There was what I think is a very accurate description of sales lost to piracy in the comments on the '20 sided' blog linked earlier:
(By Lee, comment 6) a link to the article again, well worth a read. Cheers to the original poster:
In my mind the number of people who pirated the game, then bought it is a very important figure but the industry doesn't seem to be trying to find out what kind of a figure it is. It seems to be flipping between 2 sides of the DRM coin as a PR exercise when enough folks say 'take it away, we don't like it'. In my (humble, unworthy, etc.) opinion the overall winners will be the companies who take a stance against DRM and stick to it, investing in DRM then turning around and making a big deal about removing it when it appears to be affecting your public image is hypocrisy.
Still, if a game is good quality and enough folks get to see it then it will sell. It doesn't even need to be such good quality, Microsoft knows this and doesn't do a whole lot to protect windows because piracy promotes future sales but that's kind of a different market.
cheers
I say it every time it comes up, but I’ll try again. There’s only one formula I find reasonable when calculating “lost sales” due to piracy.
STEP 1:
Take the number of people who didn’t buy the game, who (in a world completely devoid of software piracy) would have bought the game.
STEP 2:
Subtract the number of people who pirated the game and then bought it, who (in a world without piracy) would never have tried it, and thus never have bought it.
That’s your number. That’s really the only number software publishers should be contemplating. The remaining people, who played your game for free, but would simply not play it in a world without piracy? They’re not your customer.
STEP 1:
Take the number of people who didn’t buy the game, who (in a world completely devoid of software piracy) would have bought the game.
STEP 2:
Subtract the number of people who pirated the game and then bought it, who (in a world without piracy) would never have tried it, and thus never have bought it.
That’s your number. That’s really the only number software publishers should be contemplating. The remaining people, who played your game for free, but would simply not play it in a world without piracy? They’re not your customer.
In my mind the number of people who pirated the game, then bought it is a very important figure but the industry doesn't seem to be trying to find out what kind of a figure it is. It seems to be flipping between 2 sides of the DRM coin as a PR exercise when enough folks say 'take it away, we don't like it'. In my (humble, unworthy, etc.) opinion the overall winners will be the companies who take a stance against DRM and stick to it, investing in DRM then turning around and making a big deal about removing it when it appears to be affecting your public image is hypocrisy.
Still, if a game is good quality and enough folks get to see it then it will sell. It doesn't even need to be such good quality, Microsoft knows this and doesn't do a whole lot to protect windows because piracy promotes future sales but that's kind of a different market.
cheers
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