Piracy has long plagued game developers and publishers. Games are typically cracked and posted on torrent sites almost as soon as they are released (and sometimes even before!). Immortal scorpions are one trick, but the developer of Game Dev Tycoon has decided to give pirates a taste of their own medicine.
Is a pirated game truly a lost sale? Do some people buy games after playing a pirate copy? In a way, it doesn't really matter. The mere belief amongst some publishers that hardcore gamers are frightful pirates is why the DS and 3DS are given over to safe bets like licensed games and sequels, according to Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion dev DreamRift's co-founder Peter Ong.
Minecraft creator Markus 'Notch' Persson took the stage for his "fireside chat" with a beer in hand. The fireplace was naturally a retro 8-bit style video of a burning log that perfectly reflected the Minecraft aesthetic. Over the next forty five minutes he casually talked about the design and development of the game, why there's no female character, and gave a little update to his take on piracy.
Though some fans were upset when Football Manager 2012 became the first in the PC sim series to require Steam, developer Sports Interactive has credited the move with helping reduce piracy. Thanks to a combination of Steam's own DRM and a mysterious other technology, FM2012 was cracked 15 days later than the games "usually" are.
Earlier this week, it was discovered that pirated versions of developer Croteam's recently released shooter Serious Sam 3: BFE 'features' a special guest-star hellbent on player destruction.
Pirated versions of the game include an immortal pinkish scorpion, dashing toward Sam intent on halting his progress. A Croteam representative confirmed to Shacknews that the enemy was included as a form of hilarious DRM to combat piracy. Sure, it will probably be cracked shortly, but it's a nice reminder that you shouldn't be illegally downloading games if you want to enjoy them immediately.
As some publishers continue to expend massive resources in the fight against piracy, or completely ignore the PC platform, another developer has thrown their voice behind the idea of eliminating digital rights management (DRM) altogether. Sounding a lot like Brad Wardell did back in 2008 when he discussed his Gamer's Bill of Rights with Shacknews, CD Projekt RED co-founder Marcin Iwinski says that DRM simply doesn't work. And he's got more proof that there's a better way: CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 2 has now sold over 1 million legal copies, without DRM.
Unsuspecting pirates playing Arma developer Bohemia's new chopper sim Take On Helicopters have found their vision turned watery, and not with tears of shame. Bohemia has explained it's all part of its anti-piracy scheme, saying developers have a responsibility "to the community that supports them" and to "try to protect their company's future."
Copies of Take On Helicopters detected as counterfeit by the FADE technology will only give "a small taste" of the game before it begins to "degrade" in ways including developing a water-distorted view.
Producer Yoshinori Ono has revealed that there are currently no plans to bring Super Street Fighter IV to the PC due to piracy in an interview with 4Gamer (via Andriasang).
Ono does realize that piracy of the PC version gave the game a wider spread, but Capcom could not continue with the title being "free" in certain territories. A PC release wasn't ruled out, but it would hinge on better anti-piracy protection. Read more »
There's a USB-based "mod chip" kicking about for the PlayStation 3, which will "jailbreak" the console and reportedly allow for owners to play back-up copies of games and it opens the door for homebrew software.
The legality of mod chips in the United States and many other territories, including Australia, are cloudy. They do violate things like the United States' DMCA because of their ability to circumvent copy protection, but the legality of a device must be determined on a case-by-case basis in court. Read more »
The infamous Nintendo DS 'R4' emulator card and other similar devices have been declared illegal to sell in the UK by a High Court ruling, Develop reports.
The R4 device and its ilk allow unauthorised programs to run on Nintendo DS handhelds--contentiously letting owners easily play pirated software and games. They will now become illegal to import, advertise or sell anywhere in the UK. Read more »
Further elaborating upon its declaration that "nothing is decided yet" regarding The Witcher 2 and DRM, developer CD Projekt RED has issued several statements on the matter, including a breakdown of its internal policy on DRM and patches.
CD Projekt RED internal DRM/patches policy
- We believe that the chief way to achieve favorable sales of legal game copies is to establish the right relation between game price and product quality. In our opinion, it is more important to encourage acquisition of original game copies than to punish those who play pirated copies. Read more »
In a recent interview with industry news site MCV, Namco Bandai's Oliver Comte expressed growing concern that the software market for Nintendo's Wii and DS has "collapsed" due to widespread piracy and a slew of "very bad" titles.
"[The Nintendo] DS is the most successful platform ever, but all my kids' friends at school have a DS with an R4," explained Comte, who servers as the company's vice president of sales, marketing, and publishing. "They have 100 games for no money." Read more »
According to the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) of Japan, Pokemon Platinum is the most pirated Nintendo DS game in the country. CESA's numbers put the title at 2,071,006 illegal downloads. On the PSP, Dissidia: Final Fantasy holds the honor with a whopping 5,281,223 downloads.
It is unclear where this data comes from, but I am guessing it only includes publically accessible BitTorrent trackers and peer-to-peer networks. In reality, the numbers are likely higher. Read more »
StarCraft II is still on track for its July 27 release on PC, but unlike some other developers, Blizzard isn't planning on gumming up the works with any draconian digital rights management software--it's taking a different approach.
In fact, according to a recent interview Videogamer.com conducted with StarCraft II producer and Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce, fighting pirates with DRM is a "losing battle." Pearce states that it's due to the disparity in size between development teams "and the number of people out there that want to try to counteract that technology, whether it's because they want to pirate the game or just because it's a curiosity for them." Read more »
Piracy is responsible for Gears of War developer Epic Games' waning enthusiasm for the PC, CVG spotted president Mike Capps saying in this month's issue of Edge.
"We still do PC, we love the PC, but we already saw the impact of piracy--it killed a lot of great independent developers and completely changed our business model," he said. Read more »
"Apparently I was on fire last night and didn't even know about it. Oh well"
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