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Piracy: Sony beat it, why doesn't anyone care?

S

SmokyDave

Member
It seems to me that there is a paradigm shift in gaming hardware at the moment that everyone is ignoring. Sony have managed to secure all three of their currently marketed devices against piracy. The PSP3000 has not been cracked properly, the Go is DD only and the PS3 remains secure as the day it was launched. In contrast, the 360 is a £10 SATA card away from cracking and the Wii / DS might as well arrive cracked from the box.

Why then are we not seeing a concerted development shift to the PS platforms? It would surely cause tremors if GTA5 was announced as a PS3 exclusive and 'Platform Security' was cited as the reason, so why isn't it happening?

It seems from a cursory glance that the less secure platforms sell better, software and hardware. Is this a sneaky secret that is taken into account? Is selling hardware units in emerging markets more important than fighting piracy?

Is the PS3 uncracked because nobody gives a shit about cracking it? Casual pirates would be defeated by the need for a Blu-ray burner but surely the hardcore would get on board a custom firmware, is the PS3 uncrackable?

Essentially, why is it that the platform that is now 100% piracy free isn't cleaning up on the dev side?
 
PSP3000 is half cracked. People can play ISOs on them with some effort.

And the GameCube wasn't cracked for piracy until the very end of its lifespan because no one cared to bother.
 
Dragona Akehi said:
PSP3000 is half cracked. People can play ISOs on them with some effort.
Click to expand...

Sorry, just edited and added 'properly'. I understand it has been cracked but Sony have made great strides since the 1000/2000 days. The Gamecube point is kinda how I feel about the PS3, if it were market leader it would (possibly) have been cracked wide open by now.
 
If the Xbox 360 did not exist, therefore all "mulitplatform" games were PS3 exclusive, I'm betting it would be cracked in some form by now.
 
It's effecting PC gaming, but I think more people care about getting their LIVE/PSN accounts being in jeopardy than bothering with it personally.
 
PSP GO just came out and I've seen vid of an exploit already running on it. Albeit, it seems to be harmless when it comes to piracy.
 
as for why devs won't just put their games out on the PS3, well they do like money, and making some on a larger user base (360/wii) is better than making none at all for those systems.
 
SmokyDave said:
Essentially, why is it that the platform that is now 100% piracy free isn't cleaning up on the dev side?
Click to expand...


Software sales on the platform still aren’t high enough to warrant a greater commitment from publishers.

yes, it’s great that there’s no piracy but it hasn’t translated into higher software sales than the 360.
 
Why then are we not seeing a concerted development shift to the PS platforms? It would surely cause tremors if GTA5 was announced as a PS3 exclusive and 'Platform Security' was cited as the reason, so why isn't it happening?
Click to expand...

Because even with piracy developing for both consoles is not double the development costs yet it means double (or more) copies sold.
 
even with piracy, i think a lot of companies still make plenty of money on the 360, especially with the DLC. the DS is the same. most games are multiplatform, so are you proposing a shift away?
 
I think the implicit assumption here is that piracy on the 360 and Wii are enough to make the PS3 a potential no brainer. But is it?
 
Until multiplatform titles start selling better on the PS3 compared to the X360 I'm pretty sure companies are going to develop for both
 
Peff said:
Because even with piracy developing for both consoles is not double the development costs yet it means double (or more) copies sold.
Click to expand...

But wouldn't it give MS a kick up the ass to do more regular firmware checks/bannings or at least tell them to pull their socks up for 720?

Are devs being short sighted? A pirate-proof GTA6 might sell insane numbers.

soco said:
even with piracy, i think a lot of companies still make plenty of money on the 360, especially with the DLC. the DS is the same. most games are multiplatform, so are you proposing a shift away?
Click to expand...

No idea what I'm proposing. I was just reading the GT5 vs Forza thread (I know, I know!) and they were discussing Forza piracy. It struck me that if Turn10 wanted 100% piracy proof, they'd have gone PS3 (Although I understand the 3497 reasons they didn't).
 
SmokyDave said:
Essentially, why is it that the platform that is now 100% piracy free isn't cleaning up on the dev side?
Click to expand...

Because even if sales are (marginally?) higher for the lack of piracy on the platform vs others, there's still plenty more money to be made on the others too. You're not going to see a publisher turn away 360/PC sales out of some principle about piracy. The problem would have to be much more severe than it is.

KHarvey16 said:
I think the implicit assumption here is that piracy on the 360 and Wii are enough to make the PS3 a potential no brainer. But is it?
Click to expand...

No, the suggestion is that devs should go from PS3/360/etc. to just PS3 because it's piracy free. And obviously that suggestion can't fly.
 
You're acting like the tail is going to wag the dog. The dev's all saying "M$ you need to release firmware updates and start banning!" to which MS will say "No" and all the dev companies will be like "Well we tried."

Devs still make a significant amount of cash off the X360 and would be fools to abandon it.
 
I don't think Sony's beaten piracy (a matter of semantics really), but out of the major 3, they're definitely the best personally. Also, this topic reminds me the other loopholes Sony fixed to prevent a repeat mistake of their modchip fiasco they lost previously.
 
SmokyDave said:
But wouldn't it give MS a kick up the ass to do more regular firmware checks/bannings or at least tell them to pull their socks up for 720?

Are devs being short sighted? A pirate-proof GTA6 might sell insane numbers.
Click to expand...

Sadly, a pirated copy doesn't equal a sold copy. Most of the people who pirate games would probably just stop playing or renting single-player games, buying them in the second hand market... Yes, I do think the sales figures would go up, but not a great deal. And yes, MS could do more, but at least they ARE doing something, unlike Nintendo who only messes with homebrew users.
 
nubbe said:
No piracy and prices are still €60
Click to expand...

and its funny cuz the one system that cant be modded to play pirated games, is the last system to ever drop its first party titles in price ;\
 
The reason Piracy is slow on the PS3, is because of Linux.

Usually the people that unlock consoles are the people that want to put Linux on them.
The Pirates usually take that info and begin pirating games.

Since Linux can be installed out of the box, there is no need for hacking.

Linux will be on future PS systems for this reason alone.
 
It's a good question but there's already and answer.

Gamecube and Playstation 2. Point? Piracy doesn't matter when software sales don't reflect a problem.
 
Draft said:
Because piracy isn't as big a deal as whiny developers and publishers make it out to be.
Click to expand...

I'm with you.
 
Even though piracy exists on other systems, some people don't pirate and buy games...

Just because piracy happens doesn't mean everyone's a pirate...
 
As other have stated, I don't think there's ever been enough evidence to conclusively argue to what extent piracy hurts the industry. I don't think anybody argues that it doesn't hurt the industry at all, but most of the numbers out there that tout that piracy costs the industry "X billions of dollars every year" are hyperbole based on the erroneous assumption that every known pirated copy of a game is a lost sale of full MSRP value.
 
Piracy has not yet become a serious problem for the 360 either, so the fact that Sony has beat it for now doesn't matter that much.

If it becomes a problem on home consoles, and one manufacturer does find a way to stop it, obviously that would be a big thing.
 
MutFox said:
The reason Piracy is slow on the PS3, is because of Linux.

Usually the people that unlock consoles are the people that want to put Linux on them.
The Pirates usually take that info and begin pirating games.

Since Linux can be installed out of the box, there is no need for hacking.

Linux will be on future PS systems for this reason alone.
Click to expand...
Linux safe cuz small amount of ppl using it...
 
Draft said:
Because piracy isn't as big a deal as whiny developers and publishers make it out to be.
Click to expand...

This. OP and others like him need to get it through their head that Hypervisor/et. al. "anti-piracy" protections are just screwing honest costumers more than the pirates.

Pirates will get around shit eventually. It isn't going to stop shit.

And :lol @ the 3000 and Go not being cracked. They're cracked, but they aren't "piratable" yet.
 
MutFox said:
The reason Piracy is slow on the PS3, is because of Linux.

Usually the people that unlock consoles are the people that want to put Linux on them.
The Pirates usually take that info and begin pirating games.

Since Linux can be installed out of the box, there is no need for hacking.

Linux will be on future PS systems for this reason alone.
Click to expand...

Sony stopped supporting Linux with the PS3 Slim so I doubt it will be on their future consoles.
 
gofreak said:
No, the suggestion is that devs should go from PS3/360/etc. to just PS3 because it's piracy free. And obviously that suggestion can't fly.
Click to expand...

That's what I said. If piracy on those two platforms was bad enough to make switching to the PS3 exclusively a good business decision it would have been done, but the OP seems like it may assume that they just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. I think the message is simply piracy isn't bad enough to make that a viable solution.
 
The PS3 is still last in software sales, LTD and month to month.

Edeuinu said:
It's effecting PC gaming, but I think more people care about getting their LIVE/PSN accounts being in jeopardy than bothering with it personally.
Click to expand...

And this.

The threat of e-peen loss keeps most normal 360 gamers in check.
 
Don't take this the wrong way, I'm from Australia where piracy is considered relatively 'normal' (go figure), but I personally think the 'beating' of piracy has hindered PS3 sales in many countries.

Seriously, PS1 and PS2 were hackable as all fuck, both came first. Wii is hackable as fuck and it's coming first.

360 is pretty hackable to an extent, and it's coming second.

Dreamcast down here experienced it's best sales AFTER people found out you could play pirated games WITHOUT modification to the console.

Just sayin.
 
SmokyDave said:
Is the PS3 uncracked because nobody gives a shit about cracking it?
Click to expand...
That's the argument that some people have made. It was ridiculous at the start of course, and is getting more so with affordable BR burners, huge HDDs and a large number of desirable games on the system.

I think that, if platform holders actually want them to be and invest in competent developers, all future closed platforms will be virtually uncrackable.
 
TheSeks said:
This. OP and others like him need to get it through their head that Hypervisor/et. al. "anti-piracy" protections are just screwing honest costumers more than the pirates.

Pirates will get around shit eventually. It isn't going to stop shit.

And :lol @ the 3000 and Go not being cracked. They'red cracked, but they aren't "piratable" yet.
Click to expand...

As the OP, have you ever assumed that maybe I do get it? Maybe I'm asking why devs/pubs (that seemingly don't get it) don't put their money where their mouth is?

My work is threatened by piracy but that is on the PC, different kettle of fish.

KHarvey16 said:
That's what I said. If piracy on those two platforms was bad enough to make switching to the PS3 exclusively a good business decision it would have been done, but the OP seems like it may assume that they just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. I think the message is simply piracy isn't bad enough to make that a viable solution.
Click to expand...

So how much damage is piracy actually doing? Is there a case for stating that piracy helps a format? If not, can you provide an example?
 
Because it doesn't matter how many people pirate the game. It matters how many people buy the game.

Having 100,000 pirates and 100,000 buyers is better than having 0 pirates and 50,000 buyers.
 
KevMurda said:
The man reason for the lack of PS3 piracy is because most people don't own Blu-Ray burners yet.
Click to expand...
No. If it was possible to hack the system to run unsigned code off of the harddrive (and I can already install a non-proprietary harddrive on the system), I wouldn't need my own burned Blu-Ray discs.

The only real advantage of Blu-Ray in that regard then is just to fill the thing up with so much data that it would deter me from wanting to wait for this massive game to download off of the peer2peer site of my choosing.
 
SmokyDave said:
Essentially, why is it that the platform that is now 100% piracy free isn't cleaning up on the dev side?
Click to expand...
Eventhough that the other systems are crackable, software still sells on the platforms. I guess that is why the developers still support the other platforms as well. As long as there is money to be made on a platform, developers will most likely support the platform(s) :) I havnt read any other replies in this post, so it might be that this has already been mentioned.

But ye, i think it is impressive that the PS3 still havnt been cracked. Has any other platforms stayed uncrackable for as the PS3 has (soon 3 years)?
 
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