a great game, but you may pay less as well.Now be honest with yourself. Have you pirated games you played for 20+ hours in the name of "testing if it is worth buying", and not paid for it?My guess is you are following a human trait of always taking the easiest path to an end goal. If you can find it for free, you use it. Right or wrong.[/citation]Excuse me? I said nothing about it being OK to pirate games. I also said nothing about pirating a game to "test before buying". I said that I wait for them to come on sale on Steam. Either you quoted the wrong person or you just like putting words into people's keyboards.

 

[tobalaz]

I've pirated games before for my pc and Android phone for different reasons.
1. I've bought a game with certain types of DRM (Starforce/ rootkits/ always online) and I didn't want that crap on my pc.
2. I've bought the game in the past and had the disks damaged or lost during a move.
3. I've wanted to see if the game would even run right on my pc before purchase, there's no demo. I've passed on over a dozen games because of day one releases that were just so buggy you couldn't even play them (remember Godfather? that was a mess and EA never bothered to update it)
4. Again, no demo, and I wanted to see if I enjoyed playing the game or not. If I still enjoyed it after 3 days (4-6 hours of game play), it was worth a purchase.

Then there have been games like Diablo 3 and the Bioshock series which I just flat out refused to buy because of the DRM and all the problems there were because of it. I even passed on trying them out, I've no interest in any game that's going to mess up my pc or crash if my crappy internet connection bombs out (screw you Time Warner for being the only provider in my area and refusing to fix the lines outside at the pole) like it normally does 3-12 x a day.

I've got no problem with passing over a game because of known DRM issues.
I do wish there were demos still, most programers are passing on releasing them anymore. When I had a console, I always rented first. When a game was for the pc, I always played the demo or went to a friend's to try it out.

With my phone, close to the same story. Just because an app says it is compatable doesn't mean I should have to fork out money just to find out that its damn near unplayable because my phone can't handle it. Grant it I'm having more problems now that I'm eligible for the 2 year upgrade and just haven't found a phone I liked yet.
Any idea when we're getting graced with the Galaxy S IV on Sprint?

 

[bystander]

[citation][nom]beayn[/nom]Excuse me? I said nothing about it being OK to pirate games. I also said nothing about pirating a game to "test before buying". I said that I wait for them to come on sale on Steam. Either you quoted the wrong person or you just like putting words into people's keyboards.[/citation]
I'm sorry, I must have lost track of who was pirating and who wasn't.

 

[Niva]

[citation][nom]Warsaw[/nom]I have to chime in there since I remember NES games very differently. I think to remember them being $29.99 for new games.Btw as well, new games are generally $60 on consoles now. Shoot, even PC games are now trying to charge $60 for a new game, I scoff at that as I will not pay $60 for it.As well, sure inflation has gone up but so has the income disparity of low income to high income. I think money is worth much less taking into account more than just inflation, but the buying power of a dollar.[/citation]

When sales decline prices decline as well. I'm still waiting for Skyrim prices to drop but apparently it's such a good game that prices have remained high. I still question the high prices over Steam where no physical media is delivered, no cover, no instruction booklets, yet companies charge the same as if I bought the game at the store...

So I wait and won't play it for the time being. Yeah, by the time I get it the game will be old and outdated but it will be new for me!

That being said I'll bring up a couple of fun games which came at a very fair price IMO: Magicka is one example. Super fun game that launched at a $10 price download. Torchlight is another example that was very much worth the price.

 

[dalethepcman]

[citation][nom]bystander[/nom]It is possible he meant something else than what it sounded like from the article. He may have meant when you buy a game like Skyrim on the console platform, you can also use it on the PC without buying another copy.[/citation]

I think Kim is more speaking about the hulu vs netflix vs TV model. Netflix, you pay X$ and get the service on anything that can access netflix. Hulu, the PC gets to watch for free a couple of shows, but anything besides the PC you have to pay X$. While PC users enjoy watching shows on the PC, they are add supported for both free and paying customers, so why bother paying?

Hulu is currently for sale because their business model stinks compared to Netflix. Netflix is having hard times because the content creators are putting massive financial strain on them to attempt to attempt to reign back in their monopoly. In both Hulu and Netflix's scenario's someone is trying to "close pandora's box."

For Hulu, they give away content free, and continue to do so. Why should tablet/smart tv users pay for something pc users get for free?

For Netflix, the media companies see how popular the service is and know its a more consumer friendly service, so they are attempting to make it financially impossible for that business model to work. (Internet Bandwidth limits, Increased price of licensing, discriminatory bandwidth policies, etc...)