Rabble Rabble: Piracy (Not the Cool Kind)
Iain, Piki Geek’s resident curmudgeon, wanted a place to spout off his unpopular (and often incredibly offensive) opinions. Repeated attempts to have him killed ended unsuccessfully, so we gave up and let him write this column instead.
Video game piracy, like The Ocarina of Time or Global Warming, is a topic you only really get one chance to form an opinion on. Anything you say that first time out is set in stone forevermore, and God forbid you try to change your mind at a later date, lest the context communists and fact fascists destroy your reputation with judicious use of past quotes. For better or worse, here are my thoughts about the controversial issue of video game piracy. Since I only get one shot at this, I’m hoping to make my comments stick.
Piracy is greatly contributing to the casual erosion of quality in the gaming industry. All pirates should be fully aware that they are the problem, not the video game equivalent of Robin Hood. I’m not so naive though to think that piracy is a black and white issue and the only problem that the gaming industry currently faces. There are a host of problems that the modern publisher faces in the pursuit of profit and collectively they are killing the games industry. The purpose of this article, then, is to show how they interconnect and to highlight the influence that piracy holds over the industry, for good and bad (mostly bad).
Piracy and DRM are almost totally intertwined, enough so that there’s a fairly strong argument to make that without one, the other wouldn’t exist. That’s especially true of DRM as it’s only real purpose is seemingly to combat piracy. What this also means is that both sides are fighting a losing battle: the more rampant piracy becomes than the stricter DRM will get, and in turn pirates will feel a greater urge to crack it. Eventually, someone’s going to have to back down from this fight, and, call it a hunch, I doubt it will be the multi-billion dollar games industry.
Meanwhile, every penny lost to piracy is just one more publishers will seek back with subscription services, download content and other nefarious schemes for milking the customer of all his or her money. It’s practically become the norm for gamers to complain about anything that costs money after the initial purchase of a title. The fact is, however, that because games these days have such a limited profit potential, the prevalent business model is trending ever further away from “one game, one price” to a more flexible ideal that also proves more costly to the consumer. Piracy is money on the table, so publishers are seeking to make that money back any way they can. DLC is a direct result of this.
The rise of the resale market has also had a major effect on the way publishers treat the release of their games. Pre-order bonuses and one-time use codes are just some of more troublesome trends in gaming that can all be tied back to the practice of buying and selling used. Likewise, the popularity of aggregate review sites like Metacritic makes life even more difficult on the publisher, since it’s now so much easier for the consumer to quickly gauge the quality of a game as based on a simplified score out of a hundred, a terribly easy (but also terribly inaccurate) way to swiftly cast judgment on a title.
Another issue to consider is the oversaturation of the games market. While not exactly a new development by any stretch, there are nevertheless far more games coming out than the market can bear. A surprisingly small percentage of games make a profit. Last year, just eight percent of all releases managed to stay in the black. The knee jerk reaction to that is to make more (preferably cheaper) games that will collectively make enough money so as to keep the company income high.
This raises two problems. The obvious one is that we’re wasting time on crappy cash-in titles that could be spent developing quality AAA titles that the public actually wants. The second is that with so many shitty games floating about, you create the perfect environment for a customer unwilling to commit his or her money. One day you’re checking out an interesting title with middling reviews, and before you know it, nine times out of ten you’ll pirate it rather than buy it.
Piracy is like the morning after a vindaloo: it’s a vicious circle from which no one emerges looking especially pretty. There is really no other reason for video game piracy than the desire to get something for free, that is the only truthful excuse and given the damage it causes it is also not much of an excuse at that. That said, I don’t hang around Walmarts all day looking out for shoplifters, so it would be a little pointless of me to harp on as to the moral turpitude of video game piracy, and it’s hardly like I’d be achieving much anyway.
On the other side of the coin, you’re damn right there’s a lot wrong with some of the practices of major publishers in the gaming industry, but they’re in the position to make those decisions, and something like piracy sure as hell ain’t about to change that. The big companies will always do whatever is best for the company. If they think they’re losing money to piracy, then the answer will be to stop the pirates.
Unless something pretty drastic and unexpected happens, we can pretty much all look forward to things continuing with the way they are. DRM will continue to exist to face the crackers, and payment models that seek to circumvent the issue of diminishing returns will gradually become the norm. Piracy is still very much a losing battle for anyone who attempts to fight it. The allure of “free” is simply too powerful, not to mention the other attractive benefits of pirating games, and in this regard I don’t for believe for one moment that there’s anything much I can say in this or any other article to change someone’s mind.
Consider this though: sometimes people try to excuse piracy as a form of protest, arguing that the only games they pirate are those that have been so royally screwed with by draconian publishers that a cracked copy of the game is the only one playable, like what happened with Assassins Creed. Or the argument might go that they’re only pirating a game because [insert evil company here] withheld content for DLC that should rightly have been in the retail game, like… uh, Assassins Creed 2.
Boycotting a title and pirating it both keep money out of the hands of allegedly evil corporations (not to mention those bastard games designers, snorting coke and gulping gallons of Henny a day) but despite the similar goal, the message you send is entirely different based on what approach you take.
Boycott a game and your protest is clear: “I’m not happy with the way you do things so I won’t be doing business with you anytime soon.” Pirate a game, however, and the message is considerably murkier: “You guys suck! But I’m still going to play your game.”
In the first scenario, the company has no obvious solution to the problem. People aren’t touching their games so something will have to change. In the latter, though, the game is still just as popular before, and since the only barrier in that scenario between consumer and profit is piracy, the obvious solution for the company is to make piracy harder.
If you take anything away from this article, let it be that. Pirate if you must, and justify however you want in your head, but try to remember that you’re only hurting the efforts of the people trying to make things better. There are a lot of shitty things about the direction the game industry is moving in, but the important thing to remember is that piracy is one that we actually have the power to do something about.
Unless you just plain don’t care and all you want is video games at a five fingered discount. In that case, ignore everything I’ve said and continue to be a thieving bastard.
Wow, just wow. Guess i’m done with pikigeek.
Care to share why? I found this to be an analytical and accurate assessment of the situation.
Yeah I pirate. But I don’t pirate to get back at anyone, I do it for the age-old reason: I’m poor and can’t afford it. I always try to buy the games I pirate when I have the money or if they go on sale, though.
Piracy is not that bad. Piracy can make some people potential customers, for example… me.
I pirated Mass Effect, I ended buying Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 : Collector’s Edition, and have already pre-ordered Mass Effect 3 : Collector’s Edition.
I pirated Bioshock, I ended buying the first one on PC, and Bioshock 2 Collector’s edition.
I pirated Alice Madness Returns, ended buying it for the PC.
I pirated Lost Odyssey, ended buying the game, and I’m waiting for “The Last Story” to buy it at day one.
And the list continues…
You say piracy affects the game companies, but it also transforms some non-potential customers into potential customers. The companies have nothing to be scared about, most of the people that pirate are most likely non-potential customers, or people that buy the games once the price decrease (used games).
Now, what game companies must fear is the “used game” sales. Why is that, because they lose potential customers, these are customers that acquire the game, but nothing is gain by the game companies.
Basically, Piracy can transform non-potential customers into potential customers, while the “used games” just make the developers lose one sale. So please, open your mind before you call all the pirates “thieves”.
So by that logic should I be allowed to eat at a fancy restaurant for free before deciding if I want to pay or not?
Should Ferrari be cool with me stealing a car on the off chance that I might buy one in the future?
There is a big difference. Stealing is when you physically steal something. Piracy is the unauthorized duplication of an original game. If I buy a crappy game, I will sell it used, and at the end, that will affect more the game developers that if I would have pirated it.
I think with any multi-layered problem, there are always ways to justify the act. I’m not going to stand here and say that each individual act of piracy is bad, but at the same time, pirating on the whole certainly isn’t good for the industry.
While I think there’s a reasonable case for piracy turning non-potential customers into actual customers, it’s tough to say whether or not that’s justification for the actual act.
I like to look at the Nintendo DS as an example. For the first, what, 3 or 4 years of the DS’s lifespan, homebrew flash cards weren’t at all popular among the gaming public. Yet after their explosion in 2008, the DS started seeing a steady decline in sales, until they eventually hit rock bottom.
There’s a case that the decline in sales was due to the software, or lack of interest in the console… But the parallel between DS piracy and the decline in sales was too obvious to ignore.
But like I said, it’s not always that obvious. There are probably thousands of people who bought Magicka and Minecraft after pirating it first. I’m sure piracy does generate sales. Whether or not it generates enough sales to counter the amount of damage it does to potential customers – that’s the big mystery.
I agree that piracy might have affected the Nintendo DS and the PSP. But in other type of games it could have helped them. For example Mass Effect. The week 1 Mass Effect sales was of 394,757 (X360), but if you look at Mass Effect 2 sales, you will see that it is way higher(893,352 on X360). One of the variables that might have helped Mass Effect 2 to sell more might have been piracy and people playing a used/lent game.
Or more probably, it had to do with it the fact that Mass Effect was a new IP. It didn’t have a bunch of fan-boys to rush out and buy it day 1. After 3 years of having an amazing game on the market the mass effect IP garnered a following and sold more in its release week.
I got Mass Effect 1 for Christmas in 2008 a year after its release. I stood in a line to get Mass Effect 2 at midnight.
The thing is, though, is that most pirates ARE thieves. While I certainly appreciate the sentiment behind “trying before buying”, the majority of pirates do exactly that simply because they don’t want to pay for games. The idea that the consumer is all important has been grossly bloated over the years, to the point where many people deem the content they consume to be unworthy of their money. Which is, for lack of a better word, bullshit.
Piracy has been praised amongst the all important internet elite simply because it largely embodies a fairly misguided view point – that, somehow, the individual is all important. That’s not the case, at all. Self importance, and in turn, the idea of entitlement is just absurd. The individual is not owed anything, pirates do not deserve content simply because they exist.
Simply, if you do not pay for it, you do not deserve it. I’m tired of the issue being argued as anything but. Pirates are not helping anything, they are not treating the industry a lesson. They are selfish, self important, and ultimately a plague upon the industry that they both detest and admire.
It’s hypocrisy at it’s finest.
People don’t like it when you call them on their bullshit.
Entitled gamers especially don’t like it.
I know that not all the pirates buy the games (not defending them). But then, people that have games borrowed or rent the games are thieves to? I mean, they do not give a cent to the developers.
I think there are really two questions that need answers here:
1. How much revenue is really lost from pirated games? More specifically, can you prove that a pirated game means a lost sale?
2. Why don’t gamers want to pay full price for games? Is it because they are pure evil, hypocritical bastards? Or is their behavior a natural condition of a flawed pricing and distribution structure?
- And here’s another questions… What do you think about used games. Publishers and game developers don’t make a cent off of used games… Isn’t that just like piracy?
“The idea that the consumer is all important has been grossly bloated over the years, to the point where many people deem the content they consume to be unworthy of their money.”
Exactly, if the consumer doesn’t feel that they are being treated fairly, or getting their money’s worth… they will cease to be consumers. That is the fundamental aspect of consumer sided economics.
That being said, if the consumer deems it a better use of his efforts to pirate a game instead of buying it, it may be indicative of a flawed market. The consumer will do what is in his best interests, that is the cornerstone of our present economic model. It is the sellers that must make their products worthy of our money, our time and our efforts. The fact that consumers are pirating means that the sellers and distributors of games are doing something wrong.
Just take a look at bootleg DVD sales… 5 bucks gets you a good copy of almost any Movie, even some that are still in theaters. Why should the consumer, when given this choice, buy a $20 DVD film months after it’s initial release. Is it the consumer’s fault that the market is skewed against the legitimate distributors? Distributors must change their structure to compete with the bootleggers, they need to make their products unique, add incentives, and lower their prices. These are all good things for consumers.
It could be argued that Pirates actually bring down the cost of games, are forcing the producers to create a better product… In a weird way, pirates are keeping these companies honest.
Preach on, brother! This is exactly what I was just thinking. Stealing is stealing, you can’t justify it. Even people that have to steal in order to survive, it’s still wrong no matter what way you spin it. I see why pirates exist, but I also see why thieves and robbers exist as well. Pirating games is just a way to take something that somebody or a group of people worked very hard to create, even if you end up buying it later.
Iain’s opinions are unpopular because they are short sighted and ignorant. While this post may not represent the view of the pikigeek collective, it is enough for me to say goodbye.
As with *any* collective, all of us have different opinions. For example, I pirated Minecraft. Did I buy it before it went into beta? Hell yes!
To quote Dac above, “with any multi-layered problem, there are always ways to justify the act”.
IMO, Iain’s article was very well written and, as always, it’s his own opinion. You’re very welcome to have a dissenting opinion to the rest of the Piki Geek commenters – in fact, I’d actively encourage it. Just don’t start any flamewars
That’s cool. If you are going to leave a site because of an opinion from one of the staff members I rather not have to read any more of your comments.
This article is based on a opinion. I might not agree with Iain’s opinion, but still, I know that he writes other articles (which are good). Every people have different opinions, and that’s what makes the world interesting.
I’m a writer here at Pikigeek… and I can say undoubtedly that I do not agree with this opinion piece.
better then game store robbers i always say
lol.
Btw, nice to see you got an avatar now. =)
i cant see it though D: only on the forums i can
Might take a day or so to show up. I’d try clearing the cache of your browser.
Pirates – they mad.
glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks everything Iain Dooley has posts is shit
as an entitled gamer, without reading the article AT ALL because I have to maintain my daily reservoir of vitriol for the inevitable car-ride with conservative talk on the radio, I will simply say that any argument over a blanket condemnation/justification for pirating will always fail because simply put it’s a (comparatively) infinitely more complex circumstance than either side will ever acknowledge, and for this reason no meaningful action will ever be taken to stop it because optimally, nobody would ever have to pirate
Actually, you’d be the first I’ve seen who hates on ALL of Iain’s articles.
That was hyperbole, or projecting my impressions from a not-negligible number of samples onto others I haven’t had the “acute pleasure” of viewing personally. However you want to look at it. The point I was trying to drive home was I think his opinions are awful, his writing is awful, his journalism or whatever you call it is awful. He is all around an awful human being.
Damnit, there I go again. :<
*posted
Yes, there’s an irony in correcting a simple verb/tense disagreement yet ignoring the absence of capitalization or punctuation~
Fantastic article Ian!! I do agree that everyone has their own take on this, but the simple fact is that stealing is stealing, you can’t change that. The only solid stance to take, as you said, is to not even touch the game at all, show that you don’t support the devs or what the game is, rather than capitalizing on something for your own twisted needs. It’s amazing how much attention this article got though, and that’s always good to hear other people’s views on certain topics!
I’m glad you took the leap for everyone here at this site. It takes some serious balls to give an opinion to the, dare I say, overcritical internet crowd. Keep up the good work mate! Can’t wait to see what we all yell at you for next