Interview with the CD Projekt's founder ("Pirates are underserved customers")

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Originally Posted by soldant

The headache can increase when there are regular patches or content updates which the pirates can't keep up with. For example pirating pretty much any of the ARMA games within about a year of their release is largely pointless, because the patches move very quickly (and fix critical issues because apparently BIS never do any testing) and FADE protection is non-intrusive and remarkably effective. Of course releasing a buggy game that requires extensive patching to become playable isn't the best strategy, but still it's another element of convenience to consider. Since most games that support mods frequently require the latest version of the game, easy access to updates without relying on a crack is a factor.

The threat of viruses etc is also largely overstated on anything other than Usenet. I'm guessing people only ever harp on about it due to virus scanners employing heuristic scanning methods which flag keygens or cracks as malicious due to their activity, not because they deliver a malicious payload or carry out a malicious action.

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While you are right, a game being an untested hopelessly buggy mess does not make it deserve a sale either:p
If anything I just avoid those completely. I and many other people ignore those completely till the goty edition is out (and there is also always a goty edition pirated version)
Any sane gamer will wait for the goty edition for buggy releases, and any self respecting gamer will buy the goty in a sale instead of rewarding devs fully for not QA testing their shit.


Nalano really? key gens? idk where you get your games, through a portal to the 90s:p
As I said, for me the process of paying for the game (dealing with Ideal etc) takes longer than the few clicks it takes to mount an iso and then right click the shortcut after it's done installing to find the install path and copy the crack over (many release groups have releases that don't even require you to do that anymore).

Torrent speeds aren't an issue anymore, within 12 hours any popular torrent will saturate your download speed. (something steam often can't)

It is ever so slightly more convenient to play on steam (automatic patches,again buggy untested games do not get a sale out of me regardless, if you download and play a game on launchday you'd play the unpatched version too, if you download it after the patch there is ALWAYS an already patched version available for pirates).
Key word, ever so slightly, it really is negligable.

Steam is popular because it is comparable to the ease of pirating or even easier, ubishit etc are much more annoying than just downloading the drm free superior version for free so they lose sales and can rot in hell.

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Originally Posted by Finicky

Nalano really? key gens?

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I know it's hard to remember serial keys, because Steam automatically inserts them without your input, but they do still exist.

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Originally Posted by Finicky

Torrent speeds aren't an issue anymore, within 12 hours any popular torrent will saturate your download speed.

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Operative word being "popular." Also lol 12 hours.

Hell, i crack nearly every single player game i play, except for those without DRM off course. I buyed several games on Steam and didn't even bother to download from the client. Why i would do that? A torrent is faster, and the crack is included in the ISO.

With a crack, wich is legal in Belgium if you own the game, and no need to connect to Uplay Steamwork or whatever bullshit DRM they included in the game. Games sometime run better too, i remember some games running with 5-10 more fps after i put a crack on.
The games i don't crack are often those who need a lot of patches, or the online ones off course.

The only drawback is the viruses, but its a risk who is often overestimated.

I seldom pirate these days, i have enough money and games are cheap when you search around the web, yet i still use crack because the pirate version is often the superior one. Once installed, i am a two click away from launching the game, and i don't have a hundred programs for every damn drm on my pc. Its perhaps slightly more hassle to install, but the difference is negligible

When my friend asked me recently why i bother buying the games when i crack them anyway and that pirating is practically never punished, the only answer i got is to reward developers and publishers, the same ones who put these crap on my games...he was not convinced.

Well, i could have said "because i am a honest man", i suppose.

That why when i game is available on GOG i always choose this platform: they are the one who treat me as a customer the best. So yeah, perhaps is talk about pirate is just lip-service. I don't care. Because, except perhaps for the short moment when they threatened people to sue them if they didn't pay, they don't just talk, they do it. And i like them for that. And for they damn good games too.

This is not always the case, but some of them certainly are.

Prices of games in other countries are downright insane. I got upset when $60 became the norm for them here in the U.S.

Some people are paying the equivalent of 90 USD for theirs. That's the opposite of how you earn customers folks.

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Originally Posted by Shooop

Some people are paying the equivalent of 90 USD for theirs.

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Australia here.

110 for collectors edition of empire total war and Fallout 3 on release. that was years ago of course. Prices did go down. games are around 60/70 aud on release nowadays.

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Originally Posted by Lukasz

Australia here.

110 for collectors edition of empire total war and Fallout 3 on release. that was years ago of course. Prices did go down. games are around 60/70 aud on release nowadays.

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Which is why we import from the UK, particularly if they're just selling Steam keys. Actually importing anything, including physical goods, often ends up a lot cheaper than buying it here, so I really wonder how some outfits can justify their insane markups (and the inquiry into price gouging in tech will accomplish bugger all, but we all knew that). Not sure about prices going down... a lot of new-release titles are still $90, even on Steam, though some of them get a $10 discount (wow, a whole $10!) which is paltry compared to an import for $50 or less.



It's getting out of hand. Gerry Harvey gets up and screams that we're killing retail because we import. For those not familiar with him, he operates a chain of stores called Harvey Norman which are the most goddamn expensive stores around. What was his solution? Was it to reduce prices to remain competitive? No! It was to suggest that the goods and services tax threshold be lowered so that all imports were taxed (right now it's at $1000)... and even then it'd still be cheaper to import!

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Originally Posted by soldant

a lot of new-release titles are still $90

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I actually have not noticed that. I rarely go shopping for games/electronics these days but I do see new release hovering around 60/70 dollar mark (for PC) Some like COD or Sims are incredibly expensive (80 bucks for Sims 3? the fuck EA?) but I think prices were higher three or four years ago.

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Originally Posted by Lukasz

I actually have not noticed that. I rarely go shopping for games/electronics these days but I do see new release hovering around 60/70 dollar mark (for PC) Some like COD or Sims are incredibly expensive (80 bucks for Sims 3? the fuck EA?) but I think prices were higher three or four years ago.

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From JB HIFI you usually get those lower prices, but places like EB Games will still try to charge you through the nose for games. CoD Blops 2 is $99 on PC from EB Games... except it is on sale right now so it it's about $80. A lot of the cheaper prices turn up at EB a few months after the game, or to suspiciously coincide with a Steam sale (go figure!). Really if I had to get something from a brick and mortar store because I wanted it right now (ozgameshop takes weeks to get to Brisbane for some reason) the only choice is JB HIFI.

The most galling thing about Steam (apart from region locks which are intended purely to make us pay more) is that everything is still in USD. With our dollar so strong it's slightly beneficial (or at least neutral) but do you remember back in 2006 or 2007 when CoD4 was first on Steam and our dollar was worth about 60 US cents or something? They jacked up the price from the standard US price to $89.95 to "match" retail, but because it was in USD we paid a little over $100 for a digital copy. Some pubs seem to be pulling similar tricks these days conveniently forgetting that if our dollar weakens we'll pay even more again for a digital copy. It's bullshit.

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Originally Posted by soldant

(ozgameshop takes weeks to get to Brisbane for some reason)

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They import directly from UK. My copy of DA:O Ult. took three weeks to arrive (sydney)

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Originally Posted by Lukasz

They import directly from UK. My copy of DA:O Ult. took three weeks to arrive (sydney)

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I know. My friend in Melbourne gets worried if it takes 2 weeks. I usually wait 3 to 4 weeks too. Wonder why it gets to Melbourne so quick?

I used to pirate all the time. Like, all the time. Like, every game, other than wow basically that I played, download crack go go go. Unless it had good multi player, and heck, back then you only needed to buy Half life, Quake and UT, and thanks to mods, you had every multi player game you could want to play. I'd go to lans and the people with legitimate copies of BF1942 would be cracking it so they could play with everyone else.

However, it's changed, now i'm pretty much steam for new & GOG for old only now. My steam library has grown far too fat (three...hundred...and...*fades off into the distance*), I have enough backlog to last me a good year or two. I don't buy retail in aus (Thanks local retailers for not being competitive , Like recently, JBhifi had BLOPS2 (I know, but, guilty pleasures damn it!) for $70 or so, might have even been $60 day one, I bought it online, release day, from oz game shop for $51, cd key in the email less than an hour later. I'd have bought it off steam but as far as activision is concerned australia is the land of milk and ignorant people who'll pay $99.95 USD for cod on steam. A full $40 markup because 'out internetz are more 'spensive'.

But hey, If you're not ignorant, and are happy to say that you live in a public library so you can access amazon digital games from aus, you can get some ripping deals. New NFS, how's $20 for a digital copy sound? The problem right now is regional, well, crap really.

Pricing is only one issue though, the only one I really have left, thanks to steam though, I now prefer to buy games than pirate them. I bounce from my desk to the lounge room where I have a half decent HTPC cobbled together, steam cloud + big picture is simply awesome. Start game at desk, think gee, this would be better suited relaxing on a couch, controller in hand, change room, continue game essentially uninterrupted. No 'copying saves', no patching it up, just move and continue. No torrent + crack, etc. And thanks to quarterly sales with prices that are reasonable, I buy more games.

CD Projekt has released the teaser of Cyberpunk 2077. It's fantastic! I can't wait for the game!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P99qJGrPNLs

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Originally Posted by soldant

I know. My friend in Melbourne gets worried if it takes 2 weeks. I usually wait 3 to 4 weeks too. Wonder why it gets to Melbourne so quick?

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Probably because Melbourne has the biggest shipping and freight facilities in Aussieland.

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Originally Posted by Nalano

Probably because Melbourne has the biggest shipping and freight facilities in Aussieland.

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And Port of Brisbane is the third busiest port. Someone just likes to piss in my coffee. And I don't even drink coffee.

which is irrelevant as they are airshiping it.

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Originally Posted by Lukasz

which is irrelevant as they are airshiping it.

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In that case clearly Soldant's mailman hates him.

So let us all speculate why.

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Originally Posted by Nalano

In that case clearly Soldant's mailman hates him.

So let us all speculate why.

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Don't know, he usually drives his little motorcycle right up to the front door with important packages. With everybody else he just tosses them negligently over the front fence or smashes them into the roadside letterbox.

No, we need to go deeper.

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Originally Posted by soldant

Don't know, he usually drives his little motorcycle right up to the front door with important packages. With everybody else he just tosses them negligently over the front fence or smashes them into the roadside letterbox.

No, we need to go deeper.

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That's because he doctors them prior to delivery, likely with small drams of poison or probably human excretions. This would explain not only the delay but also why he delivers them personally to your door: He wants you to fully comprehend the depths of his contempt.

OR
he plays them himself and then feels bad so he delivers the mail in person. Really, Nalano. You only see the worst in everyone.

OR
The postman cracks his games first before delivering and uploads them on thepiratemail.com, where games are illegally accessed by postmen all over the globe.