6 ms·

It surprises me the number of people who thought they could make money selling emulators, in what is and has always been almost exclusively dedicated to piracy.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
I will admit to paying for Bleem! in the long long ago. I still have the CD. Frankly, it was pretty damned amazing.
- tmccrary55 5y ago
  The CD Key
- crtasm 5y ago
  Did burned game CDs work with Bleem? I assumed it made some check for an official disc.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
    I'm afraid I don't recall. I feel like it probably did if it was possible, as a defense against being called a piracy tool, but I'm not sure if there was any way for a consumer CDROM to check for the wobble groove. I owned a PlayStation and official games so I only recall using those. P.S.: Some googling suggests that it played "backups" just fine.
  - tombert 5y ago
    I never had the PC version of Bleem, but I can confirm that a burned copy of Metal Gear Solid worked for the Bleemcast port of it. My parents wouldn't let me buy M-rated games, so the easiest way for me to play MGS was on my Dreamcast with a copy of Bleemcast that I found used at Gamestop for four dollars with a pirated copy of the game.
pjmlp 5y ago
Not at all, emulators are also a way to keep old games alive. Like still being able to watch that old VHS movie on BluRay HD, or listening to Swing records from 1920 in 2021.
- wtetzner 5y ago
  They're also a way to help developers write new games for old platforms.
bennysomething 5y ago
I pretty much only play emulators these days as having a load of consoles and cables under my TV is a pain in the ass. I recently paid five dollars for redream Dreamcast emulator. Totally worth it. There's a free version that doesn't run hi Res and that's fine.
- mkw2k 5y ago
  The premium Redream is definitely worth the $
renrutal 5y ago
Well, some emulator devs are making huge sums of money nowadays in "donations"/crowdfunding, to much chagrin of others in the emudev scene. It seems they got the business model right this time.
newman8r 5y ago
3dSen seems to have done a decent job monetizing - but they added a lot of value.
someperson 5y ago
Your comment is completely wrong. There is a cottage industry of emulation developers funding their development through Patreon. There is a huge number of emulation enthusiasts who are adults with high levels of disposable income willing to fund the development of emulators they enjoy using. Some of the larger emulators get tens thousands of dollars per month on Patreon. Checkout the following links: https://www.patreon.com/yuzuteam https://www.patreon.com/yuzuteam https://www.patreon.com/cemu https://www.patreon.com/cemu
- tylerhou 5y ago
  They are not completely wrong. Crowdfunding a product is not the same as purchasing that product because often people only decide to donate because the resulting product is free. (For example, I give $5 a month to Lichess, but I am unwilling to pay for a Chess.com subscription.)
  - theli0nheart 5y ago
    I can understand why one would want to donate if you find the product useful, but donating because it’s free doesn’t make any sense to me. Could you elaborate?
    - 5560675260 5y ago
      There is an argument that free chess service benefits chess community (and society in general) in a way that a paid service doesn't.
    - tylerhou 5y ago
      Lichess is not for profit, so donating to Lichess means that my dollar goes "farther" for infrastructure & helps subsidize the website (which has many features) for other people who may not be able to pay. The main developer only pays themselves $56k a year, when they could easily be making $300k+ in the valley. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Si3PMUJGR9KrpE5lngSkHLJKJkb0ZuI4/preview https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Si3PMUJGR9KrpE5lngSk... Chess.com is for profit, so they have to maintain some profit margin and lock features behind paywalls to incentivize people to pay. The free experience is worse than Lichess.
neurostimulant 5y ago
Well, I remember the moment No Cash suddenly had some cash after making the latest version of his popular emulator paid-only.
amalcon 5y ago
I'm sure that Nintendo's Virtual Console emulator series has made them quite a bit of money.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  Well, they stopped doing it, so perhaps not.
  - ascagnel_ 5y ago
    They don't offer emulated games as standalone purchases anymore (and, frankly, the idea that they charged repeatedly for games is insane to me) -- instead, now it's tied to the Switch Online subscription service.
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      > and, frankly, the idea that they charged repeatedly for games is insane to me I've been curious whether Switch libraries will follow you to whatever the next Nintendo console is. They haven't done that in the past, but online purchases might be so common now that they can no longer get away with not doing it.
    - jefft255 5y ago
      The library of retro games on Switch Online is laughably small and is one of my biggest gripe with the Switch compared to the Wii (U).
scraft 5y ago
It surprises me that people think that it isn't possible to make money selling emulators. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dsemu.drastic https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dsemu.dras... Over one million downloads, price £4.99 ;)
- DistressedDrone 5y ago
  You got me there! It shows the kind of market that can emerge when piracy is less practical than purchasing the software. My point still stands though for emulators on PC where I believe software piracy remains popular.
  - alisonkisk 5y ago
    PC software has a market too.
cat199 5y ago
There are, "and always have been" commercial emulators for keeping old software running when the original system no longer exists (PDP, VAX, etc)
AussieWog93 5y ago
My old boss used to be a game dev, and many people at is company used an unofficial DS emulator (I believe No$GBA but could be wrong) quite extensively for debugging/development purposes. They even paid the developer several thousand dollars so that they would improve the debugger function. This was all unofficial, of course - Nintendo had no idea and would not have been happy if they found out.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

I will admit to paying for Bleem! in the long long ago. I still have the CD. Frankly, it was pretty damned amazing.

tmccrary55 5y ago
The CD Key
crtasm 5y ago
Did burned game CDs work with Bleem? I assumed it made some check for an official disc.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  I'm afraid I don't recall. I feel like it probably did if it was possible, as a defense against being called a piracy tool, but I'm not sure if there was any way for a consumer CDROM to check for the wobble groove. I owned a PlayStation and official games so I only recall using those. P.S.: Some googling suggests that it played "backups" just fine.
- tombert 5y ago
  I never had the PC version of Bleem, but I can confirm that a burned copy of Metal Gear Solid worked for the Bleemcast port of it. My parents wouldn't let me buy M-rated games, so the easiest way for me to play MGS was on my Dreamcast with a copy of Bleemcast that I found used at Gamestop for four dollars with a pirated copy of the game.

pjmlp 5y ago

Not at all, emulators are also a way to keep old games alive. Like still being able to watch that old VHS movie on BluRay HD, or listening to Swing records from 1920 in 2021.

wtetzner 5y ago
They're also a way to help developers write new games for old platforms.

bennysomething 5y ago

I pretty much only play emulators these days as having a load of consoles and cables under my TV is a pain in the ass. I recently paid five dollars for redream Dreamcast emulator. Totally worth it. There's a free version that doesn't run hi Res and that's fine.

mkw2k 5y ago
The premium Redream is definitely worth the $

renrutal 5y ago

Well, some emulator devs are making huge sums of money nowadays in "donations"/crowdfunding, to much chagrin of others in the emudev scene. It seems they got the business model right this time.

newman8r 5y ago

3dSen seems to have done a decent job monetizing - but they added a lot of value.

someperson 5y ago

Your comment is completely wrong. There is a cottage industry of emulation developers funding their development through Patreon. There is a huge number of emulation enthusiasts who are adults with high levels of disposable income willing to fund the development of emulators they enjoy using. Some of the larger emulators get tens thousands of dollars per month on Patreon. Checkout the following links: https://www.patreon.com/yuzuteam https://www.patreon.com/yuzuteam https://www.patreon.com/cemu https://www.patreon.com/cemu

tylerhou 5y ago
They are not completely wrong. Crowdfunding a product is not the same as purchasing that product because often people only decide to donate because the resulting product is free. (For example, I give $5 a month to Lichess, but I am unwilling to pay for a Chess.com subscription.)
- theli0nheart 5y ago
  I can understand why one would want to donate if you find the product useful, but donating because it’s free doesn’t make any sense to me. Could you elaborate?
  - 5560675260 5y ago
    There is an argument that free chess service benefits chess community (and society in general) in a way that a paid service doesn't.
  - tylerhou 5y ago
    Lichess is not for profit, so donating to Lichess means that my dollar goes "farther" for infrastructure & helps subsidize the website (which has many features) for other people who may not be able to pay. The main developer only pays themselves $56k a year, when they could easily be making $300k+ in the valley. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Si3PMUJGR9KrpE5lngSkHLJKJkb0ZuI4/preview https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Si3PMUJGR9KrpE5lngSk... Chess.com is for profit, so they have to maintain some profit margin and lock features behind paywalls to incentivize people to pay. The free experience is worse than Lichess.

neurostimulant 5y ago

Well, I remember the moment No Cash suddenly had some cash after making the latest version of his popular emulator paid-only.

amalcon 5y ago

I'm sure that Nintendo's Virtual Console emulator series has made them quite a bit of money.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
Well, they stopped doing it, so perhaps not.
- ascagnel_ 5y ago
  They don't offer emulated games as standalone purchases anymore (and, frankly, the idea that they charged repeatedly for games is insane to me) -- instead, now it's tied to the Switch Online subscription service.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    > and, frankly, the idea that they charged repeatedly for games is insane to me I've been curious whether Switch libraries will follow you to whatever the next Nintendo console is. They haven't done that in the past, but online purchases might be so common now that they can no longer get away with not doing it.
  - jefft255 5y ago
    The library of retro games on Switch Online is laughably small and is one of my biggest gripe with the Switch compared to the Wii (U).

scraft 5y ago

It surprises me that people think that it isn't possible to make money selling emulators. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dsemu.drastic https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dsemu.dras... Over one million downloads, price £4.99 ;)

DistressedDrone 5y ago
You got me there! It shows the kind of market that can emerge when piracy is less practical than purchasing the software. My point still stands though for emulators on PC where I believe software piracy remains popular.
- alisonkisk 5y ago
  PC software has a market too.

cat199 5y ago

There are, "and always have been" commercial emulators for keeping old software running when the original system no longer exists (PDP, VAX, etc)

AussieWog93 5y ago

My old boss used to be a game dev, and many people at is company used an unofficial DS emulator (I believe No$GBA but could be wrong) quite extensively for debugging/development purposes. They even paid the developer several thousand dollars so that they would improve the debugger function. This was all unofficial, of course - Nintendo had no idea and would not have been happy if they found out.