All PC Gamers Are Pirates Says Ubisoft Executive

AMD and NVIDIA could fuck with Ubisoft and cockblock them with making their games unplayable on their hardware, effectively blocking UBI from the PC market, see how beeing slapped in the face feels like.....
 
Just to be clear I am not advocating piracy. But it's not that simple as you describe it. Let's just assume all the 500 people would not buy the game even if they had no means of pirating. In theory them 500 people would make no difference to sales. That' why you absolutly can't count 500 pirate copys as 500 lost sales. That's why many people categorize pirating as a victimless crime.

Tldr:
Pirated copys do not equal lost sales (especially if you account for benefitial effects like word of mouth etc.)

500 pirates = 500 less people who buy the game. That's 500 sales lost. Maybe not all of those people would've bought the game, but i doubt all 500 of those wouldn't buy it. Not to mention that they are still consuming the product. Just because the developer isn't losing money doesn't mean they don't suffer from piracy.
Word of mouth doesn't benefit the developer at all in that case because for a pirate the sentence "Hey, the game x is fantastic" is usually followed by "I can give the cracked version to you". Hence no sale.
 
500 pirates = 500 less people who buy the game. That's 500 sales lost. Maybe not all of those people would've bought the game, but i doubt all 500 of those wouldn't buy it. Not to mention that they are still consuming the product. Just because the developer isn't losing money doesn't mean they don't suffer from piracy.
Word of mouth doesn't benefit the developer at all in that case because for a pirate the sentence "Hey, the game x is fantastic" is usually followed by "I can give the cracked version to you". Hence no sale.

Sadly a lot of people can't think logically like that though :(

Bottom line is, If you consume the product without paying for it by downloading it you are hurting the dev, Don't be cheap, Go buy it, Can't afford it then don't pirate.

Devs don't spend 4+ years making a game only for joe bloggs to come along and say "Oh it's ok if I download the whole game illegally and play it but then delete it" -_-
 
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I hope you're not being serious.

That's completely different as you are loaning out property you have paid for and no copy is being made.

No I'm not being entirely serious but they both actually break the same rules.
To quote an EA game,
Through this purchase, you are acquiring and EA grants you a personal, limited, non-exclusive license to install and use the Software for your non-commercial use solely as set forth in this License and the accompanying documentation. Your acquired rights are subject to your compliance with this Agreement. Any commercial use is prohibited. You are expressly prohibited from sub-licensing, renting, leasing or otherwise distributing the Software or rights to use the Software

The person borrowing the game will most likely complete it and never buy it, removing the dev of a sale for example.


Oh, and anyone who has bypassed regional locks is also technically stealing as well dependent on content. Its another legal minefield.


Before this goes into a further sh*t storm (like this topic always has) I'd like to quote gaben.

In general, we think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable. Most DRM solutions diminish the value of the product by either directly restricting a customers use or by creating uncertainty.

Our goal is to create greater service value than pirates, and this has been successful enough for us that piracy is basically a non-issue for our company. For example, prior to entering the Russian market, we were told that Russia was a waste of time because everyone would pirate our products. Russia is now about to become our largest market in Europe.

I love how this convo has turned into a morals 'discussion' as opposed to trying to sort out the problem.
 
500 pirates = 500 less people who buy the game. That's 500 sales lost. Maybe not all of those people would've bought the game, but i doubt all 500 of those wouldn't buy it. Not to mention that they are still consuming the product. Just because the developer isn't losing money doesn't mean they don't suffer from piracy.
Word of mouth doesn't benefit the developer at all in that case because for a pirate the sentence "Hey, the game x is fantastic" is usually followed by "I can give the cracked version to you". Hence no sale.

And what's the difference saying you can borrow my paid for version for a solo game. Personally I'd class loaning a game the same as pirating, if you play a game all the way through and haven't paid for it then it's the same
 
Oh, and anyone who has bypassed regional locks is also technically stealing as well dependent on content. Its another legal minefield.

That's debatable. I am still paying Netflix and i couldn't pay them more to unlock the other content. In fact i am paying more than americans.
On the other hand i don't know how Netflix pays for their licenses, you could argue that when i watch a movie which is locked in germany Netflix won't pay the producer.

And what's the difference saying you can borrow my paid for version for a solo game. Personally I'd class loaning a game the same as pirating, if you play a game all the way through and haven't paid for it then it's the same

It's a single license. If you lend your game to a friend he is the only one who can play the game. If you pirate a game the number of people who can play on the same license is unlimited and there is no obligation to return the game. Your friend would kill you if you'd just keep the game.
 
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500 pirates = 500 less people who buy the game. That's 500 sales lost. Maybe not all of those people would've bought the game,.


If not all of the 500 would have bought the game anyway,how have they lost 500 sales.Make your mind up,its one or the other.


@ Dicehunter:

p03b2wj.jpg
 
For me the issue we PC gamers have is our purchases are non-refundable, non-returnable in most cases. Once you've put in that CD-Key, there's no going back. Console games have resell value, or refund available if you don't like it. We only have that with a few things, and most AAA titles, don't even think about it. Once you install the game, you're locked in pretty much (I'm aware origin has a 'thing' before anyone says it)
 
That's debatable. I am still paying Netflix and i couldn't pay them more to unlock the other content. In fact i am paying more than americans.
On the other hand i don't know how Netflix pays for their licenses, you could argue that when i watch a movie which is locked in germany Netflix won't pay the producer.

Some licences are locked for certain regions as it goes against censorship laws so they have to make it illegal to cover their rears.
Also its removing money from the regional distributors.

Legal issues are so damn complicated.
 
If not all of the 500 would have bought the game anyway,how have they lost 500 sales.Make your mind up,its one or the other.

What, how can anybody say it's one or the other. It's not 0 or 500. I'm sure there is no ratio, little correlation and not an explicit integer value of pirates who don't go on to buy the game but would of otherwise purchased it.

But you have to be pretty behind to not realise 'some' sales will be lost. Maybe it's 40% of the pirates, maybe it's over 100%. But it damn sure isn't 0%

JR
 
For me the issue we PC gamers have is our purchases are non-refundable, non-returnable in most cases. Once you've put in that CD-Key, there's no going back. Console games have resell value, or refund available if you don't like it. We only have that with a few things, and most AAA titles, don't even think about it. Once you install the game, you're locked in pretty much (I'm aware origin has a 'thing' before anyone says it)

I remember when I could purchase games from GAME when i was back in the UK and return them if I wasnt happy much like console gaming. Times change for the worst :(

going back 10 years that is ;)
 
If not all of the 500 would have bought the game anyway,how have they lost 500 sales.Make your mind up,its one or the other.

What? Just because some of those 500 people wouldn't have bought the game that means no sales have been lost? That makes no sense at all. How the hell is a pirated game not a lost sale, it makes no sense.

Some licences are locked for certain regions as it goes against censorship laws so they have to make it illegal to cover their rears.
Also its removing money from the regional distributors.

Legal issues are so damn complicated.

There are no regional distributors, else i wouldn't be using the VPN.
 
What, how can anybody say it's one or the other. It's not 0 or 500. I'm sure there is no ratio, little correlation and not an explicit integer value of pirates who don't go on to buy the game but would of otherwise purchased it.

But you have to be pretty behind to not realise 'some' sales will be lost. Maybe it's 40% of the pirates, maybe it's over 100%. But it damn sure isn't 0%

JR

Tell that to these Publishers who assume that every pirated copy is a lost sale,we all know that is not the case and I do agree that a lot of the pirated copies ARE lost sales,but they constantly say that EVERY pirated copy IS a lost sale.

Just come across this:

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It's a single license. If you lend your game to a friend he is the only one who can play the game. If you pirate a game the number of people who can play on the same license is unlimited and there is no obligation to return the game. Your friend would kill you if you'd just keep the game.

Yes I agree the amounts is higher pirating than loaning but it still has the effect that eveytime a game is loaned it isn't money to the developer, 100 people buy the game and loan it to 5 friends then trade it in and the next 100 loan it to 5 friends, it's a slower process but the numbers could add up. It was part of the reason Microsoft wanted to stop games being traded on Xbox one
 
That makes no sense at all. How the hell is a pirated game not a lost sale, it makes no sense.



There are no regional distributors, else i wouldn't be using the VPN.

Because the person (I'm aware not everyone who pirates will eventually pay the game) who pirated it goes out and buys it. It does not cost the company anything to produce a digital copy.

Its not like stealing a physical copy of a game then going into the store to buy the same game, you're not getting rid of a sale as such. Its more like you steal the copy, return it then you buy it.


Heck, why would anyone pirate when the sheer amount of patching AAA games always need means you'd end up with a buggy copy anyway.
 
Yes I agree the amounts is higher pirating than loaning but it still has the effect that eveytime a game is loaned it isn't money to the developer, 100 people buy the game and loan it to 5 friends then trade it in and the next 100 loan it to 5 friends, it's a slower process but the numbers could add up. It was part of the reason Microsoft wanted to stop games being traded on Xbox one

Well that's a very hard subject to debate. You could either argue for the developers losing out on money or for the consumer's right to share what they own. When games were still distributed on a physical medium game sharing cut devs out of money, but because of the restrictions of borrowing a game i guess that was a price the devs were willing to pay. In the digital age there are no restrictions to sharing your games with your 'friends'. Where to draw the line is hard to determine, but i think i'd rather have the single license model Microsoft is pushing than the 'muh freedom' approach a lot of gamers take.

Because the person (I'm aware not everyone who pirates will eventually pay the game) who pirated it goes out and buys it. It does not cost the company anything to produce a digital copy.

Its not like stealing a physical copy of a game then going into the store to buy the same game, you're not getting rid of a sale as such. Its more like you steal the copy, return it then you buy it.


Heck, why would anyone pirate when the sheer amount of patching AAA games always need means you'd end up with a buggy copy anyway.


Only a very small minority of pirates actually buys the game after pirating it.
Still don't see why youtube doesn't suffice as a source to get a first impression if that is all they are trying to achieve by pirating the game.
Other people are paying full price to play the game on release day while some pirates steal it and then buy the game later usually for a cheaper price, that's not fair either.
 
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