Countering Piracy aka Publishers Are Morons

[twesterm]

DKII said:
That doesn't mean games aren't overpriced from a consumer standpoint, it just means developers are spending too much making the games.

 

I can agree with that, but sadly if people don't see OMG KILLER GRAPHICS 60 HOUR AAA GAME!!!!!!!! they think it must suck and then it doesn't make money.  If a game doesn't make money, it isn't a success.  Games like MGS4's, FFXIII's, and Gears of War 2's raise an unrealistic bar.

 

Kenny said:

twesterm said:

Your basic assumption is flawed.  Game are not overpriced because developers have to sell a crapload of copies at $60 as it is to even break even.  Every cent is accounted for and depsite what you think developers do not live rockstar life styles.  Who knew, maybe if dicks stopped pirating prices could go down.

And nope, didn't even bother reading after that, no point.

Although I agree with you when you say that games aren't overpriced considering the amount of money that must be poured into them, I wholeheartedly disagree that stopping piracy will bring down prices.  In fact, I could make the opposite argument: In the absence of a lower cost avenue of "acquiring" their software, they could raise prices further because they have complete control over distribution of their software due to the lack of "competition" (a term I use very, very loosely here).

In the end, it's more sensible to frame software developers' actions from the perspective that they will do that which maximizes their profit.  Whether that means stamping out piracy, as Microsoft pursues so aggressively today, or allowing piracy to maximize exposure to their software, as Microsoft originally did to put Windows on the map, it is only to serve that one objective.

That was more of a joke, I wasn't serious.