If you could NOT copy games, would that make them cost less?

Dark_Angel

Dark_Angel

Dark_Angel

Soldato
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Ok, first up please don't mention anything about modding, sources of downloading stuff, or anything else to get my thread nuked ;)

Lets pretend, that there is a new copy protection on this generation of consoles. It is literally impossible to break, IMPOSSIBLE. Do people think that games would actually cost less? a lot of people say that piracy increases the cost of games... but as I just brought Marvel Ultimate Alliance a few days ago, I seem to remember paying 40 50 for Saturn and Mega Drive (genesis for anyone in the USA) games.

I must admit, I dont have My 360 modded, and have no intention to. I dont mind paying for games that will give me a lot of fun, I just wonder if no one else pirated, would that make games cheaper, like the industry constantly claims, or is it a myth?
 
I seriously doubt it. Games companies charge what they think the customer will pay. If the perceieved value is 35 quid, they will charge 35 quid irrespective of what it costs. Which is one reason why a new XBOX 360 games costs around 23 quid in Hong Kong/Singapore, as opposed to 35-40 quid in blighty.

The inability to copy games would only impact prices if they were sold very close to what they cost to develop and distribute. Which I don't think is the case.
 
james.miller said:
if we couldnt, chances are they would cost more. no competition from pirates makes it easier for them to charge whatever they like.
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TBH, I had a feeling that would be the answer... kind of bad really isn't it :(
 
yar, u have to think along the lines of the game dev and publishers.

they are presuming that every pirated game = 1 sales less of said game. Therefore the believe and publish numbers suggesting that that are losing X amount of cash baed upon this.

In Reality it may be a ratio of for every 10 pirated games they are actually losing 1 sale because not everyone who gets a pirated game would have paid for it, its most likely they would have gone without.

so the expected uplift most games publishers are factoring in to their claims that piracy means they have to double/treble their profit margin to maintain the same amount they *would* have recieved without pirates is quite fanciful.

therefore i believe a reduction in piracy would only increase game sales by 1/10th (approx) the amount expected by the publishers thus they still woulnt have scope to drop their prices.

so piracy is quite negligible in terms of Games price inflation imo.
 
I still say that while we have a body that decides what rating a game should be in terms of it's audience, eg, PG, 15, 18, etc. There should be a body that determines the value of a game.
Not only would this filter out certain games, i.e., it would be a given fact that the most pirated games would be the most expensive, but it would also be a carrot-dangling incentive for developers to get off their backsides and actually produce something worthwhile.
 
I think the prices would possibly go up.

Although a lot of people say that piracy is depriving game sales, i know people who get a copy of a game they would never look at, then like it so buy it, for maybe to play online.
Also if someone i know has it and is playing it going on about it, i might buy it to see what all the fuss is about, and it could be a game i have no intention of getting.
I dont condone pirates TBH i am not one myself, couldn't tell you the last time i played a pirated game but people do forget about some of the sales that piracy generates. Its free advertising :D

Although saying that someone might get a copy of a game they wanted to buy realised it was crap and decided not too, hmmm flaw in my theory :(
 
Prices would certainly go up, though ive pirated games and still got the originals because they've been that good or i want to use the multiplayer side :)
 
Have to laugh at games companies saying piracy increases prices, if there wa snone the prices would most likely be as high as they are if not higher as you'd have not other option but to pay for the game you want.

Saying that though, what really gets on my **** is this ea advertising in games, surely theyre making money off that so why doesn't the consumer see a lower price for the game? :confused:
 
dirtydog said:
Piracy is rife on PCs yet PC games are cheaper than console ones... which suggests piracy keeps prices down.
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i can only imagine this plan is to make games so cheap you CBA copying them

they forget most games are cack and not worth the price of the cd there burnt on
 
dirtydog said:
Piracy is rife on PCs yet PC games are cheaper than console ones... which suggests piracy keeps prices down.
Click to expand...

PC games have always been cheaper though haven't they? I'm not sure I agree with you, the PSone was also rife with piracy - I literally didn't know anyone who didn't have a modded PSone. IIRC prices stayed the same for games on that, in fact I cant recall any console which has had it games prices reduced to combat piracy.
 
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