All PC Gamers are pirates and the PC is hard to program for...

[Amnesia]

But it isn't working like that on PC, that's the problem. Too many people are pirating the game and not buying it. That's why this whole justification thing falls flat, people are ignorant to the fact that it is destroying the industry. My statement is correct.


No it is not, being honest about doing something illegal does not warrant slightly more acceptance. It is even opening a world of piracy to the previously unaware.

there was no attempt at justification...i was just pointing out that every download isnt a lost sale. it can also create sales so helped create that 1 sale

being honest brings a more realistic/accurate discussion.....nobody is discussing the how to do it.

 

[DreXeL]

people are ignorant to the fact that it is destroying the industry.

Is it though? It's apparently been 'destroying the industry' for as long as I can remember, back to the old C64/Spectrum days and tape-to-tape recorders. But funnily enough, despite warnings that 'piracy will destroy the industry', the industry is still alive and well. Better than it has ever been infact.

Same goes for music and movies: 'home recording is killing the industry' during the 80s, 'filesharing is killing the industry' today. You know what? Those industries are still going strong, and they still will be for a long time, piracy or no piracy.

 

[Busa666]

 

[GingerNinja1989]

Quick straw poll: How many of us here actually pirate PC games? Just to prove a point that enthusiasts aren't all pirating scumbags who ruin their hobby.

 

[Metalface Mark]

Quick straw poll: How many of us here actually pirate PC games? Just to prove a point that enthusiasts aren't all pirating scumbags who ruin their hobby.

I used to pirate pc games, i now buy them all. When games were £30-40, i didnt feel they were value for money, now most new pc games are £17.99, im more than happy to pay this for them.

 

[Final8y]

Don't have & never have pirated pc games.

 

[Hugest_UK]

Hi,

Everytime this guy (Cliffy B) opens his mouth he puts his foot in it hes even worse than the head of Crytek at least he was only overly optimistic on his performance . I own a 360, PS3 and high end PC. I buy games for all 3 systems.

I really enjoyed Gears 1 but I will no longer be contributing to this muppets wages and will boycott Gears 2 and wait till i can get it second hand for next to nothing.......

Cheers,
Hugest

 

[Crashgate3]

I've done it in the past, but not much.

Since then I've made a point of always buying games (and CDs as well). I did buy, then lose the CD for GTA:SA and started downloading it but realised that in doing that via a torrent, I was making it easier for others to get it so stopped and looked harder for the CD. I found it in the end.

 

[uv]

COD4 on PC has not even hit platinum due to extreme piracy

Or maybe due to Activision charging $70 plus tax for it on Steam.

I have a fairly massive Steam collection, but Activision just prices their games to high heaven. I feel sorry for Infinity Ward.. all their hard work has been crapped on by Activision.

Reduce it to $39.99 like all the other AAA titles on Steam, and I'd buy it in an instant.

 

[v0n]

I'm surprised it allegedly didn't hit platinum - last time I read COD4 sold over 10 million copies all together and well over 1.5 million on PC (and that was like may or june).

 

[Caustic]

Anyone else seen this? I am quite literally outraged...

Gears of War 2 is not coming to the PC because of us, the high end users.



Don't they realise that the only reason they are where they are now is because of how PC gamers supported them? We bought the Unreal games.

I don't know what planet he's on, but the PC is far easier to program for now, and considering Gears runs the Unreal 3 Engine, a PC gaming graphics engine, it's easier than most games to port over.

Labelling high end users as pirates is a &%$£ joke. It's just a lazy excuse from a company who has sold themselves down the river. If the games are good and reasonably priced, people will buy them. How many 360 games are pirated? Loads!!

I wonder how much Microsoft are paying them to say this...

And someone really needs to kick them out of the PC Gaming alliance.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09/30/epic-no-gears-of-war-2-pc/1

I completely agree with Epic on this one.

Piracy:
As others have pointed out, piracy is the reason that many games are released on the PC and other platforms, or just on consoles now. The latest figures I saw showed that roughly 80% of all PC games are pirated. Considering that games are costing more and more to make, it is no wonder that companies will be forced to release on multiple platforms or maybe just ignore the PC if they don't think it is financially effective.

PC as a platform:
The PC is tough to program for in some ways. It has great and well known architecture and tools but the sheer number of hardware components make it tricky.

I do find it rather amusing that many of you seem to think you know better than Cliff Bleszinski. Regardless of if you like his games he is lead designer in several Triple-A games and in the industry for 17 years.

Besides, it is only one game, and you lot didn't seem to like the first one, so just relax.

 

[Darkwave]

COD4 on PC has not even hit platinum due to extreme piracy. And there at least 6-7 million PC's worldwide which are capable of playing this very well (Nvidia say they have sold over 4 million 8 series cards & ATI must have at least 2-3 million decent PC cards out there).

If COD4 cannot do well then obviously piracy is a big concern as it is one of the better games released in recent times.

If ATI/Nvidia were smart here they would go to Epic and offer to pay the dev costs for PC exclusivity on their card and hope to get it back in new card sales. Surprised they have not done this yet anyway.

Wow, just wow. You're jumping to huge conclusions here.

Who's to say it's piracy that's slowed the sales of COD4 on the PC, and not the fact it's on the other two competing platforms as well? Crysis hit platinum within a couple of months of it coming out, Spore hit platinum within a week IIRC and I think we can see what those games have in common.

We all know non-MMO and non-digital sales are dwarfed by console sales.

I was talking to someone yesterday about Cliffy B's whinging about Gears Of War not selling on the PC, and we agreed that people seem to totally ignore the fact that it was released a whole year later, and that everyone who wanted to had already played it on the 360 (when they were led to believe it was an exclusive).

Pointing the finger at piracy isn't so clear and obvious as you might think.

 

[Caustic]

On the CoD4 piracy thing: The developers have said that:

"Not sure if I can share the exact numbers [..] the amount of people who pirate PC games is astounding. It blows me away at the amount of people willing to steal games (or anything) simply because it's not physical or it's on the safety of the internet to do."

A general quote on piracy:

"I've seen studios close as the result of it, I've seen people lose their homes.," former Ritual QA manager Mike Russell told Shacknews when discussing the effects of piracy. "I guess I'm more vocal than a lot of people because I've seen the personal side of it, and it's just sad that we have so many people looking for a way of justifying it."

Guys, it doesn't matter if no-one on this forums ever pirates a game, the problem is that people do.

 

[Margaret]

I was just trying to understand. I guess I'll stop being inquisitive before someone labels me a prude.

Yes, yes you will.

 

[Darkwave]

Guys, it doesn't matter if no-one on this forums ever pirates a game, the problem is that people do.

The problem is that developers/publishers are getting into the habit of shouting "PIRACY!!" as soon as their sales don't hit expected levels. It's almost becoming an excuse and it's quite tiresome to me.

You can go on about Call Of Duty 4 as much as you like but I dare you to find me a game that's received more flak and ire from the public, and been more pirated (days before release I might add), than Spore. Yet Spore, a PC exclusive long in the making that was marketed well, went platinum in week one.

And, as I already said, for all Crytek's whinging about piracy it's funny that Crysis hit platinum within a couple of months. Piracy is obviously not the only factor at work here but people are eating up the scapegoat.

 

[Caustic]

The problem is that developers/publishers are getting into the habit of shouting "PIRACY!!" as soon as their sales don't hit expected levels. It's almost becoming an excuse and it's quite tiresome to me.

Potentially yes, but it is still true. It is all about making a profit and very often, if piracy was reduced by 10-15% then games that previously barely broke even, would suddenly have made a nice profit. Sure it is easy to blame piracy but it is still a problem.

You can go on about Call Of Duty 4 as much as you like but I dare you to find me a game that's received more flak and ire from the public, and been so pirated (days before release I might add) than Spore. Yet Spore, a PC exclusive long in the making that was marketed well, went platinum in week one.

And good for it. As pointed out by CliffyB the problem is that some games get more pirated than others. The more casual the game, the less it tends to get pirated. But even then, you can bet that it was still pirated more than bought it.

And, as I already said, for all Crytek's whinging about piracy it's funny that Crysis hit platinum within a couple of months. Piracy is obviously not the only factor at work here but people are eating up the scapegoat.

So what are you saying, it sold a million eventually so what is there to worry about? Are you saying the same to the struggling PC developers?

"I've seen studios close as the result of it, I've seen people lose their homes.,"

Just be thankful that isn't you.

 

[Darkwave]

So what are you saying, it sold a million eventually so what is there to worry about? Are you saying the same to the struggling PC developers?

Damn, your first two replies were so sensible too, then you had to put words in my mouth and go all bleeding heart over crap I didn't say. I'm convinced you can't have a sensible discussion on this forum.

That out of the way; No I wasn't saying that, I'm saying good games still sell despite piracy, and yes I do believe that small developers should be supported. What I'm also saying is that the companies crying about piracy are the ones actually selling well in the first place, and that companies like CD Projekt Red who probably don't make anywhere near as much money from their own titles like The Witcher don't have a clue what people like Crytek and Epic are crying about.

Am I defending piracy? No.

Am I condemning small dev houses to poverty? No.

Do I think you're eating up the excuses? Yes.

 

[james.miller]

there has to be a reason why retail shops are decreasing their range of stocked pc software and you can be sure thats down to poor sales. everybody seems to have the games on the pc but if these were bought retail then this wouldnt be happening (with the exception of legal downloads such as steam), its about as simple as that.

Publishers and can blame it on whatever, and he (cliffy) probably isnt blaming the right people, but that doesnt mean he's wrong about piracy.

 

[Caustic]

Damn, your first two replies were so sensible too, then you had to put words in my mouth and go all bleeding heart over crap I didn't say. I'm convinced you can't have a sensible discussion on this forum.

That out of the way; No I wasn't saying that, I'm saying good games still sell despite piracy, and yes I do believe that small developers should be supported.

Yeah, my third reply was a tad poorly aimed shall we say. But I find too many people say that they don't pirate games and that their mates don't, so it can't be true (again not aimed at you).

Can piracy be called a 'scapegoat' tho'? After all, a scapegoat is something blamed to distract people from the real cause. Piracy might not be the only cause, even in the quote from CliffyB it wasn't, but it is a significant one.

 

[Caustic]

Do I think you're eating up the excuses? Yes.

Why? Because I am believing what someone with far more experience in the industry than me says? The two things he blames are major problems with the PC games industry. He doesn't say they are the only two.

Ultimately it is down to money. If they would make a profit on a PC version, they would do. What he is saying is that the PC is not the easiest so it will take a while to port, and he says that it won't sell enough copies to make a profit.

Exactly what excuse am I eating up?