Ubisoft games - poster children for piracy?

[Razgovory]

I think I have had trouble with DRM once and that was it.  Maybe I would more if I pirated games more.

But the pirates have NO problems with DRM because that is the first thing to go when the game is broken, before it becomes available to priate.  It is the paying customer who has to deal with it.

I would imagine the people cracking it has to deal with it.  If working around it is harder then they do have to deal with it.

[Syt]

Are there any publishers who primarily do PC games and make decent money?

Well, Matrix and Slitherine are pretty much exclusively PC - but they're in a niche that's unlikely to attract pirates in the first place.

Big titles - yes, I see how that's an issue, and it's difficult to come up with a scheme that's non-intrusive and secure. I'm not a big fan of "always on" or keepig content on the publisher's/developer's server, because that also raises the question of what happens when dev or publisher disapear (like recently Team Bondi, JoWood etc.).

I don't have any easy answer to that; on the other hand piracy is also possible on consoles - it's a bit more cumbersome (I think you still need mod chips?), but can be done; it's IMO a question of time when they'll introduce more restrictive DRM there, too.

Finally, I think society needs IP protection laws. However, I think they're overextending. They should be tied more closely to the lifetime of the original author (though that's of course an issue with team-designed corporate products).

[Razgovory]

I think to pirate on a console you need to modify the machine.  Most people can't do that.  Like I said, you can't eliminate piracy all together, but you can make it harder.  For consoles it is harder thus less piracy. PC piracy is something like 10 times more common then console piracy.  Possibly more.

[The Brain]

They should be tied more closely to the lifetime of the original author

Why? Why not to date of creation/publication?

[Warspite]

Are there any publishers who primarily do PC games and make decent money? Is Paradox primarily a PC publisher these days?

Whatever your argument about piracy, the fact remains that it is not worthwhile for most publishers to develop prime content for the PC unless it's tied to a server like WoW or the various versus shooters. You can wrap that up in "IP laws are stupid" or "DRM is stupid" or "make better games" or "free advertising" or "a pirated copy doesn't mean a lost sale" or any other kind of argument, but the fact remains that it is a lot harder to make money on PC games than it was, so it's not worth the time for most developers to do so outside of a hobby context.

Big console games get ported to PC as an afterthought. If it's possible to squeeze a bit of extra revenue out, why not? But that's basically it.

Why didn't RDR get ported when LA Noire did? My guess would be that the effort needed - probably for technical reasons - wasn't worth it compared to the projected revenue; and piracy was definitely part of that calculation.

Quite. After years of waving away the publishers' and developers' complaints and warnings, the free-gaming crowd are now getting their just deserts.

Unfortunately, those of us who pay for games are suffering too.

[Sheilbh]

Whatever your argument about piracy, the fact remains that it is not worthwhile for most publishers to develop prime content for the PC unless it's tied to a server like WoW or the various versus shooters. You can wrap that up in "IP laws are stupid" or "DRM is stupid" or "make better games" or "free advertising" or "a pirated copy doesn't mean a lost sale" or any other kind of argument, but the fact remains that it is a lot harder to make money on PC games than it was, so it's not worth the time for most developers to do so outside of a hobby context.

Interesting.  I didn't know about this.  Was that primarily because of piracy or was it just general PC decline?  Or more rise of consoles?

[Iormlund]

I think I have had trouble with DRM once and that was it.  Maybe I would more if I pirated games more.

The other way around, most likely. I had to crack my perfectly legal copy of Silent Hunter III to make it work after Starforce decided to stop letting me play. Had no issues after that.

Needless to say, I haven't bought a single Ubisoft game since.

[garbon]

Interesting.  I didn't know about this.  Was that primarily because of piracy or was it just general PC decline?  Or more rise of consoles?

Yeah it seems like consoles would be a big part of it. I buy almost all my games now on consoles as I never need to worry about upgrading my hardware and wondering if the game will work. It just does without extra expense on my part to get it to work.

[szmik]

Interesting.  I didn't know about this.  Was that primarily because of piracy or was it just general PC decline?  Or more rise of consoles?

Yeah it seems like consoles would be a big part of it. I buy almost all my games now on consoles as I never need to worry about upgrading my hardware and wondering if the game will work. It just does without extra expense on my part to get it to work.

This.

I remember pirating games for my Atari as a teenager. Piracy was there from the start of gaming industry, so I seriously doubt that it is the reason PC gaming is in decline. The fact that pirated copy does not equal lost sale is relevant here too. But it's so much easier to make half-assed port from console and blame pirates.

[Razgovory]

Interesting.  I didn't know about this.  Was that primarily because of piracy or was it just general PC decline?  Or more rise of consoles?

Yeah it seems like consoles would be a big part of it. I buy almost all my games now on consoles as I never need to worry about upgrading my hardware and wondering if the game will work. It just does without extra expense on my part to get it to work.

They had consoles back 1998 when PC gaming had a bigger market share.

[garbon]

Interesting.  I didn't know about this.  Was that primarily because of piracy or was it just general PC decline?  Or more rise of consoles?

Yeah it seems like consoles would be a big part of it. I buy almost all my games now on consoles as I never need to worry about upgrading my hardware and wondering if the game will work. It just does without extra expense on my part to get it to work.

They had consoles back 1998 when PC gaming had a bigger market share.

OK

[Slargos]

People have been screaming that copyright infringement will kill [entertainment industry X] for literally centuries.

Wake me when PC gaming is actually dead.

[The Brain]

I haven't bought a Ubisoft game in several years.

[Razgovory]

People have been screaming that copyright infringement will kill [entertainment industry X] for literally centuries.

Wake me when PC gaming is actually dead.

You have to wait till something has happened irrevocably before you become concerned?

[Josephus]

Pirated games won't go away, 80s style DRM didn't,

I rarely encounter "enter word #xx on page #yy of the manual" questions these days.

Cause they don't make fucking manuals anymore. NO, now they force you to use your own paper, time and ink cartridge printing your own manuals, which never look as cool without the glossy covers.