Pirate to legit buyer ratio estimated at 4:1

DCBloodHound said:
i call BS


.
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Care to elaborate as to why?

I Find the following very Interesting:

"What is clear is people who 'share' games via P2P networks or buy illegal copies are not buying the real product, and this reduces retailer sales. It can provide the consumer with a sub-standard product and money paid to illegal traders does not flow back to the creative."

"In turn, investors see higher risks/lower returns, and this in turn will undermine confidence in the sector and lower the amount of money invested, reducing the developer's chance to create new products."
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And the Pro-Pirate people claim the love this industry, on that I call BS.
 
Well ... to be fair. It's an estimate. The article itself says it's difficult to track piracy - so providing exact figures are next to impossible; I'm more inclined to take that estimate with a bag of salt rather than a pinch.

And everytime the industry claims x amount of money lost sales they assume the people were going to buy the product anyway. Just assuming that one day an uncrackable copy protection method is discovered, it doesn't immediately follow that all the pirates are suddenly going to buy the games. I'm just basically tired of the industry throwing numbers out in hopes of impressing people.

There's no mistaking that piracy does harm the industry, and even worsens the perception that creators have of us as gamers - it's regrettable, but there's no getting away from some of the worst parts of human nature.
 
I think over a given timeline it would be fair to call a ratio of 4:1.

I mean I have recently downloaded lots of old games (Judge Dredd, Red Faction 1) that I used to play that I cant find anywhere. I mean sure I could find a small dealer in America who still has the game cd, pay a ridiculous amount for shipping, and then play the game for 2 hours.
 
Terak said:
I think over a given timeline it would be fair to call a ratio of 4:1.

I mean I have recently downloaded lots of old games (Judge Dredd, Red Faction 1) that I used to play that I cant find anywhere. I mean sure I could find a small dealer in America who still has the game cd, pay a ridiculous amount for shipping, and then play the game for 2 hours.
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This is what gog is trying to do now is bring those old games back so people don't have to pirate it.
Its like we have been searching for Trick Style for many years and still have not find it in anyshop or online. The only way was a torrent...
I see they got Judge Dredd there.
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/judge_dredd_dredd_vs_death
 
Crzwaco said:
This is what gog is trying to do now is bring those old games back so people don't have to pirate it.
Its like we have been searching for Trick Style for many years and still have not find it in anyshop or online. The only way was a torrent...
I see they got Judge Dredd there.
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/judge_dredd_dredd_vs_death
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I totally support GOG. However the feeling I get from the article is that "new games" are pirated at a 4:1 ratio, which I find total BS.
If that was so then developers/publishers wouldn't be able to future games.
 
Terak said:
I totally support GOG. However the feeling I get from the article is that "new games" are pirated at a 4:1 ratio, which I find total BS.
If that was so then developers/publishers wouldn't be able to future games.
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I dunno man, it doesn't seem that farfetched to me. Sometimes I feel like as a gamer I am part of a significant minority who does not pirate games. I'm not passing judgement, just sharing an observation.

Of my handful of gamer friends, only one has a strong objection to piracy, and that is a recent change for him. The rest happily share games at LANs, will grab a game off the WUG, or download a torrent of a new game which strikes their fancy – and then share it.

Also, at most LANs I have attended in the past few years, I have actually had to copy across games which I already have installed (and have paid for) so that I have the same (cracked) version as everyone else.

In fact, it could well be worse than 4:1, when you consider that there are people with literally dozens of cracked games on their harddrives.

In my experience, for every one person I know who owns a game legitimately, I know around 4 who have a cracked version. So this estimate does not run counter to my own intuitions.
 
IMHO, the ratio for new games is far higher. If a game is that good, people want it more = higher level of piracy.
 
I reckon the ratio is going down actually due to two factors:

1st Steam
2nd Some games make little sense in Eyepatch edition. e.g. Starcraft 2. Or WoW.
 
Tinman said:
I dunno man, it doesn't seem that farfetched to me. Sometimes I feel like as a gamer I am part of a significant minority who does not pirate games. I'm not passing judgement, just sharing an observation.

Of my handful of gamer friends, only one has a strong objection to piracy, and that is a recent change for him. The rest happily share games at LANs, will grab a game off the WUG, or download a torrent of a new game which strikes their fancy – and then share it.

Also, at most LANs I have attended in the past few years, I have actually had to copy across games which I already have installed (and have paid for) so that I have the same (cracked) version as everyone else.

In fact, it could well be worse than 4:1, when you consider that there are people with literally dozens of cracked games on their harddrives.

In my experience, for every one person I know who owns a game legitimately, I know around 4 who have a cracked version. So this estimate does not run counter to my own intuitions.
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Hmm. I see you point Tinny.

Come to think of it, I used to buy a crapload of pirated games when I was a bit younger. Mainly being because I didn't earn much money. My general rule of thumb is if I am less than impressed with a game, I'll buy the pirated version to try it out. Then I'll buy the proper version if I like it. I know its not right, but at the same time, why should I go through the risk where I'm not sure what I'm getting in the end? I guess thats not valid for most people, but its just the way I feel.
 
Terak said:
Hmm. I see you point Tinny.

Come to think of it, I used to buy a crapload of pirated games when I was a bit younger. Mainly being because I didn't earn much money. My general rule of thumb is if I am less than impressed with a game, I'll buy the pirated version to try it out. Then I'll buy the proper version if I like it. I know its not right, but at the same time, why should I go through the risk where I'm not sure what I'm getting in the end? I guess thats not valid for most people, but its just the way I feel.
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Hmm, I don't get why you would BUY the pirated version. That way you just end up buying it twice. Maybe not for the same price, but way more than you actually should. Lol
 
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