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Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello thinks pirates are potential customers too. Referring to downloadable content (DLC), Riccitiello believes that just because pirates are stealing the games, it doesn't mean they are not buying the DLC.
The emergence of DLC is both good news for gamers and bad news. It's good news because games are being kept updated and fresh, and longevity is extended, usually for a small percentage of the original purchase price. The bad news is that with so many DLCs, it seems that gamers have to fork out twice and even three times as much, compared to the cost of the retail version, to get the "complete" gaming experience. With "game of the year" editions and DLC packs, some savings can be had, but it still means forking out more.
But DLC packs, if made hard to pirate, can often help game publishers to make back some of the money lost through piracy, as pirates, who have not paid for the original version, are then more willing to spend a little more on DLCs, some of which are harder to pirate.
Perhaps the lesson here is that if pricing is reasonable, then people will pay. If the retail version, especially via digital download, is made cheap enough to make it not worthwhile to obtain the pirated version, which can often contain malware, or at the very least, a difficult set of installation instructions, then while publishers make less per game, they might make more overall as pirates are converted to customers. And even if they make less overall, perhaps they can make back the loss in revenue through DLCs. Either way, John Riccitiello is right in saying that pirates are potential customers.
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The emergence of DLC is both good news for gamers and bad news. It's good news because games are being kept updated and fresh, and longevity is extended, usually for a small percentage of the original purchase price. The bad news is that with so many DLCs, it seems that gamers have to fork out twice and even three times as much, compared to the cost of the retail version, to get the "complete" gaming experience. With "game of the year" editions and DLC packs, some savings can be had, but it still means forking out more.
But DLC packs, if made hard to pirate, can often help game publishers to make back some of the money lost through piracy, as pirates, who have not paid for the original version, are then more willing to spend a little more on DLCs, some of which are harder to pirate.
Perhaps the lesson here is that if pricing is reasonable, then people will pay. If the retail version, especially via digital download, is made cheap enough to make it not worthwhile to obtain the pirated version, which can often contain malware, or at the very least, a difficult set of installation instructions, then while publishers make less per game, they might make more overall as pirates are converted to customers. And even if they make less overall, perhaps they can make back the loss in revenue through DLCs. Either way, John Riccitiello is right in saying that pirates are potential customers.
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