"You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You"

[kane_magus]

Interesting. (Found this completely by blind chance via Wil Wheaton on Google+ since A) I almost never actually use Google+ lately and B) I don't have Mr. Wheaton in any of my circles on Google+ [yet] and his post was in one of the "promoted" things.)

Not sure I agree with absolutely everything in the article (for instance, the video game industry still loudly whines about piracy of games despite the existence of Steam since, you know, game piracy still exists despite Steam, and so a hypothetical equivalent to Steam for movies would do little to stop the movie industry from continuing to loudly whine about piracy of movies), but on the whole it's a pretty good article.

Also, whether I like it or not, I have to agree that physical media is probably going to be all but completely non-existent within 5-20 years or so. I'm increasingly up in the air about whether I consider this a good or bad thing. On the whole, while I'd prefer the option of buying a physical copy of a game, the reality is that I find myself buying more and more games through Steam or GOG lately, rather than actually ordering a physical disc from Amazon or wherever (though I do still prefer to do that for "big" PC purchases, like Skyrim or whatever, as well as for most console purchases). Therefore I'd ultimately probably not miss it all that much if physical copies did eventually go away entirely. My choices are to simply accept and adapt (something that I and many others accuse the various industries of not doing) or to just do without altogether. It remains to be seen whether I'm willing to go the latter route, but I'm going to call it now and say that I probably won't be.

On the one hand, getting rid of physical media would put an end to used game sales once and for all (which, aside from the mere principle of the thing and all the ranting I do about it, honestly isn't that much a downside for me, given that I very rarely buy used games anymore). On the other hand, if they continue doing the super cheap sales on Steam and such, it wouldn't matter as much since it would still be way cheaper than buying "used" games at Gamestop or whatever. (Though owsf2000 has predicted that, once the used game market is gone via the death of physical media, all of these crazy 75% off sales on Steam and such will mysteriously start drying up. I hope he's wrong, but since lately I'm becoming just as cynical and jaded as he is, I can easily see it coming to pass. It wouldn't be the first such prediction of his that has come true, after all. And there are also issues such as this that need to be addressed and fixed when looking forward into the digital-only future.)

And then there's this: "Venture capital firms are actually now actively looking to fund companies with the aim of dismantling the [film] industry, as the current model of movie making seems outdated." That's a very interesting statement, right there. Wish someone would do that for the video game industry as well.

Comments

[owsf2000.livejournal.com]

"And then there's this: "Venture capital firms are actually now actively looking to fund companies with the aim of dismantling the [film] industry, as the current model of movie making seems outdated." That's a very interesting statement, right there. Wish someone would do that for the video game industry as well."

I wouldn't get your hopes up for this. I doubt the venture capital firms are thinking "Wow. They could certainly do this better to make the experience more affordable and convenient for customers" as much as "We need to make more money. Find ways to make it nao."

Such firms would look at the video game industry and be thinking just that "60 dollars is not enough. We need to find ways to increase how much we get per sale." I suspect they'd have suggested DLC and lockout codes etc etc if the industry didn't already self-inflict it on the customer. But yeah, you're right. I -am- cynical and jaded about this industry. ;)

[owsf2000.livejournal.com]

Also from article "There’s always the crowd that circles around me when I bring this up to say “but people will always want physical media,” but there is just no possible way this is the case in 20, 10 or even maybe even five more years."

That is something I can't really agree with. He might be able to talk about the majority in that way, and unfortunately that's the part that counts, but there's people out there that will always want a physical product.

Now for me, in part this is probably because the way digital shit is being done currently (thanks to the movie/music/game industries) it's impossible for me to embrace it. However the real issue is that with all their systems it's impossible for me to ensure the safety of my purchases. DRM shit. If we look at GOG.com, which uses no drm and allows and encourages you to back up your downloads, I find myself far more forgiving and can consider handing over some money for digital. But not as much money as I would for physical. That's the OTHER big thing, something they're all (Except for GOG) screwing up on - trying to charge the same money for digital copies as they do for physical.

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm just hoping that in the process of them finding ways to make more money nao!, that's what goes about making the experience more affordable and convenient, even if it's only an unintended side-effect. I fully realize they're not doing this because of their altruistic, philanthropic nature. They're doing it because they're looking at the movie industry as it currently exists, noting that it is hemorrhaging money left and right due to them being stuck in a precambrian business mindset and that people are slowly but surely starting to hate them more and more due to their ham-fisted attempts to cling to this mindset (SOPA/PIPA, etc.), and are realizing that all of that needs to be changed at a foundational level rather than propped up with those increasingly asinine crutches (again, SOPA/PIPA, etc.).

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

As far as physical media is concerned, I do have to agree with him that the vast majority of the movie (and game) industry is going to go to digital within that time frame, whether we like it or not. I think he's framing it less as a "should they or shouldn't they" issue, but more as a "will they or won't they" issue and has come to the unfortunate conclusion that they will. All older movies (and games) will still have their physical copies to be traded and such, and there might be a small niche market releasing newer stuff on physical media for those who just won't accept digital-only, but that will be pretty much it. It's not a matter of good or bad, it's just a matter of this is pretty much how it's going to be, and screw everyone who doesn't want it to be that way, as far as the movie (and game) industry is concerned. The choices, as I mentioned above, are going to be to either accept it and adapt to it, or to do without completely. Both of those are valid choices. I still don't know which of those I will do, and it will likely be on a case by case basis depending on the game (since I simply don't watch very many movies to begin with), but based on how many dirt-cheap Steam games I've been buying lately, I'll probably get over it eventually. Which, granted, is entirely what they're counting on.

Speaking of Steam, for me, as long as they still offer up the frequent 50-75% off sales on stuff, I'll continue buying from them as well. If/when those start to die off, then I'll probably stop buying as many games from them, unless it's something I really want and would have paid close to full price for anyway (though in that case I'd more likely just buy a physical copy anyway, assuming that is still available at all, but again, refer back to the first paragraph). I personally haven't had any problems with Steam, but maybe I've just been lucky so far, I dunno. The only things that really bother me are the stories about their taciturn customer service (which I've never had to deal with yet myself) and horror stories about people losing all of their shit for no apparent reason and with no explanation given (which is indeed bad and I can see why anyone would be hesitant to deal with them because of that). But I've definitely not had an experience with Steam that was as asinine as this (http://kane-magus.livejournal.com/375496.html) anyway.

Which brings us to GOG. If you look at their new games they sell (which, at this point, is pretty much just Witcher 2, afaics, as a search for games released "after 2005" is otherwise still filled with old-ish games) they're still charging $30+ for it, and that's for a game that they themselves made (and apparently it's only as relatively cheap as it is now because it's marked as a "promo" price, which means it is "on sale"). Imagine if/when they start getting more new games from other publishers, who will of course insist on them being sold at "normal" retail prices, similar to how it is on Steam now. Also, publishers that insist on using DRM in their games will never sell them through GOG to begin with. Either that or GOG will cave in and start allowing DRM in their games, though I hope that is never the case.

Of course, there are also dumbasses out there who look at some GOG games and are all like "What?! You dare to charge a whole $6 for <insert game here> and expect us to actually pay that much?! Fuck you, I'ma pirate that shit."

I'm mostly just playing devil's advocate here and pointing out that there's not really all that much difference between GOG and Steam, aside from the DRM thing (which is definitely a big enough difference). The only other digital download service I've used was Impulse (before they sadly got bought out by GameStop) and that was only for one game (http://www.academagia.com/) (which I would have bought directly from the devs rather than through Impulse if I could have, but I don't recall that being an option at the time, unlike now) so can't really give much input on how good or bad that is, especially after the GameStop buy-out.

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

Well, actually it's more the video game industry (which I'm more familiar with) that is spearheading the charge toward all digital more so than the movie industry, since a lot of the movie industry is still actively opposed to even stuff like Netflix and the like. But the guy's article was more about the movie industry than the game industry.

[owsf2000.livejournal.com]

Yeah, his article was mostly about the movie industry compared to what we're talking about. As for GOG, if they do start doing DRM, then obviously there will be no more activity on my account with them. (And the DRM won't be patching itself onto my downloaded copies of the things already obtained.)

Even still, I don't see the video game industry going digital only next generation. And they're still desparately trying to expand the duration of this generation as long as it'll go. (I do find it funny watching the pro-DLCers going "Yeah I hope they do keep the 360/PS3 alive for another 3-4 years. With all the stuff I've bought online, I'd like that to stay supported as long as possible." - these being people who in the past would argue "Oh please, they won't discontinue support for the original Xbox." until it did. Then "Oh please, they won't do the same with the 360 because it's so much more involved!" ... and now they're starting to doubt themselves.)

Case in point. The PSP Go tried to go digital-download only.

And it flopped worldwide. Even in Japan.

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

All that means is that the video game industry just needs a little more time to successfully brainwashconvince enough people that a digital-only console would be a "good" idea. Hell, I wouldn't have thought there would actually be anyone in their right mind out there supporting this "always online" DRM crap either, and based on the response to Ubisoft's current problems, you'd think that would indeed be the case, but then look at how many of those very same people are still lining up to buy Diablo 3, for example, even though they know it's going to have the exact same broken shit in it. This is what it feels like to be in the vocal minority, while everyone else ushers in the dark ages with a bland "Eh, whatever, I don't care." Yeah, it likely won't be the upcoming generation that does it, but they'll have enough features incorporated into this generation that by the generation or two later, it will seem "normal" or "not so bad" to have a video game console that is download-only. I seriously hope I'm just being overly pessimistic here. :(