Michal Ždanský Piracy is the bane of game developers. While some are turning to DRM protection, others are betting on a lower price, and a handful are fighting pirates in their own quirky ways. Greenheart Games recently posted an engaging story on their blog about how they gave pirates a taste of their own medicine in a newly released game Game Dev Tycoon.
They took an unusual step right after the release. They released a cracked version themselves, which they distributed using torrents. Soon after the publication, they noticed huge traffic, i.e. enormous interest in the pirated version of the game. Initially, the developers considered incorporating a simple notification about the illegality of the given copy into the game, but in the end they chose a much more curious way to "take revenge" on the pirates in their own way.
Game Dev Tycoon is a game where you build your own game development company from scratch. As the success of the released games for different platforms grows, so does your company, hiring more programmers and designers and coming up with different marketing tricks to distribute your game. The game is available for Mac, Windows and Linux platforms, a very similar title Game Dev Story was released on iOS a few years ago.
In the cracked version, the developers let the pirates play several game hours so that their company has time to develop. After a few hours, a notification appears in the game that looks like part of the game:
Boss, it seems like a lot of players are playing our new game though. Many have acquired it by downloading a cracked version instead of buying it legally.
If players don't buy the games they enjoy, sooner or later we will go bankrupt.
Not long after that, the money in the game company's account starts to dry up, and each new game has a better chance of being downloaded by pirates in particular. In the end, the game company always goes bankrupt. Desperate pirates soon started looking for help online on the forums:
"Is there any way to avoid it? If you can do DRM research or something…”
“Why are there so many people stealing games? It's destroying me!”
Incredible irony. Players who have stolen a game are suddenly complaining that someone else is stealing their games, even if only virtually. Although the situation is laughable, it is ultimately not so happy for the developers, since the game did not generate much money at the time of publication of the article. Using the tracking code included in the game (anonymous tracking only for general tracking of activity used to improve the game) v Greenheart Games they found out that the day after the release that less than 3500 players downloaded the game, of which 93% were illegal, which is sad considering the low price of the game (6 euros).
And what follows from this? If you don't want to suffer the dark side of DRM protections and are tired of pay-to-play games that mostly try to squeeze as much money out of you as possible, support independent developers and support them often with a low investment in a game you enjoy. Otherwise, the developers will end up the same as in the cracked version Game Dev Tycoon – they'll go bankrupt and we'll never see any more great games from them.
If you are interested in the game mentioned in the article, you can buy it for 6,49 euros (DRM-free) <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1932/8043/files/200721_ODSTOUPENI_BEZ_UDANI_DUVODU__EN.pdf?v=1595428404" data-gt-href-en="https://en.notsofunnyany.com/">here</a>. You can find the demo version at this link.
I don't know Game Dev Story, but the authors of Game Dev Tycoon are said to have mastered this template almost perfectly. So as much as I was intrigued and amused by the story, it's still A Thief Screaming "Catch a Thief!" :-/
Probably everyone who produces something "out there" and not just games, surely knows this...
A few months ago, a "user" wrote to me asking if there was any way to bypass the App Store, that he wanted my app for free... I guess the poor guy didn't understand that this is not what the author is writing about J HaHaHa
In addition, the application costs only 40 CZK (2 USD) and it helps a lot for those who are interested in the issue (display of flight areas over the Czech Republic and Slovakia)...
What application for displaying flight areas do you have? I would like to look at it and possibly buy it. Thanks
iSpaces :)
kamos has a music group, and after the release of the CD (after all the work and the expenses for the recording studio, etc.) the teenage fans asked him without hesitation when he would be available...
the basis is that downloading without payment is currently quite often considered non-normative, there is nothing wrong with that
Game Dev Story is a blast and Game Dev Tycoon is even better. I don't agree at all when someone says it's a copy. It's like saying that Watch Dogs is a copy of GTA, for example. Wake up people, it's just a type of game, but it's completely different :) I supported the developers myself and bought the game, I don't regret it :)
However, the developers themselves should somehow shine a light on their colleagues who write apps like Instalous, Hackulous, etc. It is hard for teenage thieves to resist the temptation (even if the truth is that even adults steal).
I excitedly bought the game almost immediately :) I've been waiting a long time for a Game Dev Story style game for PC (and not in an incomprehensible hatmatil). In my opinion, this anti-piracy protection is very original and funny :) that's how it has to be!
IF SOMEONE CANNOT PROTECT THEIR PRODUCT AGAINST COPYING, THEN IT IS NOT A THIEF BUT THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE OPPOSITE PARTY.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW SOMEONE CAN PAY FOR A GAME!!!!!
God, I'm glad the world doesn't work that way. It's like "if you can't defend yourself with nuclear weapons, you don't deserve to live" - just because someone can harm you doesn't mean it's right or moral to do so, right?
Do you think that the game is not worth the money and time to program and you want to steal it? Go straight to those developers, rob a barracks and scratch a car - the result will be similar.
It is also possible, but that you are a troll. I don't know that. :-)
Well, I don't know if you're just trolling, but hitting someone from behind with a pipe and robbing him could also be considered a similar art according to your twisted logic. And a robber might not understand how someone can go to great lengths for money.
I don't understand how someone can steal, for example, games... Are you stealing buns from the store? If so, you have nothing to do here. God, too bad punishments don't work like they did in the Middle Ages. You'd be out of hands by now and you'd better be careful (if you were still breathing at all, because then it would still hang).
But he divided them in that if you steal buns in a store, you will miss the bun there. When you download a game, the developer always has it uploaded on his server, nothing is missing there. It's hard to call it theft when you don't miss anything, only theoretically lost profit.
Interpreter of rights :-)
I totally get it... On the one hand, we have people producing games who, due to theft, try to get their invested money by increasing the price for those who want to buy the game and who then, quite logically, do not want to sacrifice so much money for the game, then there is a total lack of enough cheap playable games for a few bucks. These are mostly found on mobile phones, where you can buy a game for 20-80 CZK, but otherwise the price is rarely below 200 CZK, but the vast majority of it is far, far more, and that's what I sometimes give my games for. does not want. I have already bought quite a lot of things on the PlayStore, and for some things like SmartKeyboard, Cut the rope or TitaniumBackup and Sygic, I have no problem spending money on data. Lately, I've been most interested in Pay for Play games, which are free, but for some reasonable progress you need to buy some virtual giggles, otherwise you'll spend your youth on it. On the other hand, the players themselves are to blame. They got what was inevitable….
Yes I know. I know very well. I will develop one-time applications for photographers - subtraction, sharpening, repaint, HDR, tonemapping, invisible watermarking... the price is 15 Euros. It is interesting that after the release of a new version there are always links on 3 legal shareware servers and 100 on torrents and warez. Today it is simply fashionable not to pay for software. Long live Google.
So Google is not exactly a good example when it goes for free software, so legal and free, no one has to steal anything. In addition, buying an application or game on Android for 1 dollar, i.e. about 20 crowns, is not going to break the bank. And instead of getting angry with crack for half a day, you can buy it for 20 kroner even if you drive around in a Mercedes, see Horst :D By the way, you need to buy some game for 1500 kc, or for 100 it's seriously broken. The same applies to the music industry - if they sold those albums for 10th of the price, anyone would buy them, everyone would steal them anyway. luckily, Google understood this and look how it makes money from 20-crown applications.
An example is needed - Office from Microsoft - the full version costs CZK 15. I really don't steal (and that's not a euphemism!). But as it was possible to buy it through the employer as part of the Home Use program for 000 CZK as an employee benefit, I didn't hesitate for a minute. DVDs with movies that were sold for 300 were not bought. Now the problem is finding anything that came out in the newsagent's edition for 1500 CZK. I have tons of such DVDs at home, because the price is not important anymore :) I understand that Ferraris are sold expensive, because it is a sign of luxury, not everyone can have it. But everyone can have games, music, software, etc., no better social status comes from owning Office or Windows, so why don't those ignorant societies finally come to their senses and give it up? :)
Bought. :-) (Thanks for the nice article.)
MOST PEOPLE ARE PLAYING HONEST AND MILLIONAIRE ON THESE SITES. WE ARE ACTUALLY CESI. NOT PAYING FOR SW IS CLOSE TO ALL OF US.
I HAVE ENOUGH MONEY AND I WILL CRACK WHAT CAN BE CRACKED. BECAUSE I DON'T WASTE MONEY ON WHAT I DON'T NEED, THAT'S WHY I HAVE ENOUGH. I DON'T WANT TO WALK AROUND WEARING THREADED THINGS AND DRIVING IN A TRUCK.
EVEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, I AM DIFFERENT FROM PEOPLE WHO THROW MONEY FOR WHAT CAN BE CRACKED BY FINANCIAL LITERACY AND THAT IS MY STRENGTH!!!
JUST HAVE FUN BUYING WHAT IS ON THE WEBSITE FOR FREE AND THEN, IF YOU WANT TO BUY A CAR, FIND OUT FROM MIST NA MRCEDESA YOU'VE GOT A COUPLE OF CHANGE IN YOUR POCKET....
THEN I WOULD LIKE TO WAV TO YOU ALL FROM THE WINDOW OF MY BEAR AND DISAPPEAR IN DALI....
I finally got it, Mercedes drivers always seemed a little strange to me and now I know what it is. They are ordinary thieves, but those in bears are proud of it and brag about it. All that remains is to congratulate you, such a display of wretchedness is not worth your money. (it reminds me of Uncle Skrblík - do you like to bathe in money?)
So when we meet, give me a wave. Although I don't have a damage certificate, I do have a Jeep, but I am one of those who value the work of others and who would find it embarrassing to steal a 6 E just for the sake of feeling good.
Mercedes is my favorite car. I personally have a higher class.
Driving away from the pump without paying is total wretchedness. Cracking a program is an art and for me a feeling of victory. Who knows how to crack. Those who can't, just stare and buy.
Yes, if you personally break the software protection and write a crack, hats off. But that doesn't concern you 100%.
And if you say that you apply the crack according to the published procedure :-))))
Not that I would buy all the apps, but from now on, hey. Because developers need to be supported, a person must be a bigot if he has money and doesn't buy at least some of it. It's like I came to the store and left without paying and the like. You need to realize how society works. People work at jobs and get paid for it. I would watch you work hard and not get paid. But what, you don't need her, you actually say it yourself. What they are working on goes on and on and it serves something. It can also be developers whose product is an app, where they pay for development, for licenses, for electricity, for premises, just for everything, and I think it's completely logical to buy the app because that's just how it works.
the developers who let me crack the program are pathetic and don't deserve money for this app!!! Do you understand?
Sorry, but your "logic" would imply that all developers are pathetic. But you know how it is when one thinks that everyone around him is crazy. Moreover, there is no system, application, etc. nothing that cannot be cracked, everything has a hole, nothing is 100% safe, just marginally :)
I assume that it does not end with SW theft. Maybe you'd save a few more bucks if you sometimes drive away from the pump with your Medour without paying. It is also sometimes possible to leave the pub without paying.
What do you have in your garage? Renck or Škodovka? Um. You could have the bear, but you were throwing it around - you have to pike!!
I'm guessing your garage is on the shelf above the bed, huh? :-)
When someone makes something and sells it, it's normal to pay them for it - in decent society. Everything else (theft, warez, hack,…) is normal thieving. So let's act accordingly.
Hawgh.
AHA-PAN DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE DISCUSSION WAS ABOUT…..
THIEVES ARE A COMPLETELY SOMETHING ELSE Mister!
I GOT MY HIGH IQ AND MIND FOR GOD AND I KNOW HOW TO USE IT AND YOU THINK I AM A THIEF….
Yes, the one who steals something is a thief... It has always been, is and always will be.
And anyone who makes excuses or justifies it with intelligence / IQ, even from God, is a hypocrite on top of everything :)
I downloaded it and what like :-))) ;)