Tale of why pirate publishers were afraid
Hello, I am Sheon and this is my first topic on this, yet, mysterious portal for me. The sponsor of this essay is kurokikaze , who out of kindness gave me an invite, for which he is very grateful. Immediately get down to business.
How many groans go on the Internet - piracy destroys PCs, piracy kills games, developer studios hang themselves at the workplace, pirates lower the entire gaming industry to the bottom, rob ships, caravans and generally do not behave like gentlemen. Do you know what I think? I think this is pure nonsense.
Bonfires persecution of pirates fanned 3 industry elephants - Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. They are primarily profitable to intimidate developers and gamers. Their goal is to knock out PC games rather soon. It's so good to row money with a shovel, when the hottest fruits come out at your side, and the PC only gets a shred of 2-3 months later. Money flows like a sound river, and business goes uphill. Nevertheless, game publishers refuse to admit that the cause of such mass piracy is not at all insidious corsairs with swords for advantage, but insatiable distributors. They are ready to hang up barn locks on disks, install tracking drivers on our computers, and just forcefully climb into our virtual world, just so that the profit rushes to unattainable heights. “Sell at any cost” is their motto. Another wonder why pirates are so popular among the masses? Maybe because they give any person to play the game, without having to suffer with any complex body kits? So all the same - is it worth planting all the pirates, burning all the underground workshops and fining everyone you meet and cross, or ... offer buyers something more attractive than pirated versions? Let's check.
Communist way
')
Factories for workers, bread for peasants, and games for gamers! It's no secret that the games make the main profit in the first weeks of sales. Okay, the first month. Well - they sold, the main profit was collected and after the month of the game we made it free to download. Oh how!
Pros: Why steal what is free? Those who want to - will not wait and buy, the rest will wait and download absolutely officially. Piracy fell by the death of the brave, buyers and freeloaders dancing with happiness.
Cons : It is difficult to collect profits. Why buy something that will soon be free? From the publisher's side, “we have entered such projects into the project, and we will distribute it for free?”.
Bottom line: Buyers and gamers burst with happiness, and publishers suffer losses and yell good mat. The way is utopian, but sometimes you want to dream so much ...
Brutal way
In fact, the method already works, and works well. Take any MMO - the player receives the full content of the game on your computer, often completely free, but to play, he needs a paid account on the publisher's server. Player profile is stored there. It turns out that it is impossible to play without connecting to the server and the license account. Of the more or less single-player games, this was the first time for the protection of a fresh BattleForge. And quite successfully - I have not seen a single pirate online yet.
Pros: The publisher is absolutely calm for the sale. Or a person will buy, or not buy. To make a pirated version of such a game is terribly difficult and costly.
Cons: Serious costs from the publisher to run and maintain the server. Moreover, the server needs not one, but for each game. Servers should be maintained for a very long time, because a person has the right to play after purchase when he wants - at least 10 years later. Just do not forget that there is no impenetrable protection - many MMOs got pirated server emulators. Piracy will not go anywhere, and if such a system is ubiquitous, it will still be bypassed sooner or later.
Bottom line: A very effective, very expensive and not very correct way. Not everyone, after all, has the Internet and the desire to connect somewhere every time to play 10 minutes. It looks like a situation when a company is so afraid of pirates that it is ready to discourage any desire to play with honest buyers. But it works, and it works well.
Way slyropopy
Let's go on the other side. There is a game in which most people will play for free, with the kind-hearted help of pirates. Is it possible to get profit from those who are not going to pay anyway? It would seem a hopeless situation, but think about it - the attention of millions of people is worth a lot. Here come the advertisers. What comes out - we release the games absolutely free for download, but we charge it with advertising and product placement. You can update ads from the Internet, you can even make commercials between missions. Did our advertising get you? There is nothing easier - buy the game, and there will be no sign of advertising.
Pros: A huge advertising platform. Millions of people are watching your ad. Money to publishers flow fast and foamy river. Who wants to buy - buy and will enjoy the game, without any advertising. And those who do not want to buy games - also pay, with their attention. Games are absolutely free for everyone. No one stays in the loser.
Cons: From those who do not want to pay for the game, income still goes. They would not pay anyway - the publisher does not lose anything. Those who buy - usually bring money to a large piggy bank. You can bet that you won't beat the budget off advertising, but think about it - now millions of people are playing pirates. Will they pay? I doubt it. It is better this way. But the way will work only under the condition that the whole game will be fully available without any restrictions in the advertising version. Otherwise it makes no sense.
Bottom line: Everyone is happy and happy. Publishers have income from all players, and players have games for free.
And here - three effective and fully applicable methods in front of you. The first is the dream of the players, the second is the dream of the publishers, and the third is a reasonable compromise. There is another way in the form of OnLive and others like it - but I do not believe in it. Too high cost, too much inconvenience. It resembles a situation where publishers are so afraid of pirates that they don’t even give players honestly purchased games, but they offer to be content with interactive video from the other end of the planet. Sorry, but this is an extreme pirate hysteria, which absolutely do not want to slip. Defeating this tantrum is easier than ever - instead of hiding games from customers behind seven locks, you have to turn your face to people, not your backside. Our dear corporations, we have already waited.
How many groans go on the Internet - piracy destroys PCs, piracy kills games, developer studios hang themselves at the workplace, pirates lower the entire gaming industry to the bottom, rob ships, caravans and generally do not behave like gentlemen. Do you know what I think? I think this is pure nonsense.
Bonfires persecution of pirates fanned 3 industry elephants - Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. They are primarily profitable to intimidate developers and gamers. Their goal is to knock out PC games rather soon. It's so good to row money with a shovel, when the hottest fruits come out at your side, and the PC only gets a shred of 2-3 months later. Money flows like a sound river, and business goes uphill. Nevertheless, game publishers refuse to admit that the cause of such mass piracy is not at all insidious corsairs with swords for advantage, but insatiable distributors. They are ready to hang up barn locks on disks, install tracking drivers on our computers, and just forcefully climb into our virtual world, just so that the profit rushes to unattainable heights. “Sell at any cost” is their motto. Another wonder why pirates are so popular among the masses? Maybe because they give any person to play the game, without having to suffer with any complex body kits? So all the same - is it worth planting all the pirates, burning all the underground workshops and fining everyone you meet and cross, or ... offer buyers something more attractive than pirated versions? Let's check.
Communist way
')
Factories for workers, bread for peasants, and games for gamers! It's no secret that the games make the main profit in the first weeks of sales. Okay, the first month. Well - they sold, the main profit was collected and after the month of the game we made it free to download. Oh how!
Pros: Why steal what is free? Those who want to - will not wait and buy, the rest will wait and download absolutely officially. Piracy fell by the death of the brave, buyers and freeloaders dancing with happiness.
Cons : It is difficult to collect profits. Why buy something that will soon be free? From the publisher's side, “we have entered such projects into the project, and we will distribute it for free?”.
Bottom line: Buyers and gamers burst with happiness, and publishers suffer losses and yell good mat. The way is utopian, but sometimes you want to dream so much ...
Brutal way
In fact, the method already works, and works well. Take any MMO - the player receives the full content of the game on your computer, often completely free, but to play, he needs a paid account on the publisher's server. Player profile is stored there. It turns out that it is impossible to play without connecting to the server and the license account. Of the more or less single-player games, this was the first time for the protection of a fresh BattleForge. And quite successfully - I have not seen a single pirate online yet.
Pros: The publisher is absolutely calm for the sale. Or a person will buy, or not buy. To make a pirated version of such a game is terribly difficult and costly.
Cons: Serious costs from the publisher to run and maintain the server. Moreover, the server needs not one, but for each game. Servers should be maintained for a very long time, because a person has the right to play after purchase when he wants - at least 10 years later. Just do not forget that there is no impenetrable protection - many MMOs got pirated server emulators. Piracy will not go anywhere, and if such a system is ubiquitous, it will still be bypassed sooner or later.
Bottom line: A very effective, very expensive and not very correct way. Not everyone, after all, has the Internet and the desire to connect somewhere every time to play 10 minutes. It looks like a situation when a company is so afraid of pirates that it is ready to discourage any desire to play with honest buyers. But it works, and it works well.
Way slyropopy
Let's go on the other side. There is a game in which most people will play for free, with the kind-hearted help of pirates. Is it possible to get profit from those who are not going to pay anyway? It would seem a hopeless situation, but think about it - the attention of millions of people is worth a lot. Here come the advertisers. What comes out - we release the games absolutely free for download, but we charge it with advertising and product placement. You can update ads from the Internet, you can even make commercials between missions. Did our advertising get you? There is nothing easier - buy the game, and there will be no sign of advertising.
Pros: A huge advertising platform. Millions of people are watching your ad. Money to publishers flow fast and foamy river. Who wants to buy - buy and will enjoy the game, without any advertising. And those who do not want to buy games - also pay, with their attention. Games are absolutely free for everyone. No one stays in the loser.
Cons: From those who do not want to pay for the game, income still goes. They would not pay anyway - the publisher does not lose anything. Those who buy - usually bring money to a large piggy bank. You can bet that you won't beat the budget off advertising, but think about it - now millions of people are playing pirates. Will they pay? I doubt it. It is better this way. But the way will work only under the condition that the whole game will be fully available without any restrictions in the advertising version. Otherwise it makes no sense.
Bottom line: Everyone is happy and happy. Publishers have income from all players, and players have games for free.
And here - three effective and fully applicable methods in front of you. The first is the dream of the players, the second is the dream of the publishers, and the third is a reasonable compromise. There is another way in the form of OnLive and others like it - but I do not believe in it. Too high cost, too much inconvenience. It resembles a situation where publishers are so afraid of pirates that they don’t even give players honestly purchased games, but they offer to be content with interactive video from the other end of the planet. Sorry, but this is an extreme pirate hysteria, which absolutely do not want to slip. Defeating this tantrum is easier than ever - instead of hiding games from customers behind seven locks, you have to turn your face to people, not your backside. Our dear corporations, we have already waited.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/57768/
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