Is PC piracy a lie? Why non cracked games dont break sales records?

Lords of the Fallen tanked on PC sales...still not cracked

FIFA 16 mediocre sales.... still not cracked!

MGS V unstable UNPLAYABLE crack...no sales records...

How strange if we believe the "1 pirate download=1 lost sale" BS?

Publishers like to overstate the effect of piracy

Pirates like to downplay the effect of piracy

I think the truth falls somewhere in the middle. Piracy of course hurts game sales... No doubt about that. But not as big as some publishers want us to believe.

You pirate your games. We get it.

Almost all game sales tank on PC.

Gonna do a quick edit of my post:

Publishers and uninspiredcup like to overstate the effect of piracy

Pirates like to downplay the effect of piracy

I think the truth falls somewhere in the middle. Piracy of course hurts game sales... No doubt about that. But not as big as some publishers and uninspiredcup want us to believe.

Because of piracy right?

those who dont buy a product will never buy. piracy is just an excuse.

@R4gn4r0k: Wow! That revision was so profound! I gained an enlightenment because of it!

TBH there is just more choice and more to go around on PC. Also when you see a multi platform game advertised, it is mainly advertised for consoles with little to no mention of the PC version in a lot of adverts. You often see comments in Youtube videos for example with people saying they didnt know x game was on PC.

http://hexus.net/gaming/news/industry/83972-pc-games-sales-eclipse-value-console-games-sales-2016/

The truth will hurt.

@1080pOnly: F²P/Casual games for Soccer moms and 5 year olds playing Minecraft.

Core gaming is non existent.

Well obviously the consoles are hardcore and that's why they are chosen for e-sports competitive gamin.....oh hang on, I'll need some other evidence to back that up.

Now I think about it you're right of course, 'core' games like CoD 10: Map packs reloaded, Fifa 2016: Updated shirts edition and SFV: Back to basics are right at home on consoles. Steam only has 125 million (+) gamers and I'm certain they are all Soccer moms and 5 year old playing Minecraft (which incidentally sold more on the 'core' consoles).

In case you are unaware...sarcasm.

I'm sensing a bit of sarcasm :P

The presence of piracy does not mean a game won't sell well.

Lack of piracy doesn't mean a game will sell well.

Games will sell well when consumers see the value of purchasing it, plain and simple.

What good DRM DOES do is it locks out people (pirates) who believe they're entitled to play free games, and that is a good thing regardless of whether it leads to increased sales. It protects the creator's content from being used by those who have no right to access it.

I don't believe the "1 pirate download=1 lost sale" BS. However, I do believe pirates are low life, no good scum who cannot be trusted to stick to an honor system. I wouldn't put them in any situation that requires trust and integrity.

Define Core gaming without ANY MENTION of FPS... Ill wait

@True_Gamer_: All games ever, including fps, now belong, sell more and are ported over from console with pc as an afterthought.

Even Microsoft outright said they. have 0 interest.

This ain't 1997 anymore, console gaming to PC is what TV was to radio.

because pc gamers are very minor ..& most on office use ...

Piracy is not a lie. Where I live at swap meet markets there´s tons of pirated games, stands filled from top to bottom with pirated games and if they don´t have it, no problem ! you have 4 or 5 catalogues from where you can pick the games you want, they have them stored in HDDs and they print you a copy ( or download it to your HDD/SD card/USB ) to a disc, give you a nice box ( hell sometimes even better than the ones that the original games have ) all for like 2-3 dollars a game.

Can you name many 3rd part exclusives?

None?

All games ? Thats including Total War? Might & Magic Heroes VII?

Please start making excuses about genres

Ill enjoy your damage control

No...

People used to port TV games to radio ?

I wouldn't even want a pirated copy of those games, waste of storage for me. I don't care what games are pirated nor what's sold poorly or well, if I have no interest in playing it then it's worthless and it's safe to say judging by the poor sales that others thought the same thing so it likely wouldn't matter if it was pirated or not. Plenty of pirated games over the years that sold poorly. What about the new Thief game? It didn't sell that great, thief fans hated it, there are pirated copies of it. Despite the irony of the title, nothing would have helped sell that game.

Piracy is real. However, while few cheap pirates finally forced to buy the legit copy if they want to play the game, rest of pirates are still wont buy it because they are too poor. Meanwhile some legit users are boycotting DRM and refuse to buy any games with it.

Oh god....you're back.

It's easy 2 of the games you mentioned aren't very sought after. You guys need to stop this bullshit with the "PC piracy doesn't affect sales."

There's no proof either way so you need to just leave it at that.

Due to piracy for sure

I suppose many who pirate love to try to discredit any argument that it is actually harmful economically so as to bring it then into the moral realm....where it is then easily overlooked and dismissed under subjectivity. I don't see how piracy is excusable in any degree.....work a day in your life for no recompense and see how you feel. If you are pirating, it doesn't matter if it harms the game's sales or not. You are gaining enjoyment off of someone else's work for nothing paid back to them. Period. That's as far as it goes, and as far as it needs to.

No argument put forth in piracy's defense has ever actually addressed the hard work that these developers endure and that they DON'T see reward for, it's always predicated upon whether it has an impact on sales. If you play the game, you should pay the money, simply in respect for someone's effort. Nothing entitles you to games. NOTHING. Own up to the realities of the way the world operates.

@True_Gamer_: He's right, in agreeing with being right though.

You're desperately trying to convince people that PC gamers are some sort of sacrificial lamb against an evil regime. It's pure, baseless propaganda. If an acual heroine like Ann Frank was here today she wouldn't be clamouring for piratebay, she'd be pissed off at people nicking her diary.

So don't jump on making out this is some kind of martyrdom claiming "ohh publishers are evil they deserve it", when the reality is it's just criminals getting an easy ticket while high or low, it effects the industry.

Regardless, the effects of piracy are in effect, bantering away about a magical reality will not stop PC being second class. So enough with the narrative, nobody is buying it, nobody.

Leave the first world for once, check out all those bootleg console games lining the street markets. Must be tanking in sales

Yes. It is true that it is not true.

As we all know, piracy was invented by famous Italian poet and writer, Angus Macarelli, during the the Gilden Age. Due to his having faced harsh criticism by his peers because of the feud that started the Gilden Age, Macarelli was compelled to close himself off from the outside world and indulge in another one of his interests, producing counterfeit copies of computer software without authorization. But unbeknownst to the general public, while he did get quite far, he never actually succeeded before he succumbed to spontaneous decapitation. And since all of his work was lost in the great Roman fire, it could never be completed. The PC piracy of today, I can not tell you what it is, how it has managed to be so convincing, or who is behind this machination. All I know is that it is not true, it does not actually exist.

@uninspiredcup: they don't sell more on PC generally speaking.

And no....don't link me sales to the few exceptions to the rule.

Most people that pirate games are people that don't have enough money to spare to spend it on games. So if there's no crack, they won't buy it anyway.

If you make good games, people will buy them. Like Diablo 3 on PC, no matter what you or anyone thinks of it personally it sold better than any console game if I recall correctly. Too lazy to look, but it sold extremely well before it moved to consoles.

But if it weren't for piracy then people will magically pay $50-$60 per game right? yeah sorry piracy is still not an argument, Also I'm having a hard time believing you, because its pretty much common knowledge that games on PC are sold dirt cheap in some places, go to places like G2A and you can buy legitimate games for around $3-$5 and not to mention steam sales, you telling me people intentionally CHOOSE pirated copies over fully functional hassle free copies? I'm calling bullshit on your story, either that or you jumped to conclusions and caused some confusion.

@MirkoS77: Immoral you say? So if you walked past someone playing music and you enjoyed it does that make you feel immoral? do you feel like a thief if you watch a TV show through the window of your neighbor? maybe your problem is you try WAAAAY to hard to demonize pirates when in reality piracy has very little effect on the sale of the game,

and if we are talking about morality then let me ask you something, do you feel its morally right to lock someone from enjoying life just because they can't afford it? whats wrong with giving a peasant left over cake? because you don't get money out of it? if thats how you think then from my point of view you are the immoral one.

and you seem to have this silly misconception that developers are some kind of hard working middle men, most of them are greedy and care more about squeezing money off of people than providing joy, I'm baffled as to why you would defend them anyway, I mean have you seen what was happening as of late? with all the practice of season pass, dlcs, pre-orders, and generally treating gamers like they are cash cows, you think there is room to play the morality card?

Care to name these effects? or are you just some hate monger who likes to demonize people for nothing? and has grow so dependent on corporations that he can't think like a human being anymore, kind of like a drug addict who defends wife beating drug dealers who "work hard"? draw a fucking line man, not everything is so black and white.

well, it's not like they're just going to go out and buy the games they can't crack, they'll just go pirate something else, and if they do buy it wait a few months for a Humble Bundle deal or Steam sale and whatnot

D3 wasnt exactly a great game at launch, it sold on old merits as it happened to be the sequel to one of the most highly praised games. It has gotten a lot better over the time tho.

@Dark_sageX: I'll just say that if your enjoyment of life requires me to work for free, then I am perfectly happy if you don't enjoy life.

If one's enjoyment of life requires playing video games then that's on that sad loser, not on the person who is selling video games.

@MrGeezer: If thats how you feel then don't ever play the morality card again, never ask for sympathy if you yourself can't provide it.

Many, if not most, pirates would buy games if they couldn't pirate. Making a single game uncrackable doesn't really do anything, though. It's competing against all of those other "free" games, after all. It's not that expensive to buy a video game, but it's a lot more expensive than free. It's similar to how it's not that expensive to buy a console, but most people aren't going to buy more than one, and people jump through hoops on this site to convince themselves publicly that they don't really want that game that would cost them a little bit more anyway.

There will always be people who want something for nothing. You aren't going to change the minds of someone like that. The people you need to persude are the ones in the middle. I also believe the lack of demos is causing a spike in piracy. Games cost a lot of money now and people have been burnt over and over again buying games that are buggy, poor quailty or flat out down work so they use piracy as an excuse to see if they like a game or not.

Also, I don't believe for a second that anyone in this thread has never pirated anything before.

The effects are minimal

FIFA got millions of downloads on torrents before Denuvo in those days that it got cracked at launch date

Suddenly FIFA cannot be cracked and yet those millions of downloader pirates dont rush to stores to buy it...

Denuvo destroyed your PC piracy scapegoat

Oh and IF PC is second class what is the failiure of sales WiiU? The tanking Xbone that is losing one exclusive after the other?

2 in 3 consoles failed...

Plz continue your hate...

You don't even try anymore, what happened man :( .....

@Dark_sageX: you don't live where I live so if you want to believe me or not is your fucking problem, you want to know what maybe half of the people do here ? MOD THE FUCKING CONSOLE so it can run PIRATED GAMES. 100 dollars is enough to mod with a RGH chip a X360, yes 100 dollars that's less than 2 original games, 20 dollars will get you a R4 card with a 4 GB micro SD card full of Nintendo DS games or a mod chip for a PS2, 50 dollars will get you a 500 GB HDD filled with Wii games and the seller even includes the instructions on how to soft mod your Wii.

€60 up to €120 is "not expensive"?

@raugutcon:I thought we were talking about PC gaming...

@clyde46: So to summarize your comment "LALALA ALL PIRATES ARE EVIL LOW LIFE THIEFS AND THEY LIKE STEALING THINGS BECAUSE IT GIVES THEM A RUSH AND I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY SAY LALALALA", you know treating everyone like they are criminals makes you an asshole.

@Dark_sageX: dude, with PC it's worse, you don't even have to invest in modding the system. I don't where you live but in 3 rd world countries piracy is king. 60 US cents will get you a DVD picture in a little plastic bag and 1 US will get you a BluRay with box, 2 dollars an entire 4-5 disc series with the exact same quality as an original and you can get them even before originals are released for sale.

@True_Gamer_: The WIiU failed due to being too innovative, PC failed because it's userbase is largely comprised of criminals, the only innovations PC is interested in is how those who run these websites can steal credit card details from some one naive enough to get maliware/ransomware. In almost every respect PC gaming has been a detriment.