The more they will be pirated.
When games were 29.99 and there was no need for authentication and people with relatively low tech-skills could make their own no-CD workarounds, piracy and lost revenues were a lot less.
Now, they raise the price of games to 59.99 because of piracy, which of course leads to more... you guessed it... piracy. Plus, on top of that mess, they add these ridiculous restrictions like needing to have an internet connection to activate it before playing (even for single player). The incentives to pirate have never been higher... and as a famous economist once said - "incentives matter"
When games were 29.99 and there was no need for authentication and people with relatively low tech-skills could make their own no-CD workarounds, piracy and lost revenues were a lot less.
Now, they raise the price of games to 59.99 because of piracy, which of course leads to more... you guessed it... piracy. Plus, on top of that mess, they add these ridiculous restrictions like needing to have an internet connection to activate it before playing (even for single player). The incentives to pirate have never been higher... and as a famous economist once said - "incentives matter"
When games were $29.99, they also cost a lot less to make because they were a lot less graphically intense, I'd assume. No doubt there's been price inflation on some level though. Also, when games were $29.99, not as many people had the internet, nor did they have access to unlimited bandwidth, high density storage, nor the growing technological knowledge available today. Offline authentication made a lot more sense then.
True, the costs of developing a game have gone up. But so have the profits, though, so it's not a matter of just passing through increased costs.
In most parts of the world, bandwidth is not unlimited. Many providers (outside the US) have caps on amount of data one can download and upload in a month. This is especially true for wireless data, but also for traditional broadband. And yes, most people still do not have reliable internet access today, even in the US, Canada, Europe, etc. As for increased tech know-how, I would say it is more due to the increasing complexities of the software as well (i.e., while people have more know-how, the programs they used have become much more complex at the same time).
I don't buy the argument that people pirate games because they're too expensive (see above about people even pirating a $1 game that has no DRM). People do it because it's convenient, and because they have no qualms about taking something for nothing if it's readily available and (relatively) socially acceptable.
Saving money is as much an incentive as convenience. As the price increases, less and less people are willing to pay it. Pretty straightforward economic concept.
I mean, sure, I feel sorry for the rare person who owns a computer good enough to play modern games but doesn't have any access to an internet connection. But I can't get too worked up about it. It's not really a "ridiculous restriction" ...
Many games today do not require supercomputers or even the latest technology to play. Indeed, if they did, sales would be very tiny. Games are made to play on older configurations in order to tap into a large enough market to actually sell them profitably.
Starcraft II won't have crazy DRM.
- 28/05/2010 01:59:14 PM
796 Views
Could be worse. I'm still miffed about its release structure, though. I feel milked.
- 28/05/2010 03:01:54 PM
476 Views
Still a load of shit.
- 28/05/2010 06:39:46 PM
470 Views
I'm pretty anti-DRM, but one-time connection seems reasonable enough.
- 28/05/2010 07:03:24 PM
419 Views
Don't get so excited, sheesh.
- 28/05/2010 11:04:47 PM
482 Views
Go start your own game company? Really? That's the only response?
- 08/06/2010 03:49:33 AM
451 Views
Even just a single authentication?
- 08/06/2010 05:00:38 AM
404 Views
Will they?
- 08/06/2010 06:50:01 PM
417 Views
Re: Will they?
- 09/06/2010 12:06:38 AM
374 Views
If you think DRM will stop pirating...it wont
- 09/06/2010 12:21:03 AM
409 Views
Your posts are like the lovechild of a video game fanboy and a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.
- 09/06/2010 03:05:34 AM
456 Views
Re: Your posts are like the lovechild of a video game fanboy and a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.
- 09/06/2010 02:18:17 PM
396 Views
I have to agree... the more restrictions and hassles they put on playing purchased games
- 09/06/2010 05:37:40 AM
366 Views
Who doesn't have the internet these days?
- 09/06/2010 06:08:19 AM
412 Views
The majority of people, actually.
- 09/06/2010 06:27:30 AM
416 Views
That's just a terrible argument. If they have no Internet, they can't illegally download games.
- 10/06/2010 02:18:34 AM
430 Views
I think he was saying ...
- 10/06/2010 03:10:08 AM
379 Views
