Ubisoft: Piracy's basically killing PC

easy way to fix the problem, make the game that you have be forced to have a cd key account, so you can only create 2 accounts with that cd key, and if you use the cd key more then Twice every 6 months(or a year) then that person gets kicked...
 
Naaa scotty that is no good man, what about system upgrades and pc crashes?

they need to make it online authorization, it checks your cd key and when it fine you boot into the game.
 
Crap work from the studios is the reason games are not bought.

Take for example Football Manager (previously called Championship Manager and probably the greatest game of all time - objective view here). The Collyer brothers removed SecuROM from their game with their 97/98 version (or was it LaserLOK - meh, just got softcapped) intentionally to spread the word about their game (Hey, my first experience with their footy sims came from a pirated copy of CM 97/98). They sell out crazy every time they release a new game for one reason only - they keep upping their standard for the game. Every year sees improvements to the game that many fans find brilliant. If they rested on their laurels and did bugger all to improve the FM experience year on year - they would be pirated to kingdom come and back. OR they would be clever enough to just do roster/regulation updates for a minimal cost (eg: R100).

On the other side of the coin is Fifa (disregard the last two iterations where EA actually tried to improve the mechanics of the game). I never ever bought a legal copy of Fifa after 99. Never downloaded a demo - only the full game and after trying it out for a while I would delete it (then again, after Fifa 2000 I started playing PES and said to hell with Fifa, and PES was a pirated copy because I couldnt find pes anywhere to be bought legally).

To whit - the only games I buy (regularly)(except for last years editions) are Pro Evolution Soccer (it gets better with every year, barring the 2008 edition) and Football Manager (this game really does get better every year, nuff sed).

I've bought NWN when it reached a good price, I'll be going to buy Battlefield 2 and CoD4 for R100 a piece once I get my new PC (what would the point be of getting illegit copies of multiplayer games - seriously).

Piracy is not killing the PC, a bloody boring rehash of games is. Halo 1 & GTA 4 broke sales records because they were innovative and fun and made you want to play games again - not because piracy was a setback.

@the moron who said that GTA will not sell a million copies on the pc. Rubbish. It probably won't sell as well as on the consoles, but then again most people who play game son the pc have a console as well and those people already have GTA - otherwise, anyone who doesnt have GTA on the pc will buy it rather than pitrate it - just because of the multiplayer component. nuff sed
 
...you guys talk about DRM, think about why such things are needed.

Why is it needed? It is useless. It makes the life of legit users more difficult while the pirates just uses cracks to bypass it.

If you arent sure if a game is worth the money, look at some reviews, do a bit of reading and THINK about whether its the kind of game you will enjoy before buying it. The "i dont want to spend money on somehtin which may suck" argument is also bs. Its like going to a resturant, and asking for a free meal and saying you will pay for it once you have finished only if you really enjoyed it.

It is not like going to a restaurant. There ain't much you can compare it to imo. No use trying.

If you believe that pirating games is ok, then you have absolutely NO right to moan next time your car is stolen. You are no better than a common criminal

Pirating is 100% ok imo. As long as you buy it if you like it.

Overall, the most painful thing with these games was the effort involved to crack and play. Some of them needed mini images mounted and who knows what all else. The moment a patch comes out, the game stops working.

If it takes effort to bypass the protection/DRM/whatnot then you are doing something wrong. It takes me a few minutes longer to install a 'pirate' copy vs a legit copy. Get a crack/mini image...copy or mount, done! :)

After that the pirated game is bound to me less hassles than the legit copy. I still play the pirated version of GTA San Andreas just cause it is easier.
 
MULTIPLAYER

Thats the key to success... If you make a good game with a good singleplayer, some people will buy it and some might download it for free... But if you have a good MULTIPLAYER people WILL buy it...

Its the creators own fault they are loosing sales by putting out crap games... The money is in multiplayer, with the world expanding and actually becoming smaller people WANT good multiplayer games...

You get to many companies that bring out a NEW Hunting Unlimited every year, with the same graphics as the 2001 version and think people will buy it. Why waste money on a product thats exactly the same as it was 7 years ago WHICH you DID buy (Maybe)

Good games will always be bought... Its just an easier excuse than confessing you actually have a horrid game that NO one WANTS to buy.
 
MULTIPLAYER

Thats the key to success... If you make a good game with a good singleplayer, some people will buy it and some might download it for free... But if you have a good MULTIPLAYER people WILL buy it...

Its the creators own fault they are loosing sales by putting out crap games... The money is in multiplayer, with the world expanding and actually becoming smaller people WANT good multiplayer games...

You get to many companies that bring out a NEW Hunting Unlimited every year, with the same graphics as the 2001 version and think people will buy it. Why waste money on a product thats exactly the same as it was 7 years ago WHICH you DID buy (Maybe)

Good games will always be bought... Its just an easier excuse than confessing you actually have a horrid game that NO one WANTS to buy.

AMEN!
 
@the moron who said that GTA will not sell a million copies on the pc. Rubbish. It probably won't sell as well as on the consoles, but then again most people who play game son the pc have a console as well and those people already have GTA - otherwise, anyone who doesnt have GTA on the pc will buy it rather than pitrate it - just because of the multiplayer component. nuff sed

So you think gta4 will sell more than a million copies on pc when 9 of out 10 pirate games ?

Yup i'm the moron here :p

Is the pc version going have to multiplayer? Considering its a port i would imagine gta4 for the pc is going to be a missing a few key elements

Where do you get that most people who have a pc have an Xbox? none of friends who have a pc own a console, most people who play games on the pc hate the console.

I will bet that gta4 on pc will be nothing more than the most pirated game of all time, low sales.
 
So you think gta4 will sell more than a million copies on pc when 9 of out 10 pirate games ?

Certain games just do not get that 9/10 pirate rating (If you believe that 9/10 thing to start off with). 9/10 Is just a general figure and does not mean Bamby and the 10 bears: Fun for the whole family will also be pirated that badly. GTA games will always have higher than average sales imo - the fan base that supports Rockstar Games & GTA is huge.


Is the pc version going have to multiplayer? Considering its a port i would imagine gta4 for the pc is going to be a missing a few key elements

Where did you see it is a port? Where did you see it will be missing a few key elements? Because I have heard the exact opposite. With multiplayer being enhanced etc etc.

I will bet that gta4 on pc will be nothing more than the most pirated game of all time, low sales.

Don't know. It could be. I'll be pirating it. But I'm sure that allot of those that will be pirating this, will - like me - also go out and buy the game.

Do we ever see the stats of how many "Pirated" copies eventually turns someone into buying a legit copy? Nope. But there are loads of stats on how much "lost" sales there are due to pirating. :rolleyes:
 
They ported the other ones so why would they not port this one?

GTA:SA was not a port.... Do not think Vice City & GTA3 was one either. Porting is old and most companies have not ported stuff in ages. It is called a conversion these days.
 
Do we ever see the stats of how many "Pirated" copies eventually turns someone into buying a legit copy?

Maybe it's because those statistics don't necessarily exist to begin with? C'mon man, if a person can get something for free and extracted all the fun and potential from the product, what motivation is left for buying a legit copy? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that 99% of all people who download or rip music from a CD don't go out and buy the CD after listening to it for a few days/weeks. The same goes for games, imho.
 
Maybe it's because those statistics don't necessarily exist to begin with? C'mon man, if a person can get something for free and extracted all the fun and potential from the product, what motivation is left for buying a legit copy?

I don't know. I'm sure as heck not the only person on the planet that goes and buy the stuff I like? I only pirate the stuff cause I can get it faster via the net than the slow SAPO can deliver. The fact that a cracked game also is less of a hassle is quite true. Why struggle with the DVD when you can play without it? Then there is also the nice box, dvd and book things inside. Also knowing you have a legit copy now, thereby supporting the developers or whoever of something that you like and enjoy(ed), makes it worth it.

99%? LoL no
 
Yep, 90% pirate EVERY game and only 1% of those buy it after testing it.

Damn - Looks like every Online shop/Computer store, music store, DVD Shop, Cinema and basically every shop that sells any kind of movie/music/game/software is gonna close down before the end of the year!
 
Who said that only 1% of gaming "pirates" buy the game? I was talking about music, people. MUSIC. Read my post again.
 
Who said that only 1% of gaming "pirates" buy the game? I was talking about music, people. MUSIC. Read my post again.

Um. Right. Ok! :)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that 99% of all people who download or rip music from a CD don't go out and buy the CD after listening to it for a few days/weeks. The same goes for games, imho.

Done! :D :p
 
The argument is that these people are yelling at out of their red ferarri's making billions, because we download the game before purchasing it - we do it because of false hype, and bad reviews.
don't you test-drive a car before buying it?

cracks also help the people that buy games with crappy RULES, like drm/etc.

...also looking out for the poor chaps, heh...
 
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