All Things Are about Piracy in Cataclysm Games Industry

Piracy has been extended held being the dire no-win situation in the movie video game marketplace because it represents a perfect culmination of utter loss -- an infinitely copyable product that took millions of dollars to produce being distributed for free. No profit shows the studio will get its windows shuttered and no one goes home employed.

There is an article i read on PC Gamer that talks about Runic Games's Torchlight. The movie game may be a amazing spiritual successor to the Diablo series that the company's CEO, Max Schaefer, served as guide artist for. Runic Games was essentially purchased by Perfect World, a chinese language courses MMO company that seeks to release an MMO version of the popular game.

Schaefer has some different views and conclusions about how piracy effects his game. In a very nutshell, Schaefer sees no problem using the millions of illegally downloaded copies of Torchlight in Asian markets. When the MMO is released, the brand recognition and audience developing that piracy affords will provide in new customers for the eventual MMO, precisely where it is harder to pirate a service. With so many games heading online nowadays with multiplayer components requiring authentication or even a license purchase (as with used versions of PS3 and XBox 360 games), is this the right attitude to have in world precisely where a game's success is made or destroyed centered on sales? Is this line of thought capable to coexist using the fickle dev studio and publisher system in place now in the industry?

Ultimately, we can learn something from Schaefer's comments, particularly about audience building. And, potentially, we can see the future of World of Warcraft's distribution as the movie game will get a bit heavy in conditions of barrier to entry.

Not for everyone
Here's the issue using the piracy-win stories -- they are fact and situation specific. Not every studio and publisher can still succeed centered on the costs associated with piracy and games development. Torchlight was previously a hit in the US and EU before this article on chinese language courses piracy. Their success was secure. The MMO was previously in development, also it aided that Torchlight was actually a totally awesome game. Could every studio allow for millions of copies being stolen and still turn a profit so earlier in the game's life?

I would wager no. Not every studio will reach snap their fingers and make much better Russian localization happen. Not every developer will reach create away millions of illegally downloaded copies of their movie game as audience-building advertising. I do not want to seem like I am enforcing or supporting the incredibly bad amount of DRM currently polluting the games market and turning would-be purchasers into pirates, but the Torchlight mentality is the right one to take. It may be a amazing thing that productive developers are at the forefront of the piracy fight by extending the olive branch, so to speak, and turning pirates into purchasers not only for themselves, but developing a culture of purchasing games and developing good will.

Brand recognition is key
The biggest take-away from Schaefer's comments is the fact that brand recognition and marketing may be a massive part of why he is fine using the piracy in China. Eventually Torchlight will MMO-o-tron alone into a pay-for-premium-content-based free-to-play. That is precisely where the real money lies. With so many people accustomed to the Torchlight brand and happy using the movie game they stole for free, some of those players might be totally prepared to pick up a free client and established their money on the table for the Torchlight service. It is this lesson that I think World of Warcraft demands to learn in the next year.

Piracy is less of an issue and shelf space is still a thing
Piracy, admittedly, is less of an issue with MMOs and service-oriented games. Schaefer and Runic are so confident in the piracy-lite MMO model that they are prepared to let millions of copies of the movie game proliferate in China. WoW's problems are less with pirates and far more from hackers, as we have detailed in the past.

Adding positive value to the WoW retail box may be a problem because the bins are still selling, with prominent retail displays marketing WoW's MMO dominance. Despite the fact that the PC movie game shelves at Gamestop and Best Buy have been second-class citizens for years now, WoW dominates that retail space. We aren't in a very 100% obtain world yet, bins still sell, and I never want to provide up my collector's editions. What we require may be a new WoW boxed (and downloadable) copy.

But what does this new box look like? Tom Chilton alluded to the potential for WoW to turn into one movie game with Cataclysm, but the idea never made it to light. Will Blizzard bundle WoW, BC, and Wrath into one $30 box? The newest expansion stays at the $30-40 price and then will get bundled down to the box each time a new expansion is released? Will Cataclysm just be re-branded as "World of Warcraft?" Blizzard could discount down the movie game to $5 each like they have finished at Christmas and is currently doing in the EU for digital purchases. The simplest way to inject new blood to the movie game and refresh the subscription numbers is to practically give WoW away.

Maybe Schaefer's piracy comments and audience developing will be what launches Torchlight's MMO to the stratosphere of success. I think it will. Developing positive value from the inevitable pricing and piracy issues may be a challenge for any developer, being sure, but it's a move that demands being made. Blizzard can echo this sentiment by changing the WoW retail pricing structure to far more effortlessly accomodate players to their subscription service. Thank you! Have a good time in the game!
MORE:
http://www.articleconsortium.info/article.php?id=4817
http://wow-ruler.com//html/News/wow%20gold/pages/2012/1/13/299.html