Surely you cant use iap for pirated games, can you? I can't imagine pirating a game worth $99/69p. That's really stingy. Seriously though, as a buyer I wanna try before I buy. With some bigger games I will take a chance as the companies reputation will sell the game. With others I have to seriously rely on reviews to help me decide. Sometimes the reviews differ to my opinion and I delete the game straight away. I have so many games in my wish list which I havent yet bought purely because there is no lite. These I will wait for a FAAD promotion or a sale if it's dearer. If I knew more about the game I.e. Tried it, then I would have bought earlier - thus, giving the dev some money.
Have you never downloaded an mp3 illegally in your life? a movie? an application? Doesn't that also put you in the same league? ... as far as i'm concerned, everyone posting in this thread, including me, is guilty of pirating one another form of media. It's the Internet... can't stop it. The only silver lining in this world are the people who believe in supporting hard-work put in by the people who make this media for us to enjoy.
It does not mean that at all, and you definitely can't infer that "More than 90% of iOS Games are Pirated" based off of this data. Do you really think that there are 9x as many pirated copies of Angry Birds out there when compared to the number of legit sales they've received? I think worse (by "worse", I mean games that the general population dislikes or doesn't think is worth the asking price) games will generally have ridiculous looking piracy numbers, because it's much easier to have a game that sells 1k legitimate copies and has 9k pirated copies than it is to have a game that's 100k/900k. Or for as extreme case, if a game sells < 100 copies, it's not hard for the pirated copies to be 20x or even 100x the legitimate sales.
this is easier said then done (and I work and have talked with many developers) but shouldn't developers do some solid research before developing a game, and then going the in app purchase route? Make a game fun and then try to capitalize using IAPs. But there are some games that are introduced to me and I wonder why did they develop this? The game or app is: 1. In a genre that is too saturated 2. Very hard to distinguish from other similar games 3. Similar to #2 and does not offer anything new or fresh or other reasons.. Yes their game will most likely be pirated but offer something fresh, and then going IAP will offer another stream of income. This is strictly from observation as I'm not a developer but working and meeting with them it's kind of the feel I get...
If piracy can be compared to stealing a CD from a store then pirating a $1 app is more like stealing the hat full of change from the street musician outside the store. Games usually provide more then the 3 minutes of entertainment a song provides, films and TV shows are far larger productions that piracy barely makes a dent in. I'm not saying it's "right" in any case, but when you download $1 apps many of them are made by individuals with full time jobs trying to make some side income on the app store.
Saying that you pirate an app to try it out because there isn't a lite version is not a valid justification. If there is no lite version, then you can't try it out. That's it. The game is the property of the developer, and it is completely their prerogative. It might make much more sense to have a lite version, but that is not your decision to make. It's still illegal, and rightly so. In no way, shape or form is owning a game the 'right' of a consumer. Many developers may be 'greedy' in a sense; they might be trying to make as much money from the product they have made as they can. But the consumers on these boards are far greedier. They expect something for nothing, and complain when they don't get it. They act like they have the 'right' to have an app, and act disgruntled if the price doesn't suit them. IF YOU DON"T WANT IT, DON'T F-ING BUY IT! The game is overpriced? Don't buy it. The game doesn't have a lite version, and you want to try before you buy? That's the developers decision, so don't buy it. IAP looks nice but you think it should be free? Well, you are wrong. You don't have the right to have it. It's only the miracle of mass consumerism that allows the morons one these boards to be able to afford such devices as the iphone and they games they can play. Devices that cost tens of millions to make, games that cost hundreds of thousands, and the only reason the average guy can buy them doing his menial job is because of MASS CONSUMERISM. You pay a tiny f-ing portion of the value of the product, because millions of other people are buying it. But you still f-ing complain. 'WAA IPAD 2 is overpriced.' THEN F-OFF AND DONT BUY IT. 'Waa this game costs $2.00, I could buy 3 apps with that!!". Then don't buy it you greedy pig. You don't deserve everything. Oh, but wait! You can pirate the app!! 'I just want to try it out' (not your choice, still intellectual theft, you greedy little tw*t). 'EA make billions, so I can just steal their stuff!' They make billions because they actually produce something that people perceive as valuable. They aren't forcing people to buy their stuff. No one has ever woken up, and found an EA game next to their bed and a note saying 'we took the money from you wallet. thanks'. It doesn't matter how successful a company, how greedy you think they are, how stupidly they are marketing the game, how vague the description is, how stupid they are for not making a lite version, PIRATING IS STILL INTELLECTUAL THEFT. You can always choice to just not have the app. Not buy, not pirate it. Just not have it. But this is an alien concept to most people. Take take f-ing take. What are you going to give back to the world? Huh, what are you going to give back? Finger kicks might be a piece of crap, and it might make much more sense to have a lite version, but that doesn't have any bearing on the illegality of stealing someone's intellectual property.
I love you. just one thing though... people on these boards may be pretty bad sometimes but iOS gamers in general are all pretty terrible.
also alot of pirateers are only trying the game. Try before you buy it is called. many pirates keep the game, but some really purchase it when they like it. There are not lite versions of every game. I really like that ive read a article today of apple chancing things to have a return of money when you do not like a app, within 7 days or so. this will be just 100% great if this is really going to happen. if a game or app crashes or it has crap gameplay or to many bugs ect, you just ask money back and delete the game with it. @AchillesReborn: you are right about that first part(didnt read the rest) but in all honestly i dont care about that. try before you buy. THAT is the best thing ever.
now the prices have been hiked up by 20%, i imagine piracy stats will also increase. i cbf to JB let alone pirate a cheap game but im sure as hell going to be more cautious in the appstore. no more impulse buys from me. if devs want my money they are going to have to sell that app to me bigtime!
Not once. Not once. Not once. Apparently, it doesn't. Except for those of us that have never done it? Horseshit. Just don't do it.
i suggest this thread to be closed. i, you, or someone else can tell why they pirate, or why they dont. but if we start to give real arguments, the last time i got a 7 day ban, even if i had a good reason. this discussion simply cant be dicussed fairly with all the reasons and points.
As with all things, consider the source. This is an article quoting a frustrated developer. A guy who, by all accounts, apparently thought he could release an unfun game and get rich in a week. There's no substantiation, no attempt to contact Apple, no attempt to talk to other developers, and no attempt to verify the numbers ... in fact, the numbers themselves don't even add up. Had it been turned in during an Introduction to Journalism class at your local community college, this article would have been rejected and given a failing grade. It's a crap article by a crap writer at a crap site. You take it seriously at your own peril.
Try before you buy is NOT a good reason. Better explained here http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=1828055&postcount=27 Discussion of piracy is not against forum rules. Its the practice of piracy which we dont approve of. If you are a pirate, you arent welcome here. We cant stop you from pirating apps but we can definitely ban your account from TA.
There is always a reason to pirate a game. I can't say it's ever a good reason, but a reason nonetheless...
There is always a reason behind everything a human being does including murder, rape and terrorism. Your point?
