If we'll take Russia about 5-10 years ago, when i was a kid, i thought that every game or program costs about 2 dollars and installing a crack or a patch is a required step of installation. Even the idea that a piece of software can cost several thousand dollars seemed crazy to me(and still some people think the same). Now things are starting to change, and i see less pirated games and software in the shops. Sometimes funny things occur - i remember i saw a licenced dvd of some film that was CHEAPER than pirated to attract customers
I suppose piracy won't be stopped completely, but it can be reduced(lower prices, stricter laws)
Yeah, I haven't been in Russia for quite some time now, but those 7Wolf versions of games were always mad popular in Russia... That 'company' must have made millions,
* It's bcz free is always going to be cheaper.
Now that's a serious problem if you want to sell things...
However, everybody knows the whole idea behind paying for something is that you want something so bad, that you pay to get it. Apparently games for many people aren't worth paying for anymore. That's the real problem, the mindset on games, not really the fact that games often are available on warez sites.
* Fundementally software companies need to find a different way to make money from their games and applications. The internet is a good business model for today, software applications should be generating income in similiar ways.
They probably are going to, but I think using in-game ads to fund games is a very very very bad development.
We are rapidly reaching saturation point with more choice than ever before across all of our digital markets. The consumer has less cash to spend in the first place and so much to choose from it's no surprise that they want to try before they buy or, in my opinion, the vast choice simply undervalues the product to the consumer and just like the old days of recording songs from the radio, it's far too accessible and therefore easier to pirate.
The only way to counter this is for developers to become less greedy and sell their games for cheap. Simple.. It's also not healthy how some developers HAVE to make millions of one of their titles just to NOT go bankrupt. There's something seriously crazy about that also.
We couldn't stop this progress even if we wanted to, so it's about time software companies moved stepped up to the plate.
Yes, but I think it's reasonable to expect from the industry to especially step up their game as far as copy protection goes. I wouldn't mind if games were sold for far far less money if at the same time I have to install a complex copy protection system on my PC. As long as it's free from spyware and won't crash my PC, I couldn't really care less...
Cheers
