Piracy is an issue that seems to be a plague to a lot of developers and publishers; they make a product to put on sale and a bunch of people crack the files and throw out a copy that anybody can get for free, kinda sucks right?
Well...not entirely.
You see, a lot of these companies believe that because of piracy they are losing money, this isn't actually true. You see, piracy isn't a lost sale at all because the person doing the pirating probably wasn't going to purchase the product anyway. In fact, piracy is probably better for companies in small amounts.
Think about it, somebody pirates a game since they had no intention to buy it in the first place, no money is lost because there was no chance for money to be gained from this individual.
Now, this person plays the game and likes it, several things can happen from here.
1. He actually buys it to support the developers.
Less likely than some other possibilities but it's certainly not impossible. Boom, the developers have made money where there was originally none to be made.
2. He tells friends or family about the game and how much he liked it.
Word of mouth is an incredibly powerful thing, a lone pirate can end up causing multiple purchases just because he has told people about his experience. Boom, sales earned from people who weren't originally aware of the game.
3. Nothing, he plays it and never speaks of it again
What has been lost? Nothing. This person pirates games instead of buying them simply because he can, no money to be made, no money to be lost.
Hmm, I can't think of any other notable possibilities but it seems we have 2 positive outcomes and a single outcome with no real effect on anything.
Notice the lack of negativity?
We haven't seen some other possibilities yet.
4. This person pirated it to test it on their system before committing to a purchase.
Admittedly, some people may end up not buying the game because it doesn't run on their system but let's face it, it's better than them buying it and then saying the game is horrible just because they wasted money on it. Once again, word of mouth is powerful.
5. They pirated it to see if they would like it first.
Pretty much the same as #4, not too hard to figure out.
At the end of the day, piracy is more likely to cause copies to be sold than it is to directly lose a company money. Now to cover the best way to prevent piracy.
Make a good game.
That's it.
Piracy is going to happen, it's inevitable, so why punish actual customers with awful DRM implements when the pirates are going to get around it anyway?
Making a good game will have these effects:
1. More people should buy the game in the first place.
2. Pirates are more likely to purchase a copy later on to support the developers of such a good title.
3. Pirates are more likely to spread positive word of mouth.
4. If they pirate it to see if they like it...they'll buy it afterwards because it's good.
5. If somebody pirate it as a glorified demo...they'll buy it afterwards because it's good.
You see where I'm coming from here? Piracy is not a good thing and I do not condone it by any means but let's face it, it's not going away. With that in mind, embrace the idea that it's going to happen and just think of the positive aspects. A lone pirate can do more good than harm in the long run.
It's certainly something to think about.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day.
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