You can put the best of best game out there and charge players only 10$ and you will get the same results. To most people free is always better
Especially when it is so easy
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Independent Game Developer Pranks Pirates With 'Game Dev Tycoon'
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You can put the best of best game out there and charge players only 10$ and you will get the same results. To most people free is always better
Especially when it is so easy
WatchTheThrone
macrumors regular
Liquorpuki
macrumors 68020
It's overpriced because Apple/Google have commoditized mobile software to the point everyone now thinks if it's > couple bucks, it's too expensive.
Meanwhile a $1000 piece of hardware with 20-50% margins is totally acceptable
Sayer
macrumors 6502a
This is actually a good tactic, specifically releasing your own "cracked" version of an app that is intentionally disabled in some subtle way.
The mere presence of the "cracked" version will let it spread quickly as no one wants to be the site without something new.
And the conversion the factor for paid vs. cracked sounds about right.
The mere presence of the "cracked" version will let it spread quickly as no one wants to be the site without something new.
And the conversion the factor for paid vs. cracked sounds about right.
a0me
macrumors 65816
For $3.99 you could get Game Dev Story, the critically acclaimed original, for half what this clone is selling for.
Michael Goff
Suspended
Why? The company released the cracked version for free. It is technically a legal release since the company itself willingly made it available through bit torrent.
a0me
macrumors 65816
How does this game being on PC change the fact that it's a clone and that it's twice the price of the original? Also, Game Dev Story was first released as a PC game, 16 years ago, and its sequel --released a few years later for PC-- is available for free (you'll need to download a free language patch to play in English).
Apple/Google didn't have anything to do with it.
Developers set the prices.If they are unhappy they should collectively look in the mirror.
Or perhaps you can explain how Apple/Google could have prevented it??
Liquorpuki
macrumors 68020
Apple built the single mobile storefront model and Google copied it with their Play Store.
You got one crowded storefront, thousands of developers competing for your attention, the only way for them to get your attention is to undercut each other. Race to the bottom pricing ensues.
Go look up the strategy "commoditize your complements" if you want to know why it was advantageous for Apple to let their ecosystem become a budget software wasteland. On that note, Apple/Google had no interest in preventing it. They're not software companies and cheap software = accessible software, which fuels hardware sales and increases ad penetration
Developers set the price but they're not gonna price themselves out of the market. They're either gonna look for new ways to monetize (Freemium, subs, etc), stay off the platform, or strip features until that $2 standard price becomes cost effective because you get what you pay for
I did something similar as well on my iOS games. It detects who cracked it and when it does, it spams them ads anyways, while playing so I make money from crackers.. WIN/WIN!
VPrime
macrumors 68000
Bad move.
First off, the people who downloaded it aren't pirates if you uploaded it yourself. It's the same thing as a free "light" version on the App Store. You can't complain about lost sales because they didn't exist in the first place. If you think anything else, then you're insane.
Second, these guys have really shot themselves in the foot now. What little dismal sales they have are going to completely evaporate now that they've pissed off the pirates, who are surely going to go out of their way to obtain the retail version and crack it properly. Embarrassing pirates is one of the worst things you can do in this market, because they have the power to hit you where it hurts- in your profits as a developer.
I have a feeling that once that happens and a proper cracked version is out there, all the noise they've generated over this thing is going to totally backfire and override their product page in most of the search engines... Making it difficult to find anything other then the pirated versions.
This is a great lesson in how not to act as an indie developer. Their game would have done better had they simply included some basic anti-piracy checks to prevent the 99% from cracking your application, and invested their time and money into advertising rather then trying to pull off a viral marketing stunt like this.
-SC
First off, the people who downloaded it aren't pirates if you uploaded it yourself. It's the same thing as a free "light" version on the App Store. You can't complain about lost sales because they didn't exist in the first place. If you think anything else, then you're insane.
Second, these guys have really shot themselves in the foot now. What little dismal sales they have are going to completely evaporate now that they've pissed off the pirates, who are surely going to go out of their way to obtain the retail version and crack it properly. Embarrassing pirates is one of the worst things you can do in this market, because they have the power to hit you where it hurts- in your profits as a developer.
I have a feeling that once that happens and a proper cracked version is out there, all the noise they've generated over this thing is going to totally backfire and override their product page in most of the search engines... Making it difficult to find anything other then the pirated versions.
This is a great lesson in how not to act as an indie developer. Their game would have done better had they simply included some basic anti-piracy checks to prevent the 99% from cracking your application, and invested their time and money into advertising rather then trying to pull off a viral marketing stunt like this.
-SC
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roadbloc
macrumors G3
Doesn't matter. Piracy isn't a fad. Its here to stay forever. Developers/musicians/movie makers/artists need to find ways on enticing customers to buy their material. Whereas this is a brilliant prank, it isn't half ironic don't you think that the game suffered from piracy?
Reason077
macrumors 601
This was the first thing I thought of when I saw this article, too!
Perhaps they should add a feature to the game that simulates what happens to your sales when one of your competitors clones your game concept and comes up with a clever marketing strategy to gain an advantage 🙂 [*]
[*] Though to be fair, while these games look *very* similar, they aren't direct competitors since one is for iOS and one is for desktops.
Hopefully they'll come up with a different scheme to promote their next game: Hot Springs Tycoon... 🙄
Dozens and hundreds of thousands of people steal $0.99 apps for $649 iPhone. Do they think those apps are overpriced?
a0me
macrumors 65816
I mentioned it earlier in this thread but Game Dev Story was first released as a PC game, 16 years ago, and its sequel --released a few years later for PC-- is available for free (you'll need to download a free language patch to play in English).
roadbloc
macrumors G3
Obviously they do. Otherwise they'd have no problem buying them. For a lot of people it seems Apps aren't worth the money.
seems like a marketing gimmick, to be honest. i buy a lot of games, in various price range but that game just doesn't look like its worth 8 bucks. i think the ratio of pirated vs legal shows that.
Liquorpuki
macrumors 68020
I agree though I'd argue piracy doesn't really set the pricepoint of software. It cuts into margins but ultimately how the market is built sets the price. On iOS you have one storefront, it's crowded and commoditized, so devs have to price cheap to get you to download. On Windows 8, the market is sparse and less crowded so a similar game costs more. Back in the day on Windows Mobile, there were multiple storefronts you could download the same app from and you could also buy the app from brick & mortars. $20 was a typical price for mobile software. This was all independent of piracy.
phillipduran
macrumors 65816
You underestimate the value of the publicity that this has generated for the game.
I believe for most of those people it's just too easy to find a cracked "free" app (and there're no legal consequences) . When it's too hard most people would pay. And those who wouldn't they are actually thinking apps are not worth the money.
Plutonius
macrumors G4
But people who jail break IOS never do so to pirate software ? That's what I keep hearing.
The only sure conclusion is that people think it's overpriced based on the number of legal purchases. There is no proof that the number of pirated copies would go down if the game was cheaper.
The only sure conclusion is that people think it's overpriced based on the number of legal purchases. There is no proof that the number of pirated copies would go down if the game was cheaper.
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