I saw this post today Torrent of Free Bits and it reminded me of something I’d thought about.
First, let me make it clear. Piracy of games pisses me off. It’s my job to make games, it’s damn hard work. 15 to 100 people for two years, 1/4 to 1/2 of that time is often 60 to 80 hour weeks. For someone to pirate it and tell me it’s not worth the $40 we ask for all our effort. ***K THEM!
For other media there are other arguments possibly.
Also, some people mention that online games don’t have this problem. You pay for the service, not for the game. Fine but that’s not all games. In fact that’s not even the majority of games. It would suck to never be able to make (and therefore play) a non-online game because piracy had removed the market.
But anyway, that’s not the point of this post.
Not game related I’ve wondered if the activation added to Windows XP and Office XP hurt Microsoft more than it helped. Games are not apps and no game has the market presence of Windows or Office so don’t make the mistake of comparing them. That’s is not the point.
The thing is, before Office XP and Windows XP it was easy to pirate Windows and Office. Microsoft rightly didn’t like this so they added “activation” to make it harder to pirate them. Now when you install Office you have 30 days to “activate” it or it will shut itself off. “Activation” requires either connecting to Microsoft on the net or calling them up. While there are hacks to remove that for the average person that’s probably enough to stop them from copying. Yea for MS.
Except, sometimes people do need to word process or spreadsheet something. In the past they would do this by just pirating Office. Now though they are forced to look for an alternative. They find Open Office or Abiword and give it a try. So far MS is not out a sale. But, now they actually have this experience of an alternative solution. An experience they didn’t have before. Now where before zero employees had any experience outside of Office they now have experiences with alternatives. They will bring that experience to the office and recommend it to their boss. If they start their own company they might opt to use this new product instead of doing the standard thing and buying Office.
In effect what MS thought was stopping piracy, which it did, is also actually erroding their market.
I don’t really think the same is true for games. For the most part I don’t believe piracy helps “spread the word”. Games are entertainment and generally the word is spread by PR, Marketing and the reputation of the team. Everyone is looking forward to San Andreas and Halo 2 because those teams made such great games in the past.
Also, piracy is unlikely to effect these games as they will sell a zillion copies. Halo 2 probably 3 million. San Andreas probably 8 to 11 million. Games that get effected by piracy are likely the smaller more independant games. The games for which every sale counts.
the big difference that you are reaching for but missing is platform and app lock-in. Outside of the mods scene people can use games w/o much lock-in.
People who buy Word are stuck using Word forever, for the most part.
Plus the network effect of apps. The more people using your OS the better third-party support you will find, and the more people using the app you use the less compatiblity hassles you will encounter. Microsoft has ridden (and pushed) this wave from day 1 of the x86 platform.
It’s often said that the rampant piracy in China is best for Microsoft — it’s better having them use a compatible formats for free than have a viable third-party threat arise.
Nice point about microsoft and eroding its market, never thought about it.
About game piracy i think a lot more people would actually buy more games if they thought there was something worthwhile with the actualy physcial stuff of the game i.e. the box and what is in it.
I mean i remember the good old spectrum and amiga days when with some games like carrier command, pirates or rock star ate my hamster etc you got loads of stuff in the box. Stuff like a cool map or a huge booklet that would add to the story if you wanted to read it. Side stuff that really didnt do much but it added a lot more to the game experience. Rock Star had a hoax version of the British Tabloid the Sun with page 3 girl and hoax tv listings and hilarious spoof stories.
Alos boxes in those days were more chunkier and werent the same size etc. These days you get games in a boring black plastic dvd case with a manual pinned inside. No individuality. And no effort in that sense (definately not with the digitial code on the cd)
I guess its like the demise of the record. Loadsa people were sad to see it go just for the fact the artwork on the front of an lp was like an actual picture. You could stick your copy of New Orders bluemonday or Michael Jacksons Bad on your wall and it looked cool. Bars still do it. I like mixing so i still buy records. I also like the listening in the shop part and also the opening of it (sad i know but im just like a kid at christmas waiting to see whats in the nicely wrapped box). Its the whole experience outside the actual product that contributes to me wanting to buy it. Sure i could just load up DC++ or WinMx but having that record physcially in a pile or on my wall just looks cool so makes me want to buy it.
I dont see why games company cant go retro again. Retro is cool. I loved Rockstars C64 load up screen. I like their maps. Give it a chunky box, a discography of their tracks, extra info on the characters including develpment sketches of the characters and some extra comic action id love it. Dont get me wrong i dont copy games but i can see why some people will just copy. Give them some incentives to buy it. I don’t think the industry is in a strategic position to really just ignore it. Saying how bad it is wont change it.
Ahh well thats me done.
I work in animation and television in Canada and run a small studio on the side that does graphic design and stuff, and have done musical projects so I agree about the problems with piracy. Some of my friends work in games and I’m well aware how much it impacts the market. I don’t think I have ever burned a game – I’ve always bought it.
I think some of the problem in Microsoft’s case though is that they charge a LOT for their software. For most people, it’s essential to run these pieces of software and every few years Microsoft phases out the old software and demands you pay $100 and some odd bucks for a new version. It’s one thing to pay $5000-$10000 for Maya but that’s a niche market. When 90% of people are forced to pay every one or two years for the same software they already couldn’t afford, that they need every day…well, people will get fed up.
I don’t condone piracy, but it happens, and Microsoft’s pricing and demands are a lot more excessive than many other companies. With a 95% of market share (being what I would assume are official numbers) I doubt piracy has really posed a huge threat to Microsoft — in other words, it isn’t piracy that forced them to raise their prices, but Microsoft has been expensive for a while, and I think that may have contributed to the increase in the piracy they are seeing in their own software. I don’t think that is the situation for smaller companies – they must charge more to factor in for piracy.
People will always complain about price no matter what it costs. I don’t personally find Microsoft’s prices to be to high for anything they offer. What makes someone consider the price high? You might pay $10 to see a movie that entertains you for 90 minutes. You pay $299 for Office, something that if you need you’ll probably use daily and not have to upgrade for at least 3 years (I know of no one that upgrades yearly) so it cost you like 30¢ a day for 4-8 hours of use.
I see where you’re coming from, and I agree with you. (I run all legal software myself.) While it is true that people will complain no matter what something costs, if they can afford it they will generally pay for it (even if they mumble a few grudging comments while shelling out that long green). People do have the right to charge whatever they want.
This said, not everyone can afford to pay $299 for a piece of software. Instead of piracy, I spend $100 on WordPerfect, for example, which will open PDFs just fine. You could say that if you can’t afford it, then don’t buy it — but if it’s required for daily use, say your office says you HAVE to have Windows XP and you’re tight for cash and won’t compensate for it, suddently that $299 becomes quite a lot of money. This is where open source comes in (which is what I do) but Microsoft is doing a wonderful job trying to publicly bash open source.
My point is that if you charge TOO high to the point that people go “Screw you” and look elsewhere, you’re going to lose business. It isn’t right for people to pirate software, and it doesn’t make it right. But I can see why people do it. So price is very much an issue to the point that it hurts the company. However, Microsoft is the exception rather than the rule, though that isn’t the issue.
I’m on your side, but just because $299 isn’t a lot for you, doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t for a lot of other people. If Corel can charge half that for an equivalent piece of software, would not Microsoft make much more money by slashing the price to $150?
Finally, how about students. Try telling a college or university student that $299 isn’t a lot of money. Many of these software programs are now required purchases in colleges now. And the academic discounts aren’t substantial, either. Maybe $5 to $10 off. I’m trying to run a startup in the middle of a degree. I am better off than many of my fellow students but it still “hurts to go like this”.
All I am saying is there are two sides to every coin. I know piracy isn’t a good thing, but my concern is that it’s more of a “If you’re not with us, you’re against us!” thing rather than trying to see it from several different angles. Coming up with more effective business models that encourage people to buy seems more constructive than filtering millions of dollars into anti-piracy efforts that are easily bypassable or unintentionally screw legitimate users (ie the guy who wants to listen to Celine on his PC can’t because he might be able to copy it even if he has no intention to.)
I think Apple definitely has the right idea. They’ve shown that most people don’t mind paying $0.99 a song legally instead of downloading. This trend can only continue. There are far more people legally buying CDs that are pirating. Count me as one of them – I like having the physical thing in my hand. Compare the profits made in gross to the actual losses of piracy in any individual industry. Chances are very good that the numbers are higher for the former than the latter (at least in the music industry — according to SOCAN.)
It’s also worth mentioning that piracy in gaming is MUCH higher than most other mediums. In other words, you’re losing more money than people in other industries. This would make me angry, too. But it also seems to make you think that ALL the media based industries are losing the same ratio of money as the gaming industry. They’re not.
So, concentrate on finding ways to convince more people to buy. And when you do, manufacture something on a proprietary format. It’s not fair and a bitter pill to swallow, knowing you have to acommodate it, but there’s always going to be ONE a**hole that’s going to pirate a disc, no matter what you do. It’s like that with anything else. So it’s best to try to come up with a constructive solution to deal with it and minimize your loss, because recent efforts to quash piracy haven’t been too effective and have proven to be very expensive losses.
No, Apple has shown that a lot of people will today, pay $0.99 a song. They have not shown that MOST people will do that. I suspect there are still far far more songs being pirated than bought from iTMS. They have also not shown than people will buy from iTMS “instead” of pirating. There is no data showing that the people using iTMS used to pirate. As far as we know 100% of the people that pirate music have never used iTMS and that only people not aware of how easy it is to pirate are using iTMS. Apple has also not shown that they can continue selling music at $0.99 far into the future. I would suspect that as P2P software gets better interfaces, is easier to use and has better searching methods, all of which we know will happen that less and less people will use iTMS and more and more people will pirate.
I never assumed that. In fact I believe there is arguably a distinction between music, literature, movies and games. Music can be made by 1 guy in minus. People go on stage, you can record that and have music. Literature, at least books on the other hand require more work. Some person has to sitdown and type for months. Movies and Game up even more. I’m not sure which requires more work. Most movies seem to take 3 months to a year. Although there are examples of simple movies like Clerks most movies require a few months, set building, costume building, shooting, post editing. And of course much more if it’s an effects based movie. Games generally require 2 years for an original, 1 year for a sequel on the same system by 20-80 people.
So, that leads me to believe not all media are equal. While it’s easy for say the Greatful Dead to give their music away and they can argubly preach that others should do the same that’s fine as long as they are talking about music because seriously, they are just jamming like meeting in park and playing with friends and it’s no sweat of their backs. But, that analogy doesn’t fit other media where it requires great amounts of sweat to produce them.
Here’s the most intersting thing. I suspect the ONLY reason this comes up at all is that it is “POSSIBLE” to pirate. Go read all your arguments again but change them to something like a computer or textbooks or a car. You say it’s that the software is too expensive for the student so he pirates it. If his textbooks were too expensive would he pirate those too? If he had to buy a tape recorder for language class would he pirate that? If tuition was too high would he sneak one to the campus? No, because he can’t. He’s forced to pay for them. The only reason people even consider pirating at all is because they can, all the other excuses are just justifications for theft since they know that it’s easy and they can’t get caught.
I think you’re missing the point of my post. The point is that if you overcharge, people will not pay and find other means to obtain the information, legal or not. Same with books, same with anything you can. I agree people consider because it’s POSSIBLE. I’m not trying to justify piracy, I’m trying to tell you that if it’s possible, people are going to do it.
“I never assumed that. In fact I believe there is arguably a distinction between music, literature, movies and games.”
Fair enough. That said, if you charge $50 for a movie ticket and $500 for a DVD, how many people would pay and for how long? And how long would an industry last?
“Most movies seem to take 3 months to a year.”
I wish. Exemplary circumstances, like say Phone Booth was shot in only a few weeks (it also had virtually no post and the script was, I believe, complete by pitch time). An effects-heavy movie takes more like 3 (or even 4) years. Pre-production in itself often takes close to a year. Filming of the actors itself may take 3 to 7 weeks and post production, visual effects and compositing takes another full year. Teams of hundreds assemble on movies. In television, it took us 6 months to produce one half hour of television quality animation.
It took us well a year to assemble large teams here and overseas to complete the series. Would I be pissed off if someone pirated this show and we were all out of work since someone could get it for free? Hell, yeah. But if we overcharged for it, and went bankrupt, what are we going to do? Blame the pirates?
I admire your honour, but unfortunately life is unkind to those of us who create content (me making TV shows, or you making games) and we all need to come up with better solutions. I don’t have many at this point, do you? The bottom line is bitching about piracy is pointless and idealistic and it isn’t going to make the problem go away.
I understand that this is a personal blog and people have the right to rant. But these peals of idealism, however noble, don’t do much.
I can sit here and argue all day but unfortunately, this is the reality. I’m not trying to sit here and defend pirates but my point is that we kind of help pirates along, too in the case of larger companies. If a bigger company overcharges, those of us with smaller companies get branded also as “one of them” and we get slapped, too. People think everyone who makes TV shows (or games) are rich and have bottomless pits of money. You and I both know that’s the fundamental problem.
Also pirates are going to keep coming up with excuses no matter what anyone says. So why do we?
Sorry, I didn’t word this paragraph very well. What I meant to say was this:
If, say, a large company like Microsoft (which is seen by the general public as unbelievably rich and uneffected by piracy) distributes video games at 70 bucks and sells a million copies with an $8 billion warchest, people are unfortunately also going to assume that Bungie also has unlimited resources (let’s assume for a moment that Bungie had not been acquired by Microsoft) and therefore, Bungie will lose MUCH more money because they NEED that $70 to cover their costs (until they break even at a certain point. You broke down the profit margins yourself “What the developer makes vs. what the publisher makes” in one of your game articles on this site.
Maybe we need to start challenging public perception in ways other than fingerpointing. That tends to close people’s ears very quickly.
I agree with you that we need to find solutions. Consoles get some of solution by being propritary. Of course the pirates find ways around it but those ways are generally not for the masses yet.
What I disagree on is the topic of “overcharging”. Overcharging is going to your car mechanic, having him estimate $250 for repairs and then charging you $600 when you come to pick up your car.
Charging $70 for a Halo 2, $299 for Office or $699 for Photoshop is not overcharging. It may be some “dream” but people need to realise that those prices generally reflect reality. (1) lower prices != more sales. Halo 2 would not have sold 10 million copies at half price. (2) You can’t disconnect hits from failures. In other words you can’t look at John Carmack and his ferraris and say that game publishers and developers are overpaid and make too much money. That’s only looking at the exceptions, not the rule. Halo 2 surplus ends up funding another 20 games that didn’t make their development costs back. Same in TV, movies, books and music (3) Why are people willing to pay $50 to $1000 for a desk and $50 to $1000 for a chair and $100 to $600 for watch and then bitch that Office is $299 which took far FAR FAR more time, manpower and effort to create than any of those. It’s problem of perception. They perceive that it’s just a CD which only costs 25 cents. They perceive that they can copy that CD for free. They don’t perceive that it took 50 to 200 people a couple years of their life to put the info on that CD. Yet at the same time they’ll pay a plumber $250 or a taxpreparer $400 or a doctor $XXX even though they gives them nothing but time.
I don’t know how to fix that problem and I’m not saying it can be fixed. My arguement is only that saying that companies are “overcharging” is pure BS. Lowing the price would not fix the problem, it would only bankrupt the companies and there would be no more games, movies, etc. Maybe that’s the true future.
I can agree with that much.
Cheers
I totally agree that the reason why people “justify” piracy is because of the ease in which it is done. That same person who justifies piracy probably wouldn’t steal a box of Microsoft Office from Fry’s or the latest U2 CD from Best Buy because it “feels” like stealing, whereas downloading software or MP3’s doesn’t.
However, I disagree with your comments on overcharging. If a car mechanic quoted you a price of $500 to change the oil, I’m sure most people would think that it’s overcharging. Your arguments make it seem as if there was no such thing as overcharging, at least from a customer’s perspective. Would $1000 for Halo 2 be overcharging? Not by your arguments. It would fund 100 games that didn’t recoup their costs. Sure, it wouldn’t happen because then nobody would buy it, but what if people still did? You might then say, “Well, if people are still buying, by definition it’s not overcharging!” What you’re essentially saying then is that overcharging is a price beyond what the market will bear. But then that’s proof that some software is overpriced (or is being overcharged for) because the existence of piracy itself indicates that the some segment of the market cannot (or will not) bear the costs.
When you talk about solutions to the problem of piracy, I’m not sure if I want a solution to it. Just as piracy with impunity would lead to no more games or movies, overcharging with impunity (due to full-proof copy protection) would lead to things like Divx (and I’m not talking about the codec).
I’m not looking for a solution because I basically believe there is no solution. People will pirate. They will make lame justifications for it which with just a little bit of logic will show them to be false justifications but, even confronted with the fact that they can’t actually justify it they will still do it.
No, charging $1000 for Halo 2 would not be overcharging. You pay it or you don’t get it. By your arguement I guess paying $250000K to go into space (the current price if you happen to want a ticket) is over priced therefore people will start stealing rides?
They only reason people pirate software is because they can. It has nothing to do with price. You can’t get a price lower then free so there’s really no way to not have the price be “too” high. If games cost $5 a game most pirates would still pirate because they actually want to download 50 games and 50 games would cost $250 which again they would claim is “overpriced”.
People WILL eventually steal rides on rockets. Just like people steal rides on trains, stowaway on ships and hide in the landing gear wells on jumbo jets. The gist of my statement was that overcharging was a matter of opinion. Price vs. value (an opinion) of goods received. To me, $1000 for Halo 2 is overcharging. Greggman, isn’t there anything out there you think is overpriced?
But yes, as the ease of stealing increases, a person’s rationale for it starts to change. Basically: absolute power corrupts absolutely. It’s the same mindset. And you’re right, if games cost $5 people would still pirate them because of the ease in doing so. I was incorrect to say that piracy was indicative of overpricing of software – the impunity factor is just too great. But again, overpricing is an opinion and a REAL factor in other economic segments.
Do I think there is such a think as “overpricing”? Yes
Do I think “overpricing” is ever an excuse for priacy? No.
Ferraris are overpriced so guess what, I don’t buy them. Rolex watches are overpriced so guess what, I don’t buy those either. Lobster and Steak are often overpriced at a restauran so guess what, I order something else. I don’t try to find some way to get them for free. I just go without. For a car, I get something I can afford. For a watch I get something I can afford. For food I eat something else.
So, everytime I hear the “overpriced” issue brought up in relation to priacy I call BS on it because it’s not a valid excuse.
A Ferrari is overpriced, but paying a $1000 for a copy of Halo 2 isn’t? Umm..okay. I agree that piracy is wrong, unfortunately, it ain’t gonna change because people can download software. Since it isn’t “real” or tangible in physical form, people will continue to steal software regardless of price. And it all boils down to the “Its over-priced” and the “Because I can” justifications.
My point is “It’s over-priced” is not a valid justification so it only boils down to “Because I can” and that’s it. All other excuses are BS.
Like I said, I don’t ever expect piracy to stop. In fact I fully expect piracy to kill off the music, movie and eventually the book industry and no amount of DRM or begging people to stop is going to change that.
But, it really pushes a button in me when I hear BS invalid justifications for the piracy. Just fess up. People do it because they can, the end.
Greg, piracy pisses any content creators off. And as a content creator myself, it fries me. But at the same time, if I charge $300 for one of my CDs, can I really blame someone for copying it? $300 for a CD would be ridiculous. Sure I have the right to be angry that people are pirating it which is wrong, but is it really worth it to lose all those sales when you can just lower your pricing to something more reasonable?
That’s not an “invalid justification”. You’re angry about piracy, fine. So am I. But the fact is your whole idea of “invalid justification” has no factual basis. I’m not disagreeing with your anger or any of your points.
But you are not correct in your thinking here. You’re confusing fact with sentiment. You’re trying to back yourself up in an argument using emotion as your defense and you’re pegging many valid factual points as “BS” when you are repeating yourself saying “It’s wrong it’s wrong it’s wrong”. I KNOW it’s wrong. I AGREE it’s wrong. I AGREE 100% percent. But the whole idea of don’t buy it because you can’t afford it has it’s place. If every house cost a billion dollars, and you don’t have a billion dollars, would you say “Well I shouldn’t have one because it’s a billion dollars” while you live on the street? You have to draw the line somewhere.
You need to be more realistic in your arguments here. I see a lot of good intentions but too much idealism. You’re missing the point.
You’re missing it Skycron. The creator charges whatever he wants. The customer chooses to pay and get or not pay and buy something else. If you want steak at Morton’s Steakhouse you’re going to have to pay about $100 a person. If you don’t like that you don’t go steal one you go to Sizzler instead and pay $8 or choose to have something other than steak (Taco Bell?). The Sizzler steak may or may not be as good as the Morton’s steak (that’s personal taste) but still, Morton’s is allowed to charge whatever they want. If they charge too high they go out of business, not because people are stealing (which is illegal) but because they priced themselves out of the market.
On top of which $300 for a CD may or may not be overcharging. If you make something that cost you $1000 to make and you only expect to sell 3 to 4 copies than $300 is a totally reasonable price. If it costs $10,000,000 to make and you only expect to sell 34000 copies then again, $300 a piece is the correct price. Any lower price and you are losing money. Of course if the market won’t buy at that price then you go out of business but no matter how high your price is the consumer’s choice is to buy or go without. Don’t want to pay $700 for Photoshop? Use the Gimp. Don’t want to pay $300 for MS:Office? Use Open Office. Don’t want to pay $60 for Halo 2? Go play Half Life 1 for $5.
No, you’re missing the point. Do not tell me I am missing the point when you aren’t even getting what I’m saying. Anyway, I can sit and explain this until I’m blue in the face, but it’s pretty obvious that you’re not getting it (or just not listening), which is why you’re still arguing with me about something I already explained. I’m sure you’re just going to respond to this going “Yes, you’re wrong, blah blah blah”.
You need to learn to listen and take information objectively. The fact is, your logic is flawed and you lack the ability to weed out that from your emotion. Open your ears and listen. The fact is, you are absolutely not getting it. Which is probably why you are working for a company that understands these things, rather than running one yourself.
You’re just reading my message as “pro-piracy” (which it’s not) and getting all riled up, fighting back with weaker arguments (while ignoring mine). I’ve explained this 2 or 3 times in many ways. You are saying the same thing proving you’re not willing to sit down, shut up and read.
If you’re going to claim “I’m right and you’re wrong”, you need to stop lecturing me on how MY distribution model works (which it does) and start listening as to why overcharging needs to be considered. Analogy: This whole business of “I can charge 100 billion dollars for a door and if you cry foul” attitude of yours is BAD BUSINESS. But then, if you do that and go bankrupt, and if I end up making doors but lowering my price to something more reasonable, while still at a profit, I will prosper while your business will fail. Get it?
You speak of your $300 overcharging as “may or may not” factoring in production factors. True. But get real. Do you honestly think I would post an example that would be at a loss? Of course not. If a disc costs me $5 per unit and I sell it at $300, it’s overcharging. People say “Pft, I’m not going to pay that” and lose business. This is when you LOWER your price.
For the third time, man, yes, people have a right to charge whatever you want. But for God’s sake man, it’s a business. I can bitch and complain about not being able to charge $300 all I want. But the only way I would get the business is to lower my price. Stop being idealistic and get realistic. Overcharging does exist, and when that happens prices need to be LOWERED. This is not up for debate. It is the reality of the business world.
But really, you need to just learn to listen. Nothing is black and white and there are grey areas.
Anyway, I’m perfectly willing to discuss this and I’m on your side about this, which you’d know if you paid closer attention to what I’m writing. I’m game for a fair and intelligent debate, but I’m not gonna sit here and argue with the same stupid arguments you are posing that hold no realistic water. In an ideal world, it would be grand if we could all charge whatever we wanted but it doesn’t work that way. With all due respect, this is like me telling you how to write a C compiler.
When you’re willing to pay closer attention to the content, it’s quite a fascinating topic for debate. But you’re being unrealistic and frankly, I don’t think you really understand what you’re talking about. I know you’re a game programmer and as a content creator you feel ripped off. You ARE being ripped off. But you don’t know anything about the intricacies of distribution and your ignorance of the subject is painfully evident in your well-intentioned, albeit flawed, arguments.
It’s possible this is a semantic arguement.
When I say there is no such thing as overcharging, what I mean is, overcharging is not an excuse for stealing. It doesn’t matter if it only costs me $5 to make and I charge $300. Do you think the sushi at Matsuhisa in LA cost $250 a person to make? I’m sure it doesn’t cost 1/10th that but that’s what he charges. So, charging $300 for $5 software is not an excuse for piracy. It might be pricing yourself out of the market yes but it’s not that’s a different topic.
So, again, the whole topic below is about excuses for Piracy and following the logic they break down to there are no legitimate excuses. People bring up overcharging as one, that’s not a valid excuse.
If your point is a high price limits your market I agree but so what, the point if the discussion is that price is not an excuse for piracy. I could care less if some company goes out of business because they charged too much and no one bought their product.
There is no price except free that pirates would not complain about. If the software costs $5 they’d complain it should be $0.50 (price of a blank CD). If it was $0.50 they’d complain it should be free (price of downloading). Price is not a valid excuse and lowing the price of software will not stop pirates from stealing.
Fair enough. I can agree to that.
I think we were both on the same page, just took a little digging on both of our parts.