id Software CEO: piracy pushed us multiplatform

[News Reader]

id Software CEO: piracy pushed us multiplatform
Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, GDC, Business
At an early session Friday, id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead gave a lecture on the problems of piracy on the internet. During his speech, Hollenshead revealed that, although they are still primarily a PC developer, id Software had begun to look at console game releases as a way to financially combat piracy.

"Piracy has pushed id as being multiplatform," Hollenshead said, noting that the current project Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is being scheduled for release on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Hollenshead's rationale is that console piracy is, by a large factor, minimal relative to the rampant PC piracy.

In Hollenshead's lecture, entitled "The Videogame Piracy Problem: Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest," was a discussion on the problems of piracy, his company's experiences with the issues, and suggestions to help the diffuse the issue.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Author: Ross Miller
Category: gdcgdc 07Gdc07idid softwareIdSoftwarepiracyquake warsQuakeWars
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Source: Joystiq
Description: Joystiq

[FatherJack]

I don't see piracy as being more "rampant" now than it has ever been, infact I remember it being common to see the earlier home computers being advertised as coming with hundreds of games, not a single one of which was legitimate. Also I'd invite him to take a look on eBay if he thinks console piracy is so less common.

Things like Steam are more postive steps - releasing games simultaneously across the world, so curious UK gamers aren't tempted to download US copies.

For my part, I have actively gone through my catalogue and bought up games I have enjoyed which I'd previously downloaded. Unfortunately there is no recompense for me for shit games I bought first.

I don't dispute the fact of his statements, just think a more positive approach is called for, like the one his own company used when they released arguably the best third of Quake for free.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Stuff

Mostly That

I think piracy isn't more rampant, but it is more visible.

IMO as far as ID goes, their problem is that Doom3 had crap multiplayer, so no-one felt the need to buy it. And Quake4 was just a bit meh, as everyone knows what the D3 engine looks like.

I do think valve/steam have got it right, as (afaik) there's only a few ways around using legit steam, and most are full of nasties.

The old style of releasing a third of a game (as in chapter 1 of doom, quake, etc) worked very well, as it gave you enough time playing a game to decide if you wanted to buy it.

Nowadays I think a lot of people help themselves to a proper demo by pirating a game, then buying it if they enjoy it.

Personally, I buy any games I've stolen and completed and any game I host. (that and any steam games I want)

[Dog Pants]

I think they're just using it as an excuse. For a start, you can't put a price tag on piracy, so thay've no way of really knowing how much revenue they've lost from it. As Berk said, they haven't released any games recently that have been good enough to be big sellers, which is probably the more likely cause of their drop in income.

Another thing to consider that the PC gaming market probably consists mostly of serious gamers - casual gamers will buy a console because there aren't the technical and financial issues that you get with the PC. I think that more serious gamers are also generally more responsible and as such will buy games when they can. If somebody pirates a game they would never have bought in the first place then there's no revenue lost. On top of that, a serious gamer generally won't like arseing about with dodgy copies that crash half way through, or are missing cutscenes, or can't go online, or any of the other factors that make pirated games inferior to genuine copies.

Lastly, I think piracy is less common in proportion to the amount of people who actually play games. Back in my Amiga days I had hundreds of copied games. All my friends did too, and I suspect that I was in the minority having any originals at all (I had about three). It makes me wonder how they ever made any profit back then. Now, there are just as many pirated games out there and probably just as many 13 year olds with entire libraries of copied games, but there are far more gamers now than there were then. Proportionally, I'd say piracy was less common.

Actually, that last point's just made me think - if I hadn't copied all those Amiga games I probably wouldn't have been as big a gamer as I am today. As a 12-15 year old I couldn't have afforded the games I played even if I'd have wanted to, so I'd have just done something else (sniffed glue on street corners or something). So potentially by trying to stamp out piracy companies could be alienating the next generation of people who are going to be buying their games.

[FatherJack]

The glue companies will be happy though.

[Dog Pants]

The glue companies will be happy though.

They work in glue factories all day. They're always happy.

[buzzmong]

Ahh, the old corporate "piracy hurts us" speech.

Personally with games, I pretty much buy any game I sweeped if I like it enough.

I've had sweeps of doom3 and q4, couple of weeks later I went and ordered a proper copy of d3, same goes for q4, fear and a number of other games.

Some games if I know they're stonking I'll buy from the bat, eg) HL2, Soup, Beef 2.

When games are priced at £35 quid or higher in some cases, it gets a bit much to splat out, I tend to wait for 2/3 years, get it on budget for £5/10 and have alot more fun (Fallout 1 and 2 for example, cost me 9.99 for both together, fantastic, and have spent many hours on them, couldn't have afforded both when they were out new).


Music is also a laugh, as I'll buy most if not all music I sweep for testing if I like it, unless I've no intention of ever buying that album and just wanted to hear it before deciding it's worth my hard earned dosh which honestly, the artists don't see much of.