Can't/Won't, same thing. They won't be able to maintain the margins their shareholders expect so they won't even initiate the projects in the first place. The only reason software is ludicrously expensive is because of piracy.
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Watch_Dogs Torrent secretly installing a Bitcoin miner on thousands of computers
- Thread starter Radec
- Start date
Can't/Won't, same thing. They won't be able to maintain the margins their shareholders expect so they won't even initiate the projects in the first place. The only reason software is ludicrously expensive is because of piracy.
If Ubisoft instead sold Watch_Dogs for say, $29.99 instead of $59.99, it wouldn't make a difference. Why would they choose paying over free? That doesn't make sense.
Then it all worked out then.
Yeah, Ubi PR would totally do this.
Just like America faked the moon landing, right brother?
There is no way Ubisoft would install malware on people's computers. The fallout if traced back to them would be phenomenal and irreparable for their reputation, no matter where the game came from. They might include a snidy little message or something but they wouldn't do this. No way.
I said it would be a good start not convert pirates to paying customers. Nothing beats free, obviously.
First of all I would like to congratulate you for never downloading an episode of Game of Thrones or a ROM of Super Mario 64 since that is quite the impressive feat in the current era of digital entertainment.
Secondly I would like to point out that piracy directly hurting a publisher is a fallacy. There is not significant evidence to suggest that piracy directly harms sales of a product. Obviously, ethically of using something without intent of paying the creator is pretty obviously in the wrong however the people that are turning to this option frequently are doing so because they don't have the ability to purchase to product. Either due to financial limitations or regional restrictions. Additionally with games like this that leak far in advance to the normal launch date many people that preordered the game or intended to purchase on day 1 will pirate the game out of impatience but still buy an official copy when the game launches.
How so?
And the actual harm that piracy does to a big multinational corporation is debatable and data on these factors is most likely controlled or collected by the people who benefit from high software prices. Pirating an indie game is one thing but a big AAA game that will most likely turn a profit anyway since pirating losses have been already considered?
Scottish Sin
Member
Haha, awesome. Getting what they deserve.
OldAsUrSock
Banned
Software is not expensive because of piracy. If we believe what many posters say, "PC has the most piracy." and also believe that because of piracy games are expensive. Then how come PC has the lowest game prices?
lol people looooooooooooove pirates
YianGaruga
Banned
Can you support that with any evidence?
Also, I can see a possibility for this being a PR move. Not the torrent itself (if it even existed) but the story. Making people suspicious of early torrents and get people talking about the game shortly before release again in one move. I just wouldn't rule it out entirely.
Are you going to explain or just take a threadshit and walk away?
How is it a fallacy? For people who can afford the game, obviously it does affect the publisher as that's effectively a missed sale. For people who can't, why should they be given a free pass when everyone else has paid? Also, in the case of pirates, who pays for the server costs in the case of matchmaking? How is that offset?
OverturePT
Member
So, any actual evidence or just a random post on 4chan?
Anyway, interesting but I have a hard time believing it.
Anyway, interesting but I have a hard time believing it.
uncleniccius
Member
Regional restrictions to me are understandable, if you're unable to purchase a game/import it then I can understand pirating it.
However, if you don't have enough money for a game, you shouldn't pirate it. I often don't have enough money to buy things/games that I want to. Do I go in to a shop to steal an Ipad if I don't have enough money for it and I want one? No. Do I download a game illegally if I don't have the money, no. Most people can prioritise buying one thing over another, and if they chose something else they should not have a game.
While there are people who preordered being impatient, and some people who don't have enough money pirating (they would not have bought it so aren't a direct loss I guess) there are people who pirate games because they want to spend money on other things. NOT because they can't afford it, but because they can get it for free.
Piracy being eliminated would increase sales in some form, even if it was a small number it would increase sales.
YianGaruga
Banned
How do you know they would've actually bought the game if there was no free alternative? Or how many of them? And is that number high enough to make a difference?
i want to assume most pirates don't expect to be playing multiplayer but i'm likely wrong
Ploid 3.0
Member
Lower royalties (steam for example), game companies can sell directly from the publisher site. Console makers take a good piece of the pie with games made for their system. Since a majority of the PC game market is digital they can be more aggressive with pricing. Stores like Walmart can't complain to Windows when Civilization 1-5 is suddenly going for $17 on a Amazon Digital games sale, and physical Civ 5 cost $40 in Walmart.
iNvid02
Member
we got one guy thinking its a big PR scare tactic by ubi to curb piracy, and yourself trying to justify it but only for AAA games which you think should cost half as much because "they'll still make bank".
we're on stupid lane alright
OldAsUrSock
Banned
I don't think online works for pirated versions of games. Though I may be wrong since Ubisoft used a pirated version of Rainbow Six.
Maintenance
Member
This circlejerk about piracy is incredible. I bet that if this were about some porn video with the same stuff people would call the uploader "scum of the earth", because porn needs to be free, according to the last topics made on the subject. Sigh.
Note: I am not advocating in favor of piracy.
Note: I am not advocating in favor of piracy.
KojiKnight
Member
Err... right. The only reason any company would charge $60 for a game is because of piracy and nothing else.
Life insurance is only expensive because of the people who fake their deaths as well right?
aren't these two kind of contradictory
"oh no someone think of the corporations" is dumber than anything that has already been or will be posted.
Does that make it acceptable? Are you more likely to steal from Walmart than your local grocery store?
Because there's no console company scraping a licensing overhead.
No, I can't. But it's a reasonable assumption to make. If you're Yves Guillemot and a bunch of people are pirating your games, using your resources, and as a result your margins are shrinking (cost/sales discrepancy), what do you do? You raise the price, you incentivise customers with pre-order bonuses, you require online passes, and you sell DLC, i.e. extra revenue streams to combat piracy as much as possible.
As for the post being a PR move, yeah, I can buy that. Wouldn't surprise me at all. Has this even been verified?
uncleniccius
Member
This argument overlooks one big thing... development and marketing COST A LOT OF MONEY. You're using a product without paying for it, you're not physically costing them money, but you have played the game without paying for it.. my point wasn't about that anyway, I was just making the point that it is undeniably wrong to pirate.
afaik this is a repack by some guy that just used the name of SKIDROW and no official release by them so...
This isn't an argument about the morality of stealing? I was talking about the actual harm piracy does to a multinational corporate entity.
uncleniccius
Member
Porn is free, bro. Where you been?
Edwards_Omatic
Member
Personally, i'd make the torrent force the users PC to self destruct, Mission Impossible style. I guess this does the trick too though.
iNvid02
Member
now we've taken a turn for mentally challenged street, at which point i'm going to exit the vehicle.
Well, we don't know. But that's not really the point. You can't excuse people's piracy if they weren't going to buy the game in the first place. If that was the free pass we gave to everyone, nobody would buy games anymore.
I'm not a PC gamer anymore so I wouldn't know. But if that's the case, that's an active example of publishers blocking piracy because it affects their bottom line.
Don't know about life insurance but yeah, that's actually the reason car insurance is so high, because of false claims such as whiplash.
TrickyDaddy
Banned
Thought everyone knew this by now? By downloading warez these days, you run the risk of giving full control of your computer to some stranger.
It's ridiculous how many users trust .exe files from torrents.
It's ridiculous how many users trust .exe files from torrents.
You said...
I don't understand your point. I understood it to mean that you think one is more acceptable than the other?
Where does this happen? Just curious.
1st Course
Member
"i take a drive-by shit in threads and don't contribute to any discussion worthwhile or not and call other people mentally challenged. i am useful." is what I got out of what you said. Don't step in your own shit on the way out.
Well then, as YianGaruga said, it's probably a PR stunt. There's no logical reason I can think of for someone to spread that kinda rumour, but it is 4chan, so who knows.
YianGaruga
Banned
Once again, that assumes every pirated copy is a lost sale and lost profit. Which is not necessarily true.
Let's assume a person spends X (X can even be 0) on videogames in a month and pirates the rest. Now, for some reason, piracy miraculously disappears. Would he pay X + $60 a month? I don't think most people would.
I'm not excusing or accusing anyone. I don't care about the legality or morality behind it right now. I'm just discussing the economic impact of piracy and I doubt it's significant.
uncleniccius
Member
This is possibly the funniest post I've seen on GAF. You're justifying stealing (piracy IS stealing) because a company will be fine anyway.
I'm off to steal $1,000,000 from Bill Gates because "he'll be fine anyway".
ToastyBanana
Member
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