• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Croteam's P: "the success of Skyrim & SS3 on PC show there's a market willing to pay"

ymmv

Banned
I have a guy who once told me that since he paid for internet, he's entitled to everything that's being offered on the internet.

I've had discussions with pirates on Dutch gaming sites and I found it's useless arguing with them because all they bring to a discussion are meaningless rationalizations. They pirate because they love games/movies/music/etc, they can get it for free without too much trouble so they can spend their money on other stuff. That's all there's too it.

If you enter a discussion and say that the people who make those games deserve to be paid, this is what you'll hear:

- Games are too expensive
- Games are too short
- Games are not good enough
- They would never have bought this game anyway, so it's not a lost sale (even though they completed the full single player campaign)
- Retail games are riddled with DRM, pirated games don't harm your PC
- Publishers don't mind piracy, because it's good publicity
- Piracy does no harm. People have been pirating games for years and it hasn't stopped publishers from making even more new games
- Game developers are fucking rich and drive Ferraris, so they deserve piracy
- Pirates support the industry when they buy a new console or video card, so they deserve free games.
- Only stupid people pay for stuff you can get for free

All of those are simply rationalizations, because if those pirates find a game they want to play is actually impossible to pirate, they will grudgingly pay for it. That's why online enabled games get better sales than games with "just" a single player campaign.
 

Feep

Banned
How have sales been going for you, Feep. Better than expected? Do they compare favorably to the Xbox Indies release. Not expecting you to divulge any exact figures.
Valve gave me permission to say that my Steam sales' revenue total exceeded my lifetime Xbox Live Indies revenue total (about five months at that point) in the first SEVEN HOURS of release.

So yeah. = D
 

scitek

Member
Valve gave me permission to say that my Steam sales' revenue total exceeded my lifetime Xbox Live Indies revenue total (about five months at that point) in the first SEVEN HOURS of release.

So yeah. = D

Hot damn, that's great!
 

Stop It

Perfectly able to grasp the inherent value of the fishing game.
Valve gave me permission to say that my Steam sales' revenue total exceeded my lifetime Xbox Live Indies revenue total (about five months at that point) in the first SEVEN HOURS of release.

So yeah. = D

Congrats Feep, well deserved.
 

mxgt

Banned
Those numbers are pretty sad when you think about how many PCs there are vs. The number of consoles out there.

Then you think about how many of those PCs are capable of playing games
Then you think about how many of those PCs are actually used by people to play games
 
If piracy on the PC is an issue hurting development of games, then how do people feel about the other issue of game rentals on consoles that has led to the introduction of the online pass? Most of the criticism towards the industry here is how they approach the issue but I've seen a couple of people express a dislike of the pirates more so than the studios [for hurting game development].
 

ArjanN

Member
I've had discussions with pirates on Dutch gaming sites and I found it's useless arguing with them because all they bring to a discussion are meaningless rationalizations. They pirate because they love games/movies/music/etc, they can get it for free without too much trouble so they can spend their money on other stuff. That's all there's too it.

If you enter a discussion and say that the people who make those games deserve to be paid, this is what you'll hear:

- Games are too expensive
- Games are too short
- Games are not good enough
- They would never have bought this game anyway, so it's not a lost sale (even though they completed the full single player campaign)
- Retail games are riddled with DRM, pirated games don't harm your PC
- Publishers don't mind piracy, because it's good publicity
- Piracy does no harm. People have been pirating games for years and it hasn't stopped publishers from making even more new games
- Game developers are fucking rich and drive Ferraris, so they deserve piracy
- Pirates support the industry when they buy a new console or video card, so they deserve free games.
- Only stupid people pay for stuff you can get for free

All of those are simply rationalizations, because if those pirates find a game they want to play is actually impossible to pirate, they will grudgingly pay for it. That's why online enabled games get better sales than games with "just" a single player campaign.

It's not even worth arguing with pirates, because what it boils down to is this:
If people can get something for free with no risk of getting caught, a lot of them will. Most pirates I knew grew out of it though.
 
Serious Sam 3 came out? I mean, I knew it was in development, but I didn't know it's been released. How is it? SS2 was kinda boring.
 

Rufus

Member
It's not even worth arguing with pirates, because what it boils down to is this:
If people can get something for free with no risk of getting caught, a lot of them will.
Yup. Everything else is just a rationalization. That being said, delays, shoddy ports and restrictive DRM only make it easier for people to justify.
 

miksar

Member
Gaming consoles turned into PCs this generation, and PC is infinitely better at being PC than them. That's why PC core market is slowly recovering.
 
Serious Sam 3 came out? I mean, I knew it was in development, but I didn't know it's been released. How is it? SS2 was kinda boring.
The first few levels are kinda disappointing, but then it gets awesome just like TFE/TSE. It's a big shame it's not being noticed, it launched at a really bad time.
 
What's funny is that Ubisoft ten years ago was completely ready for today's PC landscape. They were on the top of their game with huge multiplayer successes like the Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six series. They then mishandled those franchises and they are now but a shell of their former self. Great multiplayer games is the best way to combat piracy, but Ubisoft hasn't had a standout multiplayer title in roughly eight years.
 

Coxswain

Member
Serious Sam 3 came out? I mean, I knew it was in development, but I didn't know it's been released. How is it? SS2 was kinda boring.

It's the best FPS of at least the last six or so years. Almost certainly the best game released this year.

It's not even worth arguing with pirates, because what it boils down to is this:
If people can get something for free with no risk of getting caught, a lot of them will. Most pirates I knew grew out of it though.
If most people you know grew out of it, doesn't that suggest that most people won't habitually pirate just because it's free and carries no/negligible risk of getting caught? I think, in terms of describing what people do (rather than making any moral judgements one way or the other), I'm inclined to believe the "People will pay for awesome" theory.
 

Fularu

Banned
Unless I'm mistaken, the fact that SS3 hasn't been cracked/pirated yet is probably a notable reason for its "out of the door" success.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
My game is $4.99 on Steam (currently $2.49 on sale). Honestly, is it worth the effort of pirating and hacks and possible hilarious things I could do to you if I detect a pirated version, when you can literally click three buttons and own the game on Steam?

To my knowledge, there isn't even a pirated copy of Sequence up on the torrent websites.

Of course, I'm indie, and larger games will be pirated, but all this nonsense that PC gamers aren't willing to pay is such bullshit.

Just checked...there is. Skidrow released a pirated version late October...that being said, I didn't see it pop up on the popular sites. That might not be a good thing, though...piracy of a relatively unknown game can help word of mouth quite a bit, especially since the product in question is fantastic.
 

Fularu

Banned
Just checked...there is. Skidrow released a pirated version late October...that being said, I didn't see it pop up on the popular sites. That might not be a good thing, though...piracy of a relatively unknown game can help word of mouth quite a bit, especially since the product in question is fantastic.

Steam helps more to promote a new indie game than piracy ever will.

Long gone are the days when piracy was a clever marketing tool.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Steam helps more to promote a new indie game than piracy ever will.

Long gone are the days when piracy was a clever marketing tool.

For sure...steam sales in particular are great. I was just pointing out that piracy numbers often correlate to the popularity of the game itself.
 
More: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/interviews/9259-Serious-Sam-3-Post-Mortem.3

Ribaric said Serious Sam 3 has met with a very positive response from both fans and the gaming press and is selling very well, which he admitted was a relief given the uncertainties involved in putting a game like this out on today's market. With any luck, this won't be the last we hear from Serious Sam.

"I think this just re-emphasizes our commitment to continue the Serious Sam franchise and keep the series grounded in its arcade-style shooter roots while adding in new, unique gameplay elements where they make sense," Ribaric said. Parker, for his part, was a little more succinct. "I'm up to my eyeballs in straight cash, homie," he said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to pick up my velvet-covered jet skis from the repair shop. Peace, nerds."
 
Top Bottom