Has piracy ruined PC gaming?

Kizzume · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 7:25 am Post subject: Has piracy ruined PC gaming?

How does piracy affect game companies releasing most games only for consoles? Is piracy the primary reason for game companies releasing only for consoles? To me it would seem that it is.

On the PC, game companies usually think about anti-piracy techniques. They COULD just release it plain, but then they'd be called foolish by the rest of the industry. On a game system, the only people they have to worry about pirating are those who are willing to take apart their systems or have them sent to an illegal operation to replace chips.

I suppose, however, that this only applies to one-player games. With multiplayer games, they can simply require a login to play which pretty much makes it so it doesn't matter where someone GOT the game, in order to play it they have to have created an account with the company.

But all in all, it would seem that piracy has made creating games for the PC platform something unappealing to companies.

What do you think?

jq · Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Posts: 1124

The profit margin for gaming is sooooo high these days. We are talking computer games are making more now than game developers could have ever dreamed of in the past.

Its just that console gaming is an even BIGGER cash cow. It is surpassing Music, or maybe already has, in revenue. During the 80s or even the 90s, they could have never imagined selling 10s of millions of copies of one single game. GTA IV though is selling like you wouldn't believe. I think I heard it already set a new record. If so, it isn't the first time a record has been set. When the sims first came out they were making more money than anyone before them.

I think Sony and Xbox pay or at least lobby to have games exclusive to consoles. After all, let's keep in mind that a lot of former exclusives have gone to PC once the hype died down. If piracy was too big of an issue, they wouldn't release games years after the console version, like they did with HALO. Less hype would mean less sales either way. No, instead, they put out exclusives because the competition is so strong in the console market right now and there would be absolutely no incentive to buy an XBOX360 or PS3 for $400 if you could just get the game for your PC.