Bethesda tires of spending money to support pirates

[Heldelance]

The annoying thing about all this anti-piracy thing is that it allows companies to go "screw the quality of this game" because most of the time they can release a below acceptable quality game and not be scared that it'll just be downloaded for free.

The good thing about pirates who release these things for no charge (I'm totally against anyone who rips stuff and sells it) is that they keep these companies in line. People who are satisfied with a game are more likely to buy the real copy.

Take me for example. I had Fo1 and 2 and they were pirated copies that I downloaded. I realized it was an awesome game and I bought the original copies and now they're on a special altar in my room.

 

[alec]

Anyone remember that stunt that Radiohead pulled with 'In Rainbows'? They put it on the internet, and you payed what you wanted for it, you could even download it for free legally if you wanted. And a lot of people did. But then they put their godlike genius brains at work and offered the discbox: the cd + 2 vinyl records + a book of artwork + a bonus cd! All of the available copies were sold out in three months time.

It's time for PC game developers to become more creative. PC games get pirated? Use that to your advantage. It's the best publicity out there: give your game out for free. But also make an edition available that is special in each and every way, something everyone will want. Add a fat manual full of vital info and brilliant artwork. Go back to the days when the manual was vital to the game (à la Wasteland). Add a bonus disc with extra levels that depends even more heavily on that manual (codewords, written puzzles, ...). Add a cd with the game soundtrack and package all of that in a neat old-fashioned cardboard box. People will pay double for the effort you put into that. And instead of wasting a fortune on advertisements and billboards and all of that other crappy marketing stuff, let the pirated software do the publicity work for you.

Aww... what's the point anyway? If game studios lack anything nowadays, it's creativity. I'm talking to the walls again.

 

[Arash]

Anyone remember that stunt that Radiohead pulled with 'In Rainbows'? They put it on the internet, and you payed what you wanted for it, you could even download it for free legally if you wanted. And a lot of people did. But then they put their godlike genius brains at work and offered the discbox: the cd + 2 vinyl records + a book of artwork + a bonus cd! All of the available copies were sold out in three months time.

It's time for PC game developers to become more creative. PC games get pirated? Use that to your advantage. It's the best publicity out there: give your game out for free. But also make an edition available that is special in each and every way, something everyone will want. Add a fat manual full of vital info and brilliant artwork. Go back to the days when the manual was vital to the game (à la Wasteland). Add a bonus disc with extra levels that depends even more heavily on that manual (codewords, written puzzles, ...). Add a cd with the game soundtrack and package all of that in a neat old-fashioned cardboard box. People will pay double for the effort you put into that. And instead of wasting a fortune on advertisements and billboards and all of that other crappy marketing stuff, let the pirated software do the publicity work for you.

word. the way companies are QQing over the media about how their brilliant masterpieces are getting pirated over the net is just an excuse to escape the harsh reality that their game, allthough being greatly worked on, doesn't ammuse some of the customers to go and buy the game.

I like the system of MMO's (such as WoW), they are the best way to get a lil COT (cash over time) from people.

 

[Brother None]

I've mentioned Radiohead's stunt in discussions about the gaming industry before, and people light forget one thing: music and film are more innovative in how they release their products, because they do not rely solely on retail sales for revenue. Film makes most of its money through theatres, music has a significant fall-back in performances. Gaming has neither. So in that sense, it's not surprising that gaming falls behind when it comes to exploring new ways to bring the product to the consumer, they can not afford the same risks.

 

[grapedog]

I don't think Piracy would be as big of a problem if more demo's were released...demo's that actually let you see the meat of the game. They don't have to be long, but they should give the consumer a good idea of what they are purchasing. I can demo a car, I can check out a house before I buy it. I can listen to clips of songs before I buy them...but all I can do is watch a video or interview for a game?

Not to mention, games have certainly gone down hill in the past decade. More graphics, less story. Higher cost, less actual playtime($50 for 10 hour game is not worth it to me), more bugs and less patching. If I'm paying $50 for a game, it better give me a good 40 hours of actual non-repetitive gameplay.

I own/purchased Bioshock and NWN2...but I also have the pirated copies too because the pirated copies have DRM removed. There are entire groups of people who pirate JUST to avoid DRM...and DRM does nothing to actually stop piracy. Idiocy...

Lastly, I like the way NWN's/Bioware forums work. You can search their forums, but if you want to post you need to register an account and provide the CD key for the game you own to even post. People with a legit copy can now get the answers they need/want...pirates can use the Search button.

 

[rcorporon]

I have to agree with grapedog here.

When I first got into gaming years and years ago, games were nowhere near as expensive, and tended to be high quality (I played X-Wing and Dune II for YEARS).

Now, we hardly get demo's and companies expect us to shell out $60 - $70 for a game that may only last 8 - 10 hours.

If companies want people to purchase their games, they should ensure that the games are worht purchasing in the first place.

 

[Matt K]

I have to agree with grapedog here.

When I first got into gaming years and years ago, games were nowhere near as expensive, and tended to be high quality (I played X-Wing and Dune II for YEARS).

Now, we hardly get demo's and companies expect us to shell out $60 - $70 for a game that may only last 8 - 10 hours.

If companies want people to purchase their games, they should ensure that the games are worth purchasing in the first place.

I would add in that back in the 90's you could take back games that either didn't work or you didn't like. So I would buy games safe with the knowledge that I could return it if it was crap. Also PC games seem to rarely drop in price anymore. So if I wanted to pick up an older game, it would still cost me almost as much as one release. It's no wonder people think the PC industry is dying. There are so many negatives that tend to outweigh any positives (and don't get me started on deceptive system specs and the necessity to constantly upgrade).

 

[rcorporon]

I would add in that back in the 90's you could take back games that either didn't work or you didn't like. So I would buy games safe with the knowledge that I could return it if it was crap. Also PC games seem to rarely drop in price anymore. So if I wanted to pick up an older game, it would still cost me almost as much as one release. It's no wonder people think the PC industry is dying. There are so many negatives that tend to outweigh any positives (and don't get me started on deceptive system specs and the necessity to constantly upgrade).

Also, DRM's are killing PC gaming in a way that piracy never could.

I remember brining back shit games to my local EB, and getting my $ back. Those were the days.... .

Rather than get cheaper, old games go up in price. Try to get the Baldur's Gate collection for any kind of reasonable price these days.

 

[Matt K]

Also, DRM's are killing PC gaming in a way that piracy never could.

I remember brining back shit games to my local EB, and getting my $ back. Those were the days.... .

Rather than get cheaper, old games go up in price. Try to get the Baldur's Gate collection for any kind of reasonable price these days.

Hell, Diablo Game Chest hasn't dropped in price in like 5 years. I had hoped to eventually pick it up for $20 but it's still at $40.

And true, DRM is killing the industry better than anything. I mean who wants to pay $60 to rent a game and it then there are even more reason the game might not work (too bad about the $60). Also forget about playing it in 5 years once they take down the authentication servers or if they go out of business.

 

[grapedog]

I'm also not sure why piracy is so connected to PC's, but disconnected from consoles. There has been a lot of talk recently about the XBox leak, a year after release it will be PC piracy that takes all the blame.

There is a website passed around my workplace where you can buy any XBox 360 game for $5 to cover the cost of the time and DVD's. They offer to mod your XBox for cheap since it's easy to do... They just rent the games, burn em and host em...

No one offers PC games... PC Piracy is a dead horse that gets beat like a drum constantly...

 

[TheWesDude]

you know, i always buy my games/oses and everything. i dont pirate stuff.

since about 99/00 games have been going downhill. less about quality, more about graphics. or a name. especially for AAA titles.

i am sick and tired of spending money and getting burned by getting a crappy product. i am about to turn to piracy because it seems like there is only 1 quality game to come out every 3-4 years out of hundreds of games that gets released.

i am sick and tired of spending 300-400$ a year on games and they only last maybe 1 month if they are lucky.

its about to drive me to find out how this piracy stuff works. im sick of wasting my money and "encouraging" these production studios for making a product that quite frankly isnt worth the cd/dvd its printed on.

 

[grapedog]

you know, i always buy my games/oses and everything. i dont pirate stuff.

since about 99/00 games have been going downhill. less about quality, more about graphics. or a name. especially for AAA titles.

i am sick and tired of spending money and getting burned by getting a crappy product. i am about to turn to piracy because it seems like there is only 1 quality game to come out every 3-4 years out of hundreds of games that gets released.

i am sick and tired of spending 300-400$ a year on games and they only last maybe 1 month if they are lucky.

its about to drive me to find out how this piracy stuff works. im sick of wasting my money and "encouraging" these production studios for making a product that quite frankly isnt worth the cd/dvd its printed on.

My first bit of advice would be to check out the Steam service from Valve. I've played a lot of the games on their service and most of them are quality games. I think Valve goes the extra mile to make sure the products they release on their service are actually decent games.