4 ms·

Kevin Spacey clearly gets it. Rampant piracy is an indication of a failing business model. It's not that people aren't willing to pay, and that's evidenced by t

Kevin Spacey clearly gets it. Rampant piracy is an indication of a failing business model. It's not that people aren't willing to pay, and that's evidenced by the success of Netflix and shows like House of Cards. Same can be said of Steam's game distribution model. Give people what they want, how they want it, at a fair price, and you'll surely be able to make money.

venomsnake 13y ago
Well steam sales have ran out steam it seems from anecdotal evidence. While the first few were a godsend and a very good piracy "amnesty" - currently I have more than 100 games in my backlog, so on the last two I bought only one-two games. And all around me people say the same. The only games I consistently buy are the humble bundles mostly to support the idea.
- NoPiece 13y ago
  Here is some anecdotal evidence that there is is still plenty of pressure in steam sales.. "We sold more copies in the first 24 hours of the sale than we had on Steam in the first three months since release," Fish said, adding that the two-day price drop yielded more sales than the game drew in its first month on Xbox Live Arcade. All told, Fez sold 105,000 copies in the 48 hours the game was on sale. He also posted a picture of Fez's Steam sales graph to better illustrate his point. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-15-fez-sells-105-000-in-steam-sale http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-15-fez-sells-1...
clebio 13y ago
I like the message -- and the messenger in this case -- a lot. Having read the full transcript of his speech, I'm trying to imagine what he might have left out, what his opponents will use to dismiss this event. Off-hand, the easy out would be that 'giving people what they want' is actually pretty costly. The steep pilot culling selects for mass appeal. If 80% of the (paying) viewing public like a pilot, it's probably a low-risk venture with pretty predictable rewards. If those returns (ROI) are sufficient to keep the studio running, do the people writing the checks really care that more niche products _might_ gain slightly better rewards?
- ballard 13y ago
  Yeap. Locking it all away for an absurdly high price or just giving it all away are suboptimal. Charge a "no brainer" price that most people won't have a problem with is supply meeting demand more optimally... For potentially higher profits.
DanielRibeiro 13y ago
Note that Kevin talked a lot more than this small clip: http://www.theguardian.com/media/video/2013/aug/23/kevin-spacey-mactaggart-lecture-video http://www.theguardian.com/media/video/2013/aug/23/kevin-spa... I highly recommend watching the whole thing.

venomsnake 13y ago

Well steam sales have ran out steam it seems from anecdotal evidence. While the first few were a godsend and a very good piracy "amnesty" - currently I have more than 100 games in my backlog, so on the last two I bought only one-two games. And all around me people say the same. The only games I consistently buy are the humble bundles mostly to support the idea.

NoPiece 13y ago
Here is some anecdotal evidence that there is is still plenty of pressure in steam sales.. "We sold more copies in the first 24 hours of the sale than we had on Steam in the first three months since release," Fish said, adding that the two-day price drop yielded more sales than the game drew in its first month on Xbox Live Arcade. All told, Fez sold 105,000 copies in the 48 hours the game was on sale. He also posted a picture of Fez's Steam sales graph to better illustrate his point. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-15-fez-sells-105-000-in-steam-sale http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-15-fez-sells-1...

clebio 13y ago

I like the message -- and the messenger in this case -- a lot. Having read the full transcript of his speech, I'm trying to imagine what he might have left out, what his opponents will use to dismiss this event. Off-hand, the easy out would be that 'giving people what they want' is actually pretty costly. The steep pilot culling selects for mass appeal. If 80% of the (paying) viewing public like a pilot, it's probably a low-risk venture with pretty predictable rewards. If those returns (ROI) are sufficient to keep the studio running, do the people writing the checks really care that more niche products _might_ gain slightly better rewards?

ballard 13y ago
Yeap. Locking it all away for an absurdly high price or just giving it all away are suboptimal. Charge a "no brainer" price that most people won't have a problem with is supply meeting demand more optimally... For potentially higher profits.

DanielRibeiro 13y ago

Note that Kevin talked a lot more than this small clip: http://www.theguardian.com/media/video/2013/aug/23/kevin-spacey-mactaggart-lecture-video http://www.theguardian.com/media/video/2013/aug/23/kevin-spa... I highly recommend watching the whole thing.