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Popular indie zombie game Project Zomboid was taken offline during the weekend because of a pirated copy circulating on the Internet. But the developers, Indie Stone, chose to take drastic action not because of piracy, but because the pirated version had been modified in a way that would have taxed the resources of the small development company.
The developers of Project Zomboid, who sells the massively popular game for only £5, not only does not mind piracy, but actually thinks it helps. "We’ve always turned a blind eye to pirate copies, even on occasion recommending people who had problems with the legit version try a pirate version until the issues are resolved. We realise the potential viral benefits of pirate copies, and while obviously we’d prefer people to purchase our issue is not with those," posted the developers on the game's blog.
But the modified pirated version had included a "Update" button which would download the most up to date version of the game directly from Indie Stone's servers every time the button is clicked even if a new version wasn't actually available, and that was too much for the company, as it would have meant soaring bandwidth costs.
Despite this, the developers don't feel any animosity towards pirates. "We’re mainly glad that people feel it’s worthy of pirating"
The developers of Project Zomboid, who sells the massively popular game for only £5, not only does not mind piracy, but actually thinks it helps. "We’ve always turned a blind eye to pirate copies, even on occasion recommending people who had problems with the legit version try a pirate version until the issues are resolved. We realise the potential viral benefits of pirate copies, and while obviously we’d prefer people to purchase our issue is not with those," posted the developers on the game's blog.
But the modified pirated version had included a "Update" button which would download the most up to date version of the game directly from Indie Stone's servers every time the button is clicked even if a new version wasn't actually available, and that was too much for the company, as it would have meant soaring bandwidth costs.
Despite this, the developers don't feel any animosity towards pirates. "We’re mainly glad that people feel it’s worthy of pirating"