Conclusion
Some concluding thoughts on current releases and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. How much an illegal downloader would be willing to pay, the quality of the game, and the views on the people involved in making the game.
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Preamble
We don't think that DRMs are the way to go!
Potential Customers should have all benefits!
Illegal downloading is destroying the PC Gaming industry!
Something we truly believe! Whether there is evidence to support it, is neither here nor there anymore. Simply put, it has become true regardless, publishers and developers who are in the business of making money see the PC industry as a lost cause.
Presently pro-piracy arguments do not matter! Publishers are pulling out of the PC Gaming sector because it doesn't make money! Even if all the arguments are correct; from Publishers point of view it makes business sense to publish for Consoles only. Increasingly this is what is happening, which sees a high return and less being published for PC, and this is a sad state.
We love the PC gaming sector, and we want to see the continual prosperity of this sector.
An open digital playground...
benefits for Publishers/Developers...
and benefits for gamers and downloaders...
Illegal Downloading
The reasons for illegally downloading fell into a small variety of responses. The top answer was that downloaders felt PC games are too expensive. This might seem like an odd response given that console games are often more expensive. However there are many benefits to pirating a PC game, over purchasing, beside the most obvious. (Of course we always hope that illegal downloaders will eventually purchase, and don't condone piracy!) The top answers were:
• The ability to try a game before purchasing.
• There are no install limits.
• You do not require physical DVDs.
• Because it's free.
Illegal downloaders of PC games, prefer not to use file hosting services, mainly due to the inconvenience of having to monitor downloads. Torrents have made it so easy, a user searches for what they want, and the torrent client will happily do the rest.
When they do use file hosting services illegal downloader's of PC games prefer MegaUpload (21.3%), RapidShare (19.2%), MediaFire (16.4%), and FileServe (16.3%). On these occasions we imagine it's because they have access to a high speed network, or that they need a small file as soon as possible. For example, for a game update (updates can be from 50MB – 500MB) they prefer to quickly download, rather than using a torrent system, which could take more time.
Torrents have become so popular that hundreds of sites have sprung up; thousands if you decide to download different types of digital media other than PC Games. The most popular public sites, for PC games, are: BtJunkie (23.7%), The Pirate Bay (19.6%), IsoHunt, and Kickasstorrents (both at 13.4%). The most popular private sites, for PC games, are: IPTorrents (14%), RevolutionTT (11.4%), and BitGamer (11.3%).
And yet a surprisingly low amount of data is downloaded per month. 20% of the survey claimed to download 1 to 5 GB, which suggests a limit by their Internet Service providers. ISP often will put limits on broadband packages, even ones that are "Unlimited". Downloading of 60+ GB per month can be achieved very easily; it depends only on your connection and storage space.
The choices of what you can download is practically endless, as well as our thirst for the data. We might not need it, but some illegal downloaders have become the digital equivalent of a Pack Rat. Illegal downloaders of PC Games will also collect Music (25.1%), Anime (24.4%), Movies (23.7%), TV Shows (20.2%), and Applications (20.2%). The size of these Digital Medias varies, and when adding all to these up it is far too easy to download 5 GB in a week.
• Music (120MB per album)
• Anime (200MB per 30 minute movie)
• Movies (depending on method either 400MB, 700MB, 1.3GB, 4GB per movie)
• TV Shows (120MB per 30 minute show)
• Applications (Depending on category a small application will be under 50MB, while larger can be 700MB or more.)
(Approximately!)
But who is stopping this? We hear lots of news reports of downloaders getting letters demanding money on a suspected case of infringement. And yet the indications show that most illegal downloaders do not use any protection service when it comes to illegal downloading. Unfortunately some of the data for this question was lost, during the survey so we cannot find out for sure.
What is abundantly clear is that nothing will stop people from downloading or sharing through the torrent network. That the amounts being downloaded per month are relatively small, which could be due to ISP connection limitations. That there are benefits a pirated copy offers, beyond the obvious price issue, which a purchase copy does not cater for.
Digital Rights Management
Currently the main protection of PC game is through software known as a DRM, Digital Right Management. Its most basic explanation; it allows those that have purchased the software to use it. The current ones used with PC games are SecuROM, Solidshield, Steam CEG, UbiDRM, and EACore.
In this questionnaire, only one stood out as "Very Good" rating, Steam CEG, and still it was a close result as the "Very Bad" rating got a similar number of votes.
Illegal downloaders had no decisive answer on DRM systems, however the overall tone demonstrated views that they do not work and Publishers should use something else! But what was absolutely clear, was that 33.9% of downloaders stated that DRMs do not encourage them to buy.
Yet there has never been a time when piracy has not existed, and this effects perception. So if it was possible to imagine uncrackable DRMs, would PC games be bought? The crowd was divided by the answer, 28.9% said they "would not buy" while 39% said that "they would", though purchase quantity did vary.
Further probing the illegal downloading psyche, we wanted to see what would encourage them to purchase games? Again the main limitation was the expense, with 34.6% of the survey stating this factor would reduce piracy. The other factors were "added value", "No DRMs", and "Unlimited installs".
DRM systems are clearly not the solution, as potential customers do not respect it. Lowering prices, meeting other needs, and providing other benefits show a high probability of combating digital piracy. It is just impossible for DRM systems to work as they have no protection from sharing the modified exe file, i.e. sharing the "cracked" game.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
This section asked questions over the whole PC Gaming industry and the newly released Deus Ex: Human Revolution (23rd Aug 2011).
The questionnaire started with illegal downloaders purchasing habits and found that 26.6% purchase one, and 18.1% purchase two games a month. It is interesting that 12.3% believe that PC Games were too expensive, and 6% never bought. This really shows that price is the biggest affecter, which leaves the PC Gaming industry behind the other sectors.
Next we wanted to know the perception of the current gaming titles out on the market today. The highest response 25.2% was "I need to try before I buy". This could be used to the advantage of PC games when increasing sales.
The general picture we get is not one of an illegal downloader, but a potential customer looking for good value and benefits. When asked if illegal downloaders had purchased Deus Ex: Human Revolution, all the top answers related to having purchased or seriously considering. This implies, because the game scored very highly, it is of high quality and willing to purchase the game.
It is still a mystery if potential customers would be willing to purchase? On the one hand 23.8% pre-ordered the game and paid full price, €44.99 or $49.99. On the other hand the next highest point on the graph, 13.4%, indicated that most downloaders would purchase at €22.49 or $24.99. This is a total of 62.1% of illegal downloaders who would pay for this game at €22.49 or higher.
Of course this figure is dependent on the game, we believe that the higher the average score, the better. Unfortunately games with lower scores will have to lower their prices. Still there was no such problem with Deus Ex: Human Revolution which scored 91.26% (GameRankings) and 89/100 (Metacritic). In our survey the illegal downloading population score it at an average of 82.09%, a median of 90%, and the mode was unique at 110%. Though technically we believe the mode should have been at 85%.
The general reviews with Deus Ex: Human Revolution where great and there were very few complaints. Potential customers are willing to purchase good quality games, but in this hard economic climate and with so many different options on offer, it's all about getting value for money. They also recognise that both Eidos and Square Enix are themselves producer of great games, and rated them both as "Very Good" companies.
Overall
When a customer enters a retail store looking to purchase a game, PC games look very unattractive. Apart from the complex nature of system requirements, and even if everyone is met; it doesn't always guarantee it will work.
What makes a PC Game such a bad value proposition, even though it is cheaper than the console version, is the trade-in factor! You have never been able to trade-in PC Games, due to restrictive DRMs, and from a customer's point of view a Console game offers better value.
Often PC games are equated to the best graphics, therefore the user should be willing to buy, but the point is moot. This depends solely on the user's machine and how much power it has. Instead we have to make PC games, with benefits, because in these times "Good Value" matters most.
DRMs have an unfair reputation; first and foremost, many illegal downloaders take for granted that DRM are simple to remove. In fact very little credit is given to the cracking groups; all DRMs are very capable at stopping people from accessing digital media!
... And yet each one constantly fails to stop millions of downloaders. Why?
There are only a small handful of people that remove a DRM, via assembly code, from an exe file. This takes a high level of programming skill to do this. Unfortunately what DRMs have no protection against, is the sharing of its modified self. One person is able to propagate to millions around the world in a matter of seconds. This is why illegal downloading is so prevalent, not because DRM software is ineffective.
And yet... we too are of the opinion that DRMs should not be used. For two reasons, it tackles the piracy problem in the wrong area and it does nothing for the customer. We want an encouragement of the purchasing of PC games, not a restriction on sharing.
Another factor in the propagation of illegal downloading are regional prices! Two weeks before the launch we did a price check of Deus Ex: Human Revolution worldwide. Economic factors seemed to play no part in prices and at the time Spain, Italy, Greece, and Ireland were hit very hard by a recession.
Now you have to ask, why does Italy and Spain have the highest piracy rates in the whole world? Especially when you consider that both the United Kingdom and Ireland (Eire) sold the game for €30 while the rest of Europe priced it at €50. If seems very unfair, and yet gives us an understandable reason why piracy is the way it is!
Prices for Deus Ex: Human Revolution (All prices are from GameStop in that Country.)
Europe €49.95
Britian £24.95 (about €29)
Ireland €29.95
Canada CAD$49.99
America $49.99
Australia AU$65 (about €47)
New Zealand NZ$79 (about €46)
Steam €44.99 (European Areas)
What needs to be accomplished?
• PC games should be sold at a much lower price on launch date, people should continue to download, and that both sides could reap benefits.
• Publishers don't need DRM software, as they don't work by themselves, and need to be redesigned.
• Illegal downloading has to stop, the excuses do not matter, it's not the right way to go about things!
• The illegal distribution network should become an open digital playground where trial version would be freely available to all.
• No commitment that ties people to a third party servers for updates and online gaming.
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