Revolution Software co-founder Charles Cecil has addressed the ever-thorny issue of videogame piracy, and he has not sided with the “pity me” publishers. Instead, the British developer has explained that piracy is “nature’s way” of dealing with high prices and inconvenient distribution.
“Personally, I think that the level of piracy we have is nature’s way of turning around and saying games are too expensive and the way that they are distributed is not ideal,” claims Cecil. “Yes, we can pressure Internet service providers and take any number of anti-piracy measures. But ultimately iTunes has shown that if you make the means of distribution easy and the price compelling, you will build the respect of your audience.
“And while this won’t eradicate piracy completely, it won’t become such a serious issue anymore.”
The iTunes model works for a reason, and that’s why small indie developers constantly storm that App charts while arrogant publishers find that their $10 iPhone games aren’t selling as well as Doodle Jump. Cecil himself is experimenting with releasing a completely free Dr. Who PC game, which he hopes will succeed. I’m sure we all are as well, because free is always better than expensive. Unless it’s free birthday party at Roman Polanski’s place.
Cecil: Piracy is nature’s way of telling us games are too expensive [MCV]
