Durante said:
That's the important part. In other words, the vast majority of pirated copies are not lost sales.
Yep.
I'm not advocating piracy. I just think it's ridiculous that publishers and even developers seem to think they're losing billions of dollars off of pirated copies. Nevermind the fact that these pirates probably wouldn't pay for your game in the first place. And so, these developers overreact by placing Draconian DRM in place that actually turns away their legitimate customers.
Piracy is bad and wrong. However, the backlash of overextending DRM practices is simply hurting your true customers, those who actually want to pay for your product. The lesson to be learned here is that sensible, non-intrusive DRM is far more important than the end-all, be-all piracy protection that ends up hurting your bottom line more than helping it.
I'm glad that we kind of have some real perspective on the issue of how piracy affects sales.
I AM JOHN! said:
I'm sorry, but that's utter bullshit.
Your argument is so eloquent and well-thought-out. I'm sure you have the inside track at this developer and have done the appropriate research. Where's the link to your article?
dionysus said:
Even if I accept the argument that piracy doesn't hurt sales, it is still wrong. Right and wrong are the only issues.
Of course, piracy is still wrong. And illegal. This article doesn't change that fact.
What the article DOES do, though, is put into perspective just how many lost sales result from piracy. It proves that, while DRM is useful for keeping honest people honest, hinging all yours bets on greatly increasing sales by having really invasive DRM just doesn't work. It's better to have user-friendly DRM for your paying customers than having everything nailed down.
Remember, this is an article posted on a developer website, and therefore is for developers.
