Valve boss Gabe Newell has rejected the theory that prohibitive pricing is a major cause of piracy.
"One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It's a service issue," he said, according to Geek Wire.
"The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It's by giving those people a service that's better than what they're receiving from the pirates."
Newell used Vlave's experiences in Russia as an example.
"You say, 'oh, we're going to enter Russia', people say, 'you're doomed, they'll pirate everything in Russia'. Russia now outside of Germany is our largest continental European market.
"... The people who are telling you that Russians pirate everything are the people who wait six months to localise their product into Russia. ... So that, as far as we're concerned, is asked and answered. It doesn't take much in terms of providing a better service to make pirates a non-issue."
At the same conference, Newell said he thinks Apple will launch a living room product "that redefines people's expectations really strongly and the notion of a separate console platform will disappear".
Comments
18 comments so far...
AvatarIII on 25 Oct '11 said:
totally agree, if it's easier to pirate something than not, of course things will be pirated, and if the only way to get hold of something is by piracy, then again, of course it will be pirated, if anything (games movies etc) is released worldwide simultaneously, then it will be pirated a lot less, it's just logic.
mrlister on 25 Oct '11 said:
Worldwide releases for the win! Goes for movies too.
Brains on 25 Oct '11 said:
I've been saying this to people for YEARS but CVG didn't want to write an article about ME!
Flamestrike on 25 Oct '11 said:
He makes a fair point. I Imagine 99.9% of people here have pirated something during their lifetime out of pure convenience as opposed to the actual cost.
Mmmmgrolsch on 25 Oct '11 said:
This article is about 6 months old and CVG you have already posted it!!
On topic. Look a Ubisoft for their terrible service, the worst service offered in videogame history. They actively make people turn to piracy because of their s**tty DRM. Why the f**k would ypu put up with being treated like a dirty thief when you paid for the game.
Its something when you turn to piracy for a better experience.
vladimirimp on 25 Oct '11 said:
If this were a questionnaire I'd tick the box saying 'Agree Somewhat'.
In my experience there are lots of games, films and music that I'm happy to enjoy for free (e.g. watching on TV, listening on radio, borrowing from friends), but when prompted to pay wouldn't do so. There are also things I am (more) happy to pay for and others that I wouldn't play even if they were free.
So I still think that there is a cost element to piracy, at least for the games that sit in between - I'm happy to play for free but wouldn't pay for it.
As for convenience, I can't say I consider pirating games to be convenient - quite the opposite. Perhaps that's why I don't do it.
One final point. It can also be a cultural thing. My wife is from Poland and when she lived at home only ever watched/listened to pirated music and films. In fact, her earliest gaming memory is of an imitation SNES console - pirate games AND console. This effect is also seen in different generations where some have grown up with the attitude that piracy is ok.
I'm pleased to see the 'service issue' put forwards as another facet to the debate, but I don't think it's the whole story.
kakah on 25 Oct '11 said:
I agree as I was put off by the drm on From Dust - it's a shame as I was really looking forward to buying it. I will just wait til its like £2 on steam sale or they remove the DRM. DRM loses sales rather than increase it and let alone fight piracy.
However, it should be noted steam is a form of DRM albeit nothing like ubisofts.
Sleepaphobic on 25 Oct '11 said:
Hahahahaha the Russians are always the bad guys.
billysastard on 25 Oct '11 said:
piracy happens when its the solution to a problem.
you want to play the game you bought whenever and wherever you want to, piracy removes all the drm checks that get in your way.
you want the whole game you just paid for, piracy unlocks the rest of the game they locked you out of so they could sell it back to you.
you want to play games from a company that ony wants to rip you (and their devs) off, piracy solves the problem
you want to buy a game pre-owned but discover that half of it is unplayable, piracy solves the problem
you want to stop piracy, become the solution not the problem, kill the drm, put the content back and stop ripping off your customers.
Warrior24_7 on 25 Oct '11 said:
Piracy is theft, those who steal are thieves. The main driving force behind piracy in the VERY minimal risk of being caught and prosecuted. The very items that these people steal are sitting right in front of them on the store shelves. They bypass them and go right to the computer and steal it, because they NEVER HAD ANY INTENTIONS OF PAYING FOR IT! Thats it, thats all, good night!
ted1138 on 25 Oct '11 said:
No, the easiest way to stop piracy is to stop making games for the pirates to steal.
Sleepaphobic on 25 Oct '11 said:
Piracy is not theft it's piracy. Stop regurgitating what others say you sheep.
radiocat on 25 Oct '11 said:
The number one Wii game being pirated at the moment is Xenoblade Chronicals. Do you think this might have anything to do with it only being released in Europe outside of Japan? So what are the many thousands of Wii owners in Australia, New Zealand. US, Canada and Latin America etc who want to play this game going to do? They're going to soft-mod their Wiis and get it from a file sharing site, even if they're people who usually buy their games. And then what? They'll say... hmm... that was easy.
Drusus on 25 Oct '11 said:
Yeah lots of people say that but when it's not a physical object and there may not of been intention to buy or means to buy in the first place it's almost impossible to get a court to consider it theft. Those that have been dealt fines have only been found guilty for selling the product on or distributing to large numbers.
Sorry for bringing fact into this I realise it wobbles your soapbox, my apologies.
Lol, that was fun.
Warrior24_7 on 25 Oct '11 said:
Piracy is theft, those who steal are thieves. If you're doing this (good chance you are) I'm talking about you! Man-up and take the s**t off of the shelf instead of being a b!tch and hiding on the internet. Yep, that's what I thought!
Warrior24_7 on 25 Oct '11 said:
Waaaaahahahahaha!!!
Do you believe this guy? If you don't have the means to "buy" then you should aquire the means like with anything else, or it's theft! Courts have considered it theft and have prosecuted people, the more you steal, the more fines and/or jail time you'll pay or do. Just like with other crimes, the greater the theft, the greater the penalty. Sorry for bringing fact into this I realise it wobbles your soapbox, I don't apologize.
WHERESMYMONKEY on 26 Oct '11 said:
I totally agree with Gabe. Most places where it's ramapant especially in developing nations it is totally a service issue. In places like China its becuase there's no official release of well anything. Consoles are banned so the only way to get games is to pirate them. Likewise in places like brazil the localisation of games is generally terrible and the price's are rediculous.
Over here its becoming more of a cost issue but for years it was definately a service as NTSC games ran better and came out sooner than their PAL counterparts.
The whole Piracy is stealing rants are utter tripe. Just shows you those stupid propaghanda ads at the beginning of dvds worked a treat on you. Piracy is isn't theft. Nothing is taken. pirate discs are forgeries and often become the only way of obtaining lots of rarer peices of software and such years after their release. I can see the benefits of it. Essentially what the prates are slowly creating is a kind of archive of all the games released for a machine that'll be around years after the discs they were burnt to have packed up.
I know i've downloaded plenty of ancient games i've read about that i otherwise wouldn't of been able to play over the years.
I think that ham fisted atempts at quashing piracy and copyright laws that just benefit publishers rather than creators are wrong. We really need to look at what will make pirates paying customers rather than pirates. It's not a lost sale. hell look at batman it was leaked a week early and has sold over 4 million in less than a week regardless. It could also argued that online passes and sales of dlc benefit from piracy as a pirate is more likely to shell out a fiver to play online after recieving the sofware for free or to gain extra parts of the game than someone who's shelled out 30 notes for a second hand copy.
Odd really people damn and blast pirates but will then defend their right to buy everything 2nd hand when at the same time both parties as far as a dev or publisher is concerned are as bad as each other.
ted1138 on 27 Oct '11 said:
The problem is when people choose a pirate copy over a legit copy. This does have a big impact on what publishers choose to support in the future. If legit sales are still high, then they just shrug off the 'loses' from piracy. But if sales are down, then piracy is just the excuse they need to cut off support. Piracy on it's own may not be a killer, and you could even argue, and possibly be right, that it isn't even theft, but lack of sales has always been, and always will be, what kills games platforms off.