EndWar PC Coming After Consoles Due to Piracy; PC Pirates Would 'Cannibalize' Console Sales

Ok guys. Every time a developer mentions piracy do a lot of posters come out swinging. Why? This is a legitimate problem, and it's a problem that is not going away.

I'm a pc developer. I love playing pc games, and making pc games. However when I see massive piracy numbers on a pc release, it is something that as a developer I have to acknowledge. There are a hundred different reasons for why someone pirates a game, but regardless of the reason it still hurts me as the guy on the other end.

Is switching to consoles the answer? It is a temporary answer because the piracy market for consoles is so much smaller than for the pc market, but it isn't a fix to the problem. At the core, it is not the consumer wanting to stick it to us developers. It is a problem where it's easier and more convenient for an end-user to buy a low-cost illegitimate copy of a pc game, or download a copy online, than it is to purchase a valid version.

Fortunately, we are at a stage in consoles where we can push the console to impressive limits and deliver the experience we want the consumer to have. When you combine higher sales numbers with the ability to deliver that experience, it is a huge draw to publishers and developers. Yes there are good solutions out there for PC like subscription-based games and Steam, but until there is a solution that works for the majority of pc titles, publishers will probably continue to steer their millions in developer funding toward the safer route of return.

And these are my personal views, I'm not speaking on behalf of my company. This is a topic I care about, from both the developer side and as a pc gamer.

the only console that isnt pirated atm is the PS3.. for how long? time will tell!

Tom Clancy's games suck anyways. This Piracy issue is over blown excuse for them to totally control there software after they have already sold it to us. Any company uses DRM can go to hell. I will not buy games using a intrusive means to control how or when I update my computers. I was once accused of being a Pirate gamer by EA Games when I changed out my motherboard. They demanded I send them a copy of my game disc, UPC code and photo copies of the game box. They latter said we are sorry when I sent them proof then told them to FU@# off. Some thing about my computer spec. Did not match the EA game I registered. Of course not I had to replace a fried Motherboard. Took me a week to get my EA game I paid for to up and run again. Since then EA lost me as a customer and if I see a game on the with that dumb DRM protection. I will not buy it. Boycott DRM.

**EndWar PC Coming After Consoles Due to Piracy; PC Pirates Would 'Cannibalize' Console Sales**

How fucking asinine..

Essentially this says "We need to make money from console sales to make up for losses when we release the PC version"

If they truly believe that, they are going to lose money no matter when they release the PC version, so why release it all?

I think asswipes like this need to stop using the 'scare' tactic, cause it is not working. Retards.

This is just like seeing a 7 minute non-skippable warning about pirating movies on a legitimately bought DVD, the honest buyers get ripped off, the pirates don't care. Great.

I AM SO SICK OF COMPANIES CLAIMING THAT PIRACY IS KILLING PCs! Anyone who owns a high end PC owns at least 1 console, and if I think a game is WORTH $60 I'll go out and buy a legit copy!

I love how everyone pretends like they know better than the developers.

Stick it in your pooper. Another game I won't play. Sorry, but don't always use excuses why your crappy games won't sell.

Consoles are for the masses. Press power, insert cd/dvd/hddvd/bd and play.

PCs are for people who do more than play games. A user can create, publish, edit, modify and do all that good stuff to data.

PCs users generally use their PC's processor for more than just graphics, such as creation and manipulation. Unfortunately this freedom to manipulate data is frowned up by the suits. Never forget that true technological revolutions have been fronted by people who think outside the box, who don't work with such constraints. After all, the computing era was ushered in by hackers who simply wanted to know how things work who I might add were not engineers of any kind, they were just curious fans of technology. They have taken that freedom away from consoles and transformed it into a mutated version of the music business where even today, in 2008, Eric Clapton would not stand a chance.

Follow the music business...pure dilution with every passing generation, same with the movie business. The gaming business is very hot on their trails.

it is sad that the superior platform that is the PC has so many issues with piracy. i pay for my PC games. always has, always will. i hate being called a "pirate" or assumed to be a "pirate" because i love PC gaming.

the excuse of piracy is like a developers trump card. developers that have gone out of their way to make a viable authorization process to play a copy, see: Valve, Blizzard, succeed and do not claim this doomsday of PC gaming dying like the rest of them. in this world of multiplatform developing you would think they would strive to have not only their console versions sell well, but implement a plan to have their PC version sell well. but alas, when they dont...the trump card is laid.

I already played this game. It was called World in Conflict.

Ubisoft can fuck off, I don't recall a video game I've played past Chaos Theory that I enjoyed from them.

After hearing countless developers gripe about Piracy, you'd think they'd come up with better copy-protection/anti-theft solutions.

Ah, the constant specter of piracy, the eternal scape goat. I wonder if developers of console titles will ever realize that some titles just don't work as well in the PC market, or that many PC gamers aren't as likely to buy a console version of a game, especially if it's an FPS, in the first place.

Not releasing simultaneously aids in the poor selling of PC games too!

Ah who cares. Most people will be playing Fallout 3 then anyway.

is this why the ps3 the best system to develope for? blu ray has too much data to download off the slownets?

Lets see here, I'm cheap/smart enough to have an expensive rig so that I can pirate PC games. But I'm too bloody stupid to wait a week (or any time frame) to download the game for free? So then I'm going to go drop a 300 bones on an xbox360/ps3 *AND* play an extra $10 over a normal priced game so I can play this game a week early?

To top it all off you have no plans to release a PC demo when the console games are coming out to help spur up pre-orders and to tide over PC users? I don't appreciate being treated like a criminal, and I don't appreciate your company acting like dicks because you think I'm a criminal. I understand the logic of what you are doing, but the implementation is flawed and rubs PC users the wrong way.

I'm sorry though, but I just pre-ordered World of Goo, so my budget for console ports is flat out. Good luck next year!

jeez this will get ugly for PC gamers...true gamers buy the Game,not pirate & bootleg,the pirates are the reason 360 ports to PC are coded so poorly....why pay programmers to spend countless hours to optimize code when scum bags steal the game basically...no profit for game studios = no fun for pc gamers,period....

PC really needs some sort of anti pirate coded disk, but at the same time WHO IS LEAKING SO MANY PC GAMES????

i'm sure piracy has a part to play in this decision, but more importantly (to me) when i evaluate which platform i buy a game for, i look at the graphics. being fortunate enough to afford a good gaming rig and the 3 consoles, i will ALWAYS pick the higher visual quality of the PC over anything the console versions crap out.

if no pc version is available, i will buy the ps3 version, since in the rare event that i'd want to bother playing MP, i know i could do so for free on PSN.

if a game is a 360 'exclusive", there's a good chance i'll just say screw it and buy it on the pc in a couple years :) ok, ok, i'll buy the occasional 360 exclusive without waiting for the pc port.

You'd think publishers would flock to and love the PS3 more than they do now since its the only console not to be cracked.

Yawn.

Voice command doesn't sell games, and the game looks really average. Looks like they're getting prepared to blame piracy, like every other developer releasing shitty games and not meeting sales expectations.

Where are those people from the mirrors edge comments complaining about the shack asking them if the PC version was delayed due to piracy concerns?

Console sales canobolize PC sales, but that is ok, but of course piracy gets blamed instead of the fact people will buy it on console because um, it comes out first there.

Arr mateys, they're onto us. A gold doubloon fer th' first guy that spots a buccanneerd version.

Who, honestly, has a solution to this problem?

It doesn't lie in DRM. It doesn't lie in delaying PC versions, because what that will ultimately do is kill the PC as a platform without killing piracy. What can we, as gamers, do?

I'd much rather nuke major trackers to hell and back; but that's unrealistic, to say the least.

EndWar looks shit anyway, so no loss.

geesh, if the game is good it will sell. just make it that if you play online it has to verify. endwar would be ok single player, but if its really good, youll want the whole damned thing right? fucking finger pointers make me sick.

This game seems pretty small scale and simple for PC. I would have preffered they said "we are trying to make a console RTS fit better on PC" instead of "OMFG PIRACY!" - expect an awkward experience PC players who are looking forward to this.

Solution, play games that you buy?

solution, only play games that you buy?