Comment by afiori

1 day ago

Yeah but if a pirate would have not paid the full price why care? It is by definition not a lost sale, the most likely outcome is just an increase by one the player count

6 comments

afiori

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eviks  1 day ago

Because the price isn't binary? Also, the total spend isn't fixed either, it depends on how easy it's to pirate. So it's by definition still lost revenue, even if later/at reduced price

  • afiori  13 hours ago

    Consider the two cases

    A: I pirated a game 25 years ago and played it after school

    B: I didn't

    which cases do you think will make me more likely to buy more versions of that game later?

    • eviks  12 hours ago

      Consider reality instead, you can make any fantasy case you want:

      C. You didn't pirate, but played because your friends were deeply into it, so you skipped buying lunch to save money and pay for the game (pirating was hard for this specific DRM). You bought it at a discount on sale (remember, the price isn't fixed?). That feeling of overcoming hardship and friendship fused into a very positive experience, making it 10 times more likely for you to buy the next version than in A. or B. The overall likelihood still was tiny because now you have a family and don't have time to play, so that and

      D. Considering the amount of uncertainty (your game company will go out of business in 25 years) the value of your "more likely" is $0

Tarball10  1 day ago

Not paying full price is not a "lost sale". People unwilling to pay full price wait for a discount or price reduction. Look at how popular the seasonal Steam sales are. Pirating the game very likely means they never purchase it at any price, which _is_ a lost sale.

  • fc417fc802  19 hours ago

    It's only a lost sale if that person would otherwise have purchased it. At least in my personal experience that was _never_ the case.