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

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

#41

Post by chaostheory »

citricsquid wrote: post #19

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 pirac…

One problem is that most of the large publishers ignore is that people who pirate aren't necessarily people who would buy the game if they had no option to pirate. Every pirated copy does not represent a lost sale.

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

#42

Post by irishcoffee »

typicalrunt wrote: post #30

Not all piracy ends up to be a lost sale. There are some people out there that pirate, with no intention of purchase. I'm not surprised that Ubi is also finding that F2P users aren't paying either, some people just don't see the value or don't want to spend their money. Let's take this problem out of the gaming/IT industry altogether. The last time you went to Costco (for non-Americans, it's large warehouse grocery c…

Yep, the F2P statistic is absurd. How many people have downloaded LoL, played for 15 seconds and uninstalled. I realize Ubisoft didn't make LoL, but the point is the same.

Its a useless metric.

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

#43

Post by benologist »

So many amazing insights from HN:

- the 95% aren't players

- the 95% aren't customers

- people must be buying the boxed game then installing a pirated version

- the number must be a lie because it makes piracy look bad

- ubisoft deserves it

HN2012 = Digg2007

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

#44

Post by franzus »

Bro_Merch wrote: post #40

Half on subject. Just a note about fair pricing: I downloaded my first pirated copy of anything ever the other day and this is why. My son is playing LEGO star wars. He asks me how to advance and I tell him I don't know. He asks, "haven't you seen the movie?" I say yes, would you like to? Of course he says yes. I set out to find a Star Wars (a new hope). Can you buy from iTunes? No. Netflix have it? No. And so on. Th…

> Things need to be reasonably priced for reasonable people to pay for them.

A high price does not entitle you to get a free copy. If you don't want to/can't pay for something then don't buy it. That's why I have no porsche in my garage.

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

#45

Post by irishcoffee »

bsphil wrote: post #21
citricsquid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an estimate with a solid base: http://2dboy.com/2008/11/13/90/

Sorry, wasn't able to find that from the original link. I take back my last comment. I guess it boils down to how many of those pirates you think were ever potential customers. Assuming piracy was theoretically impossible, how many would've purchased it rather than not play at all?

Not many, I'd make a completely un-verifiable estimate of 5% or less.

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

#46

Post by Cushman »

Ubisoft is not a great advocate for the industry, in my opinion.

I buy their games occasionally, since they own some of my favorite franchises. I also occasionally pirate them first to see if they are unplayable console ports, or have game-breakingly bad bugs or performance-- which they consistently do.

I know I probably don't represent the average pirate, just throwing that out there.

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

#47

Post by Splines »

citricsquid wrote: post #19

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 pirac…

> C] If you have no DRM then your game will sell well

All things equal, I'd choose a DRM free game over a DRM-encumbered one.

Amazon's Digital Download service group often has Steam and DRM-free versions of the same game available - they probably have direct data that can show if "DRM-free = more sales" is true or not. (While Steam offers many benefits, the upside of not needing to launch the Steam client when you want to play a game is a big one).

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

#48

Post by njharman »

> Nevertheless, the latter [free to play] model can be a great opportunity to beat piracy.

Ah "free to play" doesn't beat piracy. It makes piracy "legal". If anything it's a capitulation that distribution can't be controlled and that you can't force people to pay who do not want to. An acknowledgement that a new business model is needed cause crippling software with DRM and lobbying congress for more draconian laws isn't as profitable as they lawyers promised.

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

#49

Post by c0n5pir4cy »

1SaltwaterC wrote: post #23

I find it hard to feel sorry for Ubisoft, really. I still enjoy playing SCCT from time to time. Due to the retarded Starforce that won't receive an update for Windows versions above XP / 2003 Server, I find myself in the odd position of using a "no-DVD" patch for a game that I own.

I actually use No-CD/No-DVD patches for all my Ubisoft games (Assassins Creed and Anno), so it isn't that unusual a position.

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

#50

Post by Splines »

It would also help if Ubisoft ended their relationship with Digital River. Digital River for some inexplicable reason enforces a limit on the number of times you can download a title. For a digital download service I have a hard time understanding the rational behind that decision.
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