Comments on: Does piracy mean lost sales? What if nobody pirates your game?

By: Federico Figueredo

Federico Figueredo — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:15:15 +0000

Based on my answer to your previous post, I think it’s an easy guess that I’d go for option number two.

I was going to add a couple of points about why I still think this is a good choice (even if you didn’t need the aforementioned draconian DRM scheme to pull it off) but Dave Toulouse summarised my attitude way better than I could when he said:

“If I can’t find a way to make a decent living after having 100 million people playing my game then I’ll never make it no matter what.”

By: Fili

Fili — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 08:57:39 +0000

I’d choose option #2 and place some ads in the game. They would bring a lot more money than the paid game :D
Hey, if I could make a game that appeals to 100 mil people, I’d make it free and put it myself on the torrents.
Donate buttons: “If you like this game please donate 1$”. If 1% of the pirates donate 1$ I’d make my first million :)) Then I’d buy an island somewhere far away and start hunting tourists in FarCry 3 style

By: Antipirina

Antipirina — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:36:01 +0000

Option 1 if you’re making games only for the money.
Option 2 if you’re making games because you love to.

Make a living as a game developer, I think, is not related to this dilemma, as I don’t think you can’t be able to monetize 100 million people paying attention at what you’re doing.

It may be related to the concept of this book:
‘Free: The Future of a Radical Price’ by Chris Anderson

By: Dave Toulouse

Dave Toulouse — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:55:50 +0000

Your question makes me want to ask more to clarify the implications of the answers but I’ll play along. My choice would be 2.

If I can’t find a way to make a decent living after having 100 million people playing my game then I’ll never make it no matter what.

By: Sander van Rossen

Sander van Rossen — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:56:24 +0000

Hmm .. it depends on how much you sell I suppose .. if you sell 1k and 100 million pirate your game, then hell yeah I’d go for option 1.

If you sell 10 million and 100 million pirate your game … well then you can start to argue that those 100 million indirectly help drive sales and those people might have never bought your product anyway ..

If you sell 100 billion and 100 million pirate your game … who cares.