Pirate our games, don't buy them from key resellers, say indies

Re:Pirate our games, don't buy them from key resellers, say ... by belthesar on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @05:34PM (#20396880)

In addition to the points about chargebacks, there's the additive factor of validating purchases on G2A. Consumer A has a successful purchase on G2A, which results in a transaction where they paid money and got a product. They had a positive experience (getting a game for cheaper than what they would pay for it elsewhere), which causes Consumer A to talk to potential consumers n both about a place where they can get the game for cheap, and to disparate the developer for charging so much when someone else will sell it for cheaper.

It damages their brand (vs. piracy, which unless you're using invasive DRM is net neutral at worst, and positive at best), generates negative sales additively (vs. net neutral to positive sales based on word of mouth advertising), and drains the development house's emotional and fiscal capital as they deal with the fallout.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Pirate our games, don't buy them from key resellers, say ... by leetcrew on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @07:42PM (#20397903)

> They had a positive experience (getting a game for cheaper than what they would pay for it elsewhere), which causes Consumer A to talk to potential consumers n both about a place where they can get the game for cheap, and to disparate the developer for charging so much when someone else will sell it for cheaper.

I don't exactly see how this is worse than piracy. isn't it basically the same as "Customer A gets a game for free of {torrent site}. they tell all their friends about {torrent site} and their favorite bittorrent client."? the only way it's different is if most consumers have some moral objection to torrents. in my experience, very few people who work outside of software (or other IP-based industries) really care. they only pay if it's less trouble than torrents.

[ Parent | on HN ]