Dispelling the myths of Video Game piracy.

[setsunatenshi]

In my oppinion the game makers should look into more ways to get revenue from a game rather than just the initial purchase.

I thought about this subject quite a bit and I came up with a few ideas.

1- Advertise revenue. Example, the game Motorstorm RC was on sale for PS Vita for something around 10 to 15$ (not sure the precise amount) and yet because Sony had some partnership with a car manufacturer to sponsor the game, you could chose to get this game for free with adds (same like happens in some games in the mobile market).

This way the person who wants to dish out some money for the game upfront doesn't need to put up with adds, and the person who would otherwise crack the console's firmware and pirate a game, could simply download it for free (or lower cost) completely legally.

The important factor here is to keep track of how much the game is played and how much this add is seen so the company will actually earn more money the more the game is actually played. It will completely nullify the lost revenue on 2nd hand market and give a true incentive for game makers to actually put out a quality product that will engage the users for a longer time.

2- Using the DLC milking strategy in a 'good way'.

Example, Ubisoft releases the next AC3 and for all the people who purchase and register the game to their system, all future DLC for the game would be absolutely free of charge. This would require you to register your copy and link it to your ID (psn or xbox live account or even steam).

For the person purchasing this in 2nd hand or without a unique CD key, they could still play the game but the DLC for the game would have to be paid. In this case would it be more profitable to pay the 50/60 €/$ for the game originally and 0 for dlc, or save 30/40% on the original price and then have to pay for all the DLC?

This is just a couple of ideas i came up with and I'm not being paid to do so. I think the people working in marketing in the top companies should come up with even more creative forms to generate revenue but somehow they rather waste resources in a pointless war on piracy that they will never win.

Better be smart and adapt then cry about it.

Just for full disclosure I did and sometimes do play pirated games. The common denominator when I do so is simply this one. It's easier to play the pirated copy than going through all the hassle of purchasing and dealing with all the DRM protections this particular game has.

Another common denominator, 90+% of the time I test the game for maybe an hour or so and delete it as it's not good enough to keep me engaged. When the game is really good and I feel i will actually play it some, then i'll just go and buy it obviously.

1 last thing, if digital 'renting' of games was a reality i probably would never touch a pirated copy again.

Discuss.......