Game Maker Thanks Reddit Pirates for Attention, Offers Discounts

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What do you guys think of this game developers' response to its game being pirated? Do you think the "thanks" and discount offers will sway others not to pirate the game?

PM Studios, the developers behind the popular PlayStation Vita game SUPERBEAT XONiC, made quite a few new friends over the weekend. After finding out that links to cracked versions of their game were widely shared on Reddit they 'thanked' the pirates for their interest, offering a discount on top.
 
It's something to try. There's no real harm in the dev acknowledging this from their side. I don't agree with Bowman15 as the devs are not really making a loss through this overture.
 
Good idea. I will generally buy games from devs that reach out to the community, and one that pulls a smooth move like this rather than the typical corporate response ends up in my library often. I see situations like this as very human, and someone trying to get some extra money where there was none. If only a handful buy it via the coupon, that's still sales that wouldn't have been had at all prior.
 
Jeremy C said:
Good idea. I will generally buy games from devs that reach out to the community, and one that pulls a smooth move like this rather than the typical corporate response ends up in my library often. I see situations like this as very human, and someone trying to get some extra money where there was none. If only a handful buy it via the coupon, that's still sales that wouldn't have been had at all prior.
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Especially when it's all profit with these digital downloads. The word of mouth advertisement is also quite invaluable, never mind the fact that any sale generated for the dev is almost pure profit.
 
Bowman15 said:
Pirates don't care and they won't pay, discount or not. Stop thanking and rewarding them.
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Disagree. Normally yes, pirates will almost always pirate even if the price of a game is lowered, the fact the company actually thanked them and then lowered the price is likely to nab them more sales than they would have otherwise. Really I see this as a win/win for the developer. A positive approach to a situation is generally more likely to succeed than a negative approach.
 
Probably cheaper advertising for the game maker than paying for advertising costs and DRM.
 
NoOther said:
Disagree. Normally yes, pirates will almost always pirate even if the price of a game is lowered, the fact the company actually thanked them and then lowered the price is likely to nab them more sales than they would have otherwise. Really I see this as a win/win for the developer. A positive approach to a situation is generally more likely to succeed than a negative approach.
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So scumbags pirate the game left and right and the developers go ahead, thank them and offer discounts. Now some pirates on the bubble get to buy the game at a reduced cost. If I was a normal paying customer I'd be pissed as the thieves are now getting discounts because they did something illegal. What a fucked up way of thinking and thanking your normal paying customers. And some of you condone this bullshit...why didn't they sell it at a reduced priced to begin with, then the bubble pirates could get it even cheaper!
 
Bowman15 said:
So scumbags pirate the game left and right and the developers go ahead, thank them and offer discounts. Now some pirates on the bubble get to buy the game at a reduced cost. If I was a normal paying customer I'd be pissed as the thieves are now getting discounts because they did something illegal. What a fucked up way of thinking and thanking your normal paying customers. And some of you condone this bullshit...why didn't they sell it at a reduced priced to begin with, then the bubble pirates could get it even cheaper!
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Your logic doesn't quite apply with promotional drives. It is accepted that you don't backdate those who paid earlier per se, and I've heard your argument used by some Console players against anyone buying Steam PC copy of the exact same game, citing how that such reduced cost is done to the detriment of the normal paying customers and how that profitability suffers from such a move.

Yet look at Idea Factory with respect to Neptunia series. The aggressive digital sales on PC platform has led to greater exposure and that Idea Factory as a whole is taking their new titles onto PC while offering frequent and steep discounts over Vita copies. I can't find credence to your assertion that such a discount would only alienate one's existing clients.
 
Reimu said:
Your logic doesn't quite apply with promotional drives. It is accepted that you don't backdate those who paid earlier per se, and I've heard your argument used by some Console players against anyone buying Steam PC copy of the exact same game, citing how that such reduced cost is done to the detriment of the normal paying customers.
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This isn't a normal promotional drive. You missed the entire point.
 
Bowman15 said:
This isn't a normal promotional drive. You missed the entire point.
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Oh? Maybe you consider there a mere concession to pirates? I don't hold it in such a light, nor do I think it should be spun as such.
 
Bowman15 said:
So scumbags pirate the game left and right and the developers go ahead, thank them and offer discounts. Now some pirates on the bubble get to buy the game at a reduced cost. If I was a normal paying customer I'd be pissed as the thieves are now getting discounts because they did something illegal. What a fucked up way of thinking and thanking your normal paying customers. And some of you condone this bullshit...why didn't they sell it at a reduced priced to begin with, then the bubble pirates could get it even cheaper!
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I am sorry, but how is this different than a company seeing their sales are low and then deciding to lower the costs of their item based on that? Should those companies also give original buyers a discount now? Your logic is completely flawed. The only part that is even somewhat acceptable is the part about not rewarding pirates by thanking them. However, I do not see pirates as scum, questionable morals perhaps, but not necessarily scum.

Secondly, how are they rewarding pirates by getting them to buy the game? It's the other way around, the pirates would be rewarding the company for their response.

Third, if they had known a number of people would not buy their game at the original cost, perhaps they would have started it at a reduced price. But unfortunately companies do not have perfect foresight and sometimes make mistakes in their pricing leading to price reductions. This happens all the time.
 
Maybe it was an intentional leak to generate publicity for the developer.

I doubt they will get much sales. The main reason for pirating is because it is free. Offering a discount is not going to change anything.
 
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snowcrash said:
Maybe it was intentional leak to generate publicity for the developer.

I doubt they will get much sales. The main reason for pirating is because it is free. Offering a discount is not going to change anything.
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Any sales generated is pure profit regardless of how little gain is obtained. The exposure is more than enough to reap dividends.
 
they did it to make headlines, and they did. take a note from the Trump playbook: it doesnt have to be relevant as long as it makes people pay attention. in the end, you just get free publicity out of it.
 
Considering they can just do a "File>Copy" and give out another 80,000,000,000,000,000 copies of the game witghout putting a single second into developing any more lines of code for a reduced price.... i think cheaper software should be more prevalent. :p
 
If for nothing, it's at least a positive PR move, and will probably make pirates look bad in comparison, assuming that they care of course.
 
Bowman15 said:
So scumbags pirate the game left and right and the developers go ahead, thank them and offer discounts. Now some pirates on the bubble get to buy the game at a reduced cost. If I was a normal paying customer I'd be pissed as the thieves are now getting discounts because they did something illegal. What a fucked up way of thinking and thanking your normal paying customers. And some of you condone this bullshit...why didn't they sell it at a reduced priced to begin with, then the bubble pirates could get it even cheaper!
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That's a bit silly. The discount is available to anyone, which happens to include pirates. The copying and reaction to it is generating quite a bit of free publicity which this game would not have had with a simple discount, so whatever your view on copying the game, the dev. is profiting from the situation.

Note that copyright infringement is not stealing, pirates (of the copying kind) are not thieves.
 
To the people that are against piracy, are you also against second hand sales? Do you think selling used games at stores like Gamestop should be outlawed? None of the money from those sales goes to the developer and publisher.
 
Scizyr said:
To the people that are against piracy, are you also against second hand sales? Do you think selling used games at stores like Gamestop should be outlawed? None of the money from those sales goes to the developer and publisher.
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No, because in that case the original item was purchased by somebody where dev/publisher did end up getting payed.
Also, piracy is more akin to copying said second-hand copy and distributing it to all your friends, their friends etc for them to copy and repeat the same process -- ie. effectively devaluing the product (game).
 
schoolslave said:
No, because in that case the original item was purchased by somebody where dev/publisher did end up getting payed.
Also, piracy is more akin to copying said second-hand copy and distributing it to all your friends, their friends etc for them to copy and repeat the same process -- ie. effectively devaluing the product (game).
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So it's ok if the developer of the game does not get compensated for a redistribution? If I buy a used game from gamestop, then sell it to a friend, he sells it to a friend, and on and on for say, 10 years, that's ok with you. The dev was paid one time yet maybe 100 people played the game. Why is that ok?
 
Scizyr said:
So it's ok if the developer of the game does not get compensated for a redistribution? If I buy a used game from gamestop, then sell it to a friend, he sells it to a friend, and on and on for say, 10 years, that's ok with you. The dev was paid one time yet maybe 100 people played the game. Why is that ok?
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Same thing with every other second item under the sun.

All money generated from second hand sales do not go to the original manufacturer or studio, so basically, you are either against second sales in general, or you are not, whether the item in question is an actual tangible item or not.
 
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