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Regardless of whatever moral card you want to play here, the fact of the matter boils down to Gabe Newell's famous insight on the matter: Piracy is almost alway

by MAGZine 11y ago

Regardless of whatever moral card you want to play here, the fact of the matter boils down to Gabe Newell's famous insight on the matter: Piracy is almost always a service problem[0]. People value their time. Make the experience easy for them, and people will pay. Make the experience shitty for them, and people will find the path of least resistance. People pay taxes because they have to. When it comes to entertainment, people aren't going to waste their time jumping through hoops. [0] http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe-Newell-Says-Piracy-Is-a-Service-Problem http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114391-Valves-Gabe...

geodel 11y ago
It might be true of first world. I do not think that in poor countries like India where 100s of millions live on less that ~2 dollar a day any service could be cheaper than piracy. And I have seen people in India jump through hoops to pirate content rather than paying even a little for convenience. Gabe Newell's observation seems to me a very limited view of the world by a spectacularly successful first world entrepreneur.
- CaptSpify 11y ago
  Odd that it seems to work, though. How much money does Steam make from people who could be getting the content for free?
rhino369 11y ago
I really don't think Gabe is right. People pirate games that are on steam by the millions. Fall out 4 was pirated millions of times, but it's super easy to install on Steam. In fact it's a pain in the butt to install a pirated copy. Yet it's highly pirated. Paying for convenience is an upper middle class / rich thing. For a lot of people, saving 60 bucks is all the motivation one needs to pirate.
- CaptSpify 11y ago
  Your missing the point though: How much money did FO4 make, from people who could have pirated it? They chose not to, and a large part of that reasoning is that Steam is just easier to use.

by MAGZine 11y ago

geodel 11y ago

It might be true of first world. I do not think that in poor countries like India where 100s of millions live on less that ~2 dollar a day any service could be cheaper than piracy. And I have seen people in India jump through hoops to pirate content rather than paying even a little for convenience. Gabe Newell's observation seems to me a very limited view of the world by a spectacularly successful first world entrepreneur.

CaptSpify 11y ago
Odd that it seems to work, though. How much money does Steam make from people who could be getting the content for free?

rhino369 11y ago

I really don't think Gabe is right. People pirate games that are on steam by the millions. Fall out 4 was pirated millions of times, but it's super easy to install on Steam. In fact it's a pain in the butt to install a pirated copy. Yet it's highly pirated. Paying for convenience is an upper middle class / rich thing. For a lot of people, saving 60 bucks is all the motivation one needs to pirate.

CaptSpify 11y ago
Your missing the point though: How much money did FO4 make, from people who could have pirated it? They chose not to, and a large part of that reasoning is that Steam is just easier to use.