Ubisoft: PC Piracy Levels 95%, and 95% of Free-To-Play Users Do Not Pay

I'd like to know which magic hat the 95% comes from as usual. I pay for most PC games and so do my friends. I highly doubt we're in the 5%.

Feels like a classic "the subject is not the percentage" in order to make everyone comfortable with "95%".

I also highly dislike DLCs. Usually they're required to keep up in online games (else you're at unfair disadvantage), or they're just fixing bugs/adding stuff that should have been there from the beginning. Plus games usually cost $50 .. then need $15 DLCs (3, 4 of them).

F2P generally need $50-$100 of stuff overall as well.

Make the game $5, I'll buy it and so will everyone. Heck, I buy all phone games for that reason. The price is reasonable, and pirating it is more hassle than just paying. (ofc, if you put horrible DRM restrictions on top, $5 or not, the pirated game is generally easier to get)

Note that I'm not requiring games to be $5. I pay for $50 games today. I just reckon that they'll probably get more money if they sell them cheaper.

It depends on what you consider a player, in my opinion.

I admit that 95% of the users who open a PC game may not be playing a copy they purchased, but in all likelihood most play it for about 5 minutes. Just as with pirated iPhone apps, where it often seems people install 400 apps and never open them twice.

Aside from the number being pulled from their asses, Ubisoft is continuously one of the worst publishers in terms of utilizing harsh DRM. I wouldn't be shocked that people go out of their way to pirate Ubisoft games.

I know I haven't bought anything Ubisoft in a long time.

Which is also a completely unsourced number.

I cannot understand the responses from people here and on reddit stating that the figure is totally made up and it can't be that much. reddit specifically is filled with people who are proud of how they pirate all ubisoft games because of the "terrible DRM". Indie games that have no DRM and great prices[1] have reported very high piracy rates, published games that have no DRM and very high ratings also have bad piracy rates[2].

Most people seem to suggest that piracy is a result of having a crappy product and the only way to stop piracy is to improve their product, so surely making their product free (therefore removing any need to pirate) solves exactly this? Why aren't people applauding Ubisoft for adapting their business and products to their audience (people that want to play games but don't want to pay -- and those that do want to pay, can)?

It seems most people on the internet want to think that

A] Piracy is not a problem B] DRM causes piracy C] If you have no DRM then your game will sell well D] Free to play is a terrible dis-service to gamers

I don't understand what gamers want from companies like Ubisoft?

[1] http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2008/11/acrying-shame-world-of...

[2] http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/11/29/interview-cd-projekts-ceo-...