Can piracy be a good thing?

[code.samurai]

Bitmap Frogs said:

code.samurai said:

Bitmap Frogs said:

But it's a vicious cycle. As piracy increases, companies need to draw more money from the guys who actually buy games in order to make even. They can't go and say "hey, let's make this one 30$ and see what happens" because research data shows the guys who are getting the games for 0$ won't start spending money to buy them legit even if they sell for a smaller price.

The only people who react to lower pricepoints are those who buy games legit. Such buyer will buy one game at 60$ or two at 30$. But the people who are used to spend 0,20c (aka cost of the DVD) won't settle for anything more expensive.

You are assuming again.  Stop that.  You don't know how the general market will react if they actually reduced the entry price point to $30.  For all you know those people who buy 1 game a month will actually buy three games.  You clearly missed my point that even the niche titles cost an outrageous $60 on the PS360 platforms, their target audience will be turned off by the price before right after they are intrigued by the concept.  Take me for example, I want to buy Heavenly Sword but held back more than 3 times because it does not have any replay value.  It's like an interactive movie, only more than 3x the cost.

 

 

Assuming? You don't think the publishers have done a shitton of market research in order to find the optimum price to maximise profits? Their research shows that pirates like having goodies for free, no price discount will motivate them.

But hey, whatever.

 

Marketing research?  No.  The $60 price point for PS360 is standard and most publishers follow it blindly.  Why do you think even games without replay value also costs $60?  It's insane.