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Facts about piracy (like we didn't know)
A Brunel Study on piracy has given some scientific figures about piracy, who does it, why they do it and how piracy can be stopped. The company who did the study questioned 217 gamers and came up with the following results:
Possible solutions of diminishing piracy are lowering the prizes for games, creating a new attitude towards piracy itself and creating mechanisms that make piracy more difficult.
My guess is that if the lower the prices and make sure that games know the same release date worldwide, things could work out just OK for the companies.
Teenage criminals: nearly 80% of respondents had illegally pirated at some stage in their life - among the 15 to 18 age group, this rises to over 84%
Can't wait, won't wait: 72% of respondents would pirate if they had to wait for a game to be released in the UK
Safety in numbers: 65% of respondents pirate because they feel their chances of getting caught are low
Plain sailing: 80% feel it's easy to download videogames
Try before you buy: 58% don't buy a game that they have downloaded, disproving the theory that most 'try before they buy'
Can't wait, won't wait: 72% of respondents would pirate if they had to wait for a game to be released in the UK
Safety in numbers: 65% of respondents pirate because they feel their chances of getting caught are low
Plain sailing: 80% feel it's easy to download videogames
Try before you buy: 58% don't buy a game that they have downloaded, disproving the theory that most 'try before they buy'
"This study shows very clearly the drivers behind videogame piracy", Alex Dodge explains: "Most respondents who have and will continue to illegally download games are young males, between 15 and 19 years old. They feel videogames are too expensive and resent the long wait for many games released in the US or in Asia before the UK. With a high level of computer literacy, it's easy for them to find a game online and download it. Their friends all do it and why shouldn't they?"
Possible solutions of diminishing piracy are lowering the prizes for games, creating a new attitude towards piracy itself and creating mechanisms that make piracy more difficult.
My guess is that if the lower the prices and make sure that games know the same release date worldwide, things could work out just OK for the companies.
In other news:
3 Comment(s)
Anonymous
Are they smart because they know they didn't have to waste money to find out (if there was no demo obviously) ?
I think a demo should always be available for a game near enough before or just after a release, we seem to have taken a step back thesedays when demos always used to come out a few weeks before a game, we now get demos about 1-3 months after
thondermonst
OK, so why do I buy games then? To support good games and to make sure that these will still be made in the future. But then if you look at the attitude and actions of EA an the likes, I sometimes wonder... do they deserve my support? Well I'm going to stop here, because piracy is a complicated case, lots of ins, lots of outs. Maybe some other day.
kibble