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EA Using The Sims 3 DLC, Community to Curb Piracy
by Chris Faylor, Jun 22, 2009 6:30pm PDTThe pre-release leak of The Sims 3 essentially served as a "demo program" for Electronic Arts to test its focus on
"disc-enabled" services like community and downloadable content, CEO John Riccitiello recently postulated to IndustryGamers.
After jokingly referring to the leak as a "secret marketing campaign," Riccitiello noted that "Sims 3 has a massive amount of content, and a lot of it is downloaded once you register with EA." For example, registered users get an extra city as a free download.
"For the pirate consumer, they don't get the second town, they don't get all the extra content, and they don't get the community. [The piracy] was only concentrated on Poland and China, but I think of it as not being that different than a demo," the CEO added.
Use of free downloadable content as a piracy and used sales deterrent is a growing trend amongst the development community, which has been extremely vocal about the lost revenue that both piracy and used game sales can cause.
The key, Riccitiello claimed, is to offer "disc-enabled" services, not just packaged goods. As an example, he mentioned that BioWare's upcoming Dragon Age: Origins "is probably a 100-hour game by itself, but what comes post-release [for the games] is bigger still." BioWare has stated that it could support Dragon Age with DLC for up to two years.
"I think that's the answer [to piracy]," he explained. "It's not the answer because this foils a pirate, but it's the answer because it makes the service so valuable that in comparison the packaged good is not. So you can only deliver these added services to a consumer you recognize and know...I think the truth is we've out-serviced the pirate."
Riccitiello concluded by asking the site to "please encourage [pirates] to pirate [free-to-play titles] FIFA Online, NBA Street Online, Battleforge, Battlefield Heroes...because what's in the middle of the game is an opportunity to buy stuff."
"While we don't want to see people pirate Warhammer Online, if they're going to give us a year's subscription it's not exactly a total loss."
Comments
-If the company dissapears (in this case EA) you wont be able to access that content. As in DRM
-And the customer still has to to connect to the internet if they want the full game, that they paid for. As in DRM (well in DRM you arent able to play at all, but in both cases you dont get the full game)
And at the end companies will have to put the content downloadable by other means so you can install it offline, because lots of people will complain, and if those files have a protection it will be cracked.
So i dont see this as the best way to stop piracy.
I think the best way to stop piracy is to lower prices and create good games. A good price / quality ratio is not easy to resist ;). And they will still get lots of money because more people will buy them at that lower price.
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specifically, that so many people are choosing to go taht route rather than pay the retail prices.
maybe, i don't know, you'd make more money if you charged a little less for each dimebag game released?
i think the only retail game i've bought all year long so far has been a preorder for dragon age, and even then, its on amazon cuz its cheaper than retail.
everything else (for my 3 consoles AND PC) has been used (ebay/half/amazon).
so you tell me what's worse for the business, the pirate that steals your stuff and doesn't want to pay, or someone like me who doesn't want to pay what you're asking for and gives the money to someone else instead of the developer/publisher, plays the game, and turns around and sells it again, taking a further sale away from you.
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World of Warcraft is probably the most extreme (and skewed due to gold farming accounts) case. You need an account in good standing to play at all, and the size of that thing is just staggering, and growing all the time. I understand it's a juggernaut, but it makes you wonder just how many sales of other games really are being lost to illegal downloads.
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but wont the piracy groups just download the new stuff and add it as a pack later anyways?
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This seems like a good step in the direction of giving those people who would pay if they couldn't pirate a reason to buy a game, and ignoring the problem of other pirates because not much can be done.
All the DLC is just as readily available for pirates to install. The extra town, all the extra objects, clothes, hairstyles, patterns, its all there and free.
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The pirates got the game through the internet, so their pirated game can hopefully implode.
Needs more games with the "ET PHONE HOME" method of piracy control.
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Just like Valve has supported Left 4 dead! Oh wai
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Kudos to you EA (that's the first time I've said that in several years)
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"Mr Riccitiello, it's IT, they've discovered a problem"
"IT?"
"The guys who use computers"
"Ahhh"
"They said someone downloaded the extra content and then put it on bit torrent"
"Bit touring......? Is that German?"
"No sir, bit torrents allow people to share content with other without paying us first"
"Fuck. Well, if I don't understand what it is then the people dumb enough to pay probably don't know either"
FIN
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Oh wait....
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Chris, you'd be my hero if you changed the title to:
"EA Using The Sims 3 DLC, Community to Curb Piracy and Used game sells"
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