Video Game Piracy

Amybear sent me this link. Essentially video game piracy has really been on the rise as of late. Several very popular games were hacked and released on the internet before they made it to retail. GTA was still sold out everywhere I went, so its unlikely the bottom line at Rock Star is to blame.

I seem to recall Penny Arcade (see The Funnies section on the sidebar) talking about the sheer number of games coming out lately. Frankly everybody and their third cousin is coming out with a game right now in order make the Christmas market. The game industry has not, as of yet, figured out that while Christmas is big you also face the stiffest competition then as well. People can only afford so much. So GTA, Halo 2, and Half-Life 2 are going to corner their market segments and lots of smaller games will never see any play and will disappear into obscurity. On the other hand if they came out over the summer they might get crazy amounts of play.

So what? Well because people can only afford so much that tends to add to demands for piracy. I want those games, I want them now, I can't afford them, oh look the internet...

When I was younger and had no money, piracy was an option. Now my view is more like this:

Many consumers, meanwhile, said they'd never consider pirated versions. Not only would it spoil the surprise, gamers tend to be devoted followers of game creators.

I have no problem giving people my good money for a game that I enjoy playing. I have the money to spend and $50 is not a lot when you consider that I will be playing GTA:San Andreas for months. Its much more cost effective than a 2 hour movie. Even though I now have a DVD burner sitting on my home computer, I have no desire whatsoever to pirate a game. If I see a game I want but don't want to pay the exorbitant release price for, I wait until I can get it used or Greatest Hits. Not hard.