I don't understand why Publishers don't fight piracy more.

[IMPERIUS]

Hi!

 

This was inspired from another one of my topics.

 

So why do game or any digital media publishers fight piracy more? Or why don't search engines block piracy sites?

 

Yes, there was the crack-down on the piratebay but there are still lots of other sites.

 

Also, what are some of the things that publishers ARE doing to prevent piracy?

 

Thanks!

[Comessy]

Also, what are some of the things that publishers ARE doing to prevent piracy?

Garbage DRMs such as U-play, Origin, and RSSC.

 

They have sucessfully prevented pirates from going online

[minibois]

1. They try, but ultimately fail a lot in what they try.

Like FC4 not having a FOV slider on pirated versions. Was cracked preeetty quickly.

2. because piracy is not illegal everywhere and people have to submit a complaint to Google I believe to get it removed.

And for every link that gets removed, 10 more appear. It's a useless fight

[Guest Strangerbob]

There is quite a lot you dont understand it seems.

 

type in youtube "TB piracy" or "valve piracy" to learn why it primarily exists

 

also do some research on Net Neutrality

[thekeemo]

because it doesnt work the best they can do is limit online at least until people make cracked servers

 

only way is to make a game online only like titanfall and the crew

[79wjd]

The legality of piracy isn't exactly clear. There's a reason why there are several major viewpoints people have towards it's legality: 

1. Downloading is legal -- so long as you don't try and monetize any of the content. 

2. Only uploading is illegal -- downloading, regardless of the intents is perfectly okay. 

3. As long as you have a copy of the item, then it's okay to pirate (i.e. I have the Avengers on Blu-Ray, therefore I can pirate a digital copy). 

4. Both uploading and downloading are completely illegal regardless of intent. 

5. Uploading is perfectly legal -- I bought the rights to this content, therefore if I want to share it, then that's my prerogative. (I bought this DVD, therefore I can lend it to any friend I want). 

[Volbet]

1. This is a two-folded problem. Fighting piracy is an endless arms race with the people that make cracks for programs, and people that release unauthorised media. And you can't inconvenience the consumer with too strict DRM. If the program won't run, than people won't buy it.

The internet is like a Hydra. When you cut off one head, two pops out. If you remove the Pirate Bay, there will be new sites to take its place. The same thing happended when they took down Silk Road. Even if you remove the supply, you still have the demand. 

Publishers are doing a lot of things to prevent piracy, and they do it in a varity of different ways. Some fight it with lawsuits, and some fight it with better distrubution. 

[Blebekblebek]

you can't prevent it.

period.

 

but there are better way to make it less appealing.

for example steam has done way tons better things to do with their way(s) like discount sales.

it still not perfect, but... in case you didn't know

 

PC Sales are decreasing while game sales has been double over decade.

it's quote from Gaben him self.

[thekeemo]

The legality of piracy isn't exactly clear. There's a reason why there are several major viewpoints people have towards it's legality: 

1. Downloading is legal -- so long as you don't try and monetize any of the content. 

2. Only uploading is illegal -- downloading, regardless of the intents is perfectly okay. 

3. As long as you have a copy of the item, then it's okay to pirate (i.e. I have the Avengers on Blu-Ray, therefore I can pirate a digital copy). 

4. Both uploading and downloading are completely illegal regardless of intent. 

1. depends where you are

2. depends where you are

3. morally not legally

4. depends where you are

 

just to make it more confusing 

[ForsakenLive]

It's because piracy can't be fought. It can only be prevented in a way where the consumer doesn't want to pirate.

[Lolzious]

Personally, if I feel a game is over priced, I will pirate it. Never in a million years would I pirate GTA 5, or Payday, or even Trine 2, because I feel like the developers deserve the money. Half-assed games like COD or AC Unity, or games that have already paid for themselves, like UT 1999 or GTA SA I have no problem pirating.

[Kevin_Walter]

Because it usually hurts lawful, paying customers more than it hurts pirates.

 

Ubisoft learned this when they release Assassin's Creed 2 as an online-only game, in spite of the fact that it has no multiplayer or otherwise online component.

 

Pirates had the game separated from that DRM within days. Paying customers did not.

[IMPERIUS]

@Comessy @Minibois @djdwosk97 @Volbet

 

Well what happens if somebody pirates say a game and the publisher finds out? What then? Just a ban? If yes, thats weak imo

[Volbet]

@Comessy @Minibois @djdwosk97 @Volbet

 

Well what happens if somebody pirates say a game and the publisher finds out? What then? Just a ban? If yes, thats weak imo

Depending on the country, they can persue legal action.

You would basically have to pay them compensation for pirating the game. Usually that is in the agreement that we all accpet without looking.

In some countries you can even go to jail, if you shared enough media.

[JAKEBAB]

 3. As long as you have a copy of the item, then it's okay to pirate (i.e. I have the Avengers on Blu-Ray, therefore I can pirate a digital copy). 

90% sure that's only legal in the uk, afaik America, Australia etc it's illegal as they treat that copy you own as a license and u cannot be in possession of more than one or something along those lines.

 

Op there's a reason people pirate and it's mostly these companies fault e.g region locks...

[79wjd]

@Comessy @Minibois @djdwosk97 @Volbet

 

Well what happens if somebody pirates say a game and the publisher finds out? What then? Just a ban? If yes, thats weak imo

Detecting the use of a pirated copy isn't always possible; and no. Usually nothing. 

 

I personally don't believe piracy to be such a big issues when it comes to games/shows/movies (software can be a bit different) since a lot of the people who pirate this content would never have purchased the content in the first place. I know a bunch of friends who pirate shows and then convince other people to watch those shows. So while they're getting the content for free and therefore not helping the publisher, they never had any intention of doing so. However, they are now getting the publisher sales through their friends.

 

/I know that was worded horribly. I wrote/and then rewrote parts a couple days and don't really care enough to make it seem like it wasn't written by a monkey. 

 

@JAKEBAB don't forget convenience. I'd much rather have a tv series on my hdd then by forced to deal with netflix/hulu (i.e. need internet). -- I can watch shows on my hdd while I'm on a plane, I can't watch netflix on a plane (well, sometimes...but no...). 

[minibois]

@Comessy @Minibois @djdwosk97 @Volbet

 

Well what happens if somebody pirates say a game and the publisher finds out? What then? Just a ban? If yes, thats weak imo

What are they suppose to do?

Sue all pirates and probably only making 50 USD off them, because pirating usually results in the pirate having to pay a fine to Activision or whoever the game belongs to which you pirated and a jail sentence.

That is not very convenient for publisher/devs.

 

They want to avoid pirating, rather than fighting the people who just pirated their game. 

[Mightyinvader]

As was mentioned its pretty much impossible to stop. You can limit features as some companies have done, but as was mentioned with fc4, some people paid full pull for what they thought was a legit copy. You cant screw over the those folks.

[ind3x]

It's all about convenience. (IMO)

At a lot of small LAN parties with some of my friends the first thing we do is to send a HDD around with a couple of old games on. As far as i know we all own the games, but we know that the cracked versions work flawlessly every time. Besides it requires no installation at all. One of the games is WC III.

For movies/music and so on it's all about convenience too. If i could download via netflix to get an offline mode, then i would totally be in love. Sadly, this isn't possible but i've still decided not to pirate movies (i pay for netflix)

 

Another example is Burnout paradise. I bought the game but it didn't work. I used quite a lot of time trying to make this crappy PC port work but i failed. So i ended up downloading a crack and it worked flawlessly....

[AMICLG]

Is piracy a problem, for the most part yes (not talking about bittorent which is a very useful tool but the actual sharing of copyrighted material) but having an internet gestapo policing what people see is not OK. I don't blame people for torrenting copyrighted material, copyright went from something to help protect the creator/s and their work to this huge control mechanism that makes it harder to legally attain content unless you jump through their hoops just so they can make more money. 

[Blebekblebek]

please don't go off topic.

it's already pointless to talk about prevent something that impossible to do, and don't go further by talking about law

every law are different starting in our own house, I can eat and get naked in my own house, but I doubt I can do the same in yours.

[LegacyStijncat]

-Snip-

1. People that crack games are talented people. They can crack trough anything.
2. Not fighting piracy anymore? If I don't use Uplay, Origin, Steam and a constant never failing internet connection at all times, than the games just stop working.
3. Getting the Pirate Bay won't work. It's already back online in case you were wondering.
4. Fighting Piracy is like fighting car theft, bank robberies, and goverment corruption. We do it for years and the only way we fix it is by f***** over normal people. Cameras destroy our privacy in every way, everyone has weapons now in America...

   DRM has f****** us over. Simcity was always online (even the single player). At the launch of Watch Dogs, the Uplay servers were down. Did you preorder? Bad luck for you. If you CRACKED the game however, no problem at all.

   And these days, we need to run more background processes than a NASA supercomputer.

[Admire]

Is piracy a problem, for the most part yes (not talking about bittorent which is a very useful tool but the actual sharing of copyrighted material) but having an internet gestapo policing what people see is not OK. I don't blame people for torrenting copyrighted material, copyright went for something to help protect the creator and their work to this huge control mechanism that makes it harder to legally attain content unless you just through their hoops just so they can make more money. 

 

Especially when those publishers who we are trying to protect is having record setting sales....both 2013 and 2014 set records for the gaming industry.

 

I think piracy is a problem but there is also a problem with the attitude. There was an interview the other day in the media here in my country with a director.

 

He was deeply enraged and raged that there were some films that did'n't earn money, and it was terrible that a pirates are making them less profitable.

 

I have sympathy, but it does seem that piracy gets blamed for any kind of failure. He seemed like it was a given that every movie ofcourse had to be profitable like the movie industry was a place where losing money never should happen.

 

Piracy is a problem, but it is not in any way a crisis that in any way justifies removing our privacy rights.

[JcGross]

You say that, but then GTA V has been out for a week and there's no pirate version yet. So I guess on some levels it does work and they do fight it.

[Pomfinator]

He was deeply enraged and raged that there were some films that did'n't earn money, and it was terrible that a pirates are making them less profitable.

No one can prove that pirates are making or breaking films.  Also he's in an industry that has so many channels of revenue.

 

Theatre tickets, sales of DVD/BD/download, rentals, streaming services, TV/airplane broadcast, merchandise, etc, etc.  If a movie failed to make money, it was probably the fault of the studio, not of the pirates.