My game is on warez sites!!! :-/

cesar_m_romero · August 2011

Damn, this is unbelievable (and happened unbelievably fast!), I have found my game, SquareBlobs, available for download in no less than 20 warez sites (and growing)!!!

I knew this was going to happen but not so quickly! Now, I know, I can't stop software piracy (damn, even Microsoft can't) but should I be worried? My sales are going to drop or not going to rise ever because of this? What's your experience with this kind of thing?

I must admit I am kind of mad and somehow disappointed... come on, this game is just 99 cents... buy it people!!! :-/

ultima · August 2011

it's kinda flattering... not that i want my app ripped off... i wonder, when people download those pirated version, are they able to update?

RodrigoPerez · August 2011

Sorry to here that, unfortunately roughly all apps are cracked, the upside is 90%+ of iOS users are legit, so the possible impact is negligible. There is actually some good out of it though, if people by the cracked version of your game for free and it's really good then they can tell there friends that are "legit" users who will buy your app. Word of mouth is very powerful.

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cesar_m_romero · August 2011

@ultima: well... in a weird way it is kind of flattering... and I don't think they can update but I guess that's not a problem, they just have to download the updated ipa and there you go

@RodrigoPerez: that's a POV I had not considered... if what you're saying is right and 90% of iOS users are legit then it's true I have nothing to worry about. Thanks for the comfort

ultima · August 2011

in that case at least the pirate has to pay for your app once before they can crack it.. and yes most of IOS users are legit... people who has the means to own an idevice usually don't have the time or bother with jail breaking.... well for the most part.

steve86 · August 2011

Unfortunately this is part of the business and we have to learn to cope with it. I remembered when this happened to one of my games. I was very excited because I noticed that the GameCenter numbers were rising quickly I had about 500 new users on that day. The next morning when I got the report, I was pretty darn disappointed when I learned that I only made about 50 or so legit sales when I was expecting 500+.

Getting your game pirated can suck but think of all the reasons mentioned above and just keep making games

ARandomDay · August 2011

That is unfortunate cesar - its a good game!

My daughter keeps grabbing my ipad to play it!

Now you can try and turn things in this situation into a little exercise - as piracy is bad but thankfully on ios nothing compared to what we experience on android.

Does this warez site have a messaging system or commenting system ?
Can you request that this site take down your copyright materials?

Personally if there was a commenting system I would pop my head in and ask how people are liking the game and if they would care to let you know of any recommendations or ideas they might have for the game and offer them maybe a credit in the game of the update or the sequel.

At the end of the day piracy happens and there isnt much anyone can do about it, we dont have to like it (who can honestly say they have never watched a dodgy DVD or a downloaded tv programme even just the once) but do try and turn it into a positive and make it work for you if you can.

cesar_m_romero · August 2011

Hey Damien! Nice to hear from you!

I agree that we need to learn how to cope with this and, following ARandomDay's thoughts I think this is an excellent opportunity to try to turn this around in my favor. I'm not sure how just yet but it could be an awesome experiment! If I come up with something successful I will post it here.

Thanks guys, I do feel better

SlickZero · August 2011

Don't sweat it cesar. Those people that go through all the trouble to jailbreak their device, and go onto wares sites, are the kinds of people that weren't going to buy your app anyway.

Look at it like was mentioned before…exposure to legit people that will buy it. And ARandomDay has a great idea there. Turn it into something that in the end works out in your favor. It's always best to go with the flow than to paddle upstream.

I'd say use their forum or comment section to get feedback about the game, and if they don't have that…then email them asking to take your copyright material off of their site.

Photics · August 2011

You can fight back...

calvin9403 · August 2011

that is another resone y IAP should come

also the forums seems Deserted for these two days

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my email: calvin9403@hotmail.com
my skype: calvin9403

SlickZero · August 2011

It was the weekend!

calvin9403 · August 2011

hman360 · August 2011

This happened to a friend of mine and he went to all of the sites and threatened to sue, and most took off his app, and the ones that didn't he sued and made a lot of $$, more that all of the pirated copies would have sold for. Also, in the end they had to take off his app. BTW, hes a real lawyer.

calvin9403 · August 2011

well, I don't know if your game get rip will be bad or good

TSB hack his game tiny balls on his own

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my email: calvin9403@hotmail.com
my skype: calvin9403

quantumsheep · August 2011

.Matrixx was the first game of mine that I could actually see the effects of piracy in action.

The GameCenter numbers were going up really fast, and the next day - minimal sales…

As I write, I've had just over 80 downloads of the game. There are over 320 people playing on GameCenter.

Piracy is complicated. But let's get a few things out of the way:

1. Pirates do it because they can get away with it. It's that simple.
There is no moral justification (though some try and offer one) for a pirate's overinflated sense of entitlement.
One good excuse is 'I buy a game and it's !@#$%, so I want to try before I buy' - bullshit. Games are $.99 and people still do it. At $50, sure, you want to try before you buy. Or maybe you should read a review? Or look at the screenshots? Or watch a gameplay vid? You know, inform yourself as to whether the game is something you'll like!
"Oh, but then lots of $1 games add up to a lot!" - Bull again. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO OWN EVERY GAME ON THE APP STORE.
Additionally, there are plenty of give-aways, promotions and just plain free games that mean you can get plenty of content for free via legitimate means. Our friend Rotstik doesn't pirate games. He waits till they're free or till he can get a promo code. I don't think he's ever spent more than $10 on the app store, yet has over 600 reviews to his infamous name.

Again, I reiterate: Pirates do it because they can get away with it. It's that simple.

2. Piracy affects everyone, from GameLoft to little old me. The difference, in my mind, is that the big companies spend millions on marketing to get their game noticed and selling lots. So yes, for them, 90% of downloads are probably legit. I can't do that.
My costs are far less, of course. But by the same token, $600 means a lot more to me than it will to GameLoft...

3. You are not 'honoured' to have your game pirated, nor is it an indication of popularity. The guy who pirated my game is called 'Most_unique' - he pirates everything indiscriminately. Those who downloaded it illegally have largely got scores under 1000 points - this means they literally just turned it on to see if it 'worked' then stopped.

4. Pirates are hurting games overall. I love games. It's why I want to make them. But piracy means the games industry, in trying to curb piracy, is in general heading towards a 'service' based model, much like an MMO, or 'Freemium' models, or introducing rubbish DRM systems that hurt the legitimate user.
As a consumer of games, I want to 'own' (in as much as I can own a digital copy) the game I have, not sign up to a service just to play. And as a maker of games, I don't want to have to resort to this 'freemium' model - I hate it, I think my players would hate it, and it's rubbish.

5. Piracy, and 'free' games, *devalue* games. I have lots of games I haven't played yet on my iphone, for example. I got them for free (either through a promo code or a 'free app' promotion). Think of all the times you've got a piece of media for free (either legitimately or through piracy). Games have no value if they're gotten for free, so people care less about them.

So what to do about it all, eh?

Well there's not much you *can* do. I wrote to Apple with most_unique's details, but have not heard back from them. I really don't think they care.

I wrote a charming email to one of the Warez sites that hosted my game for free, and asked nicely if they could take it off please. To my surprise, they did so. Thanks Warez site!

Again, I think what it comes down to is having an appealing game. If it's appealing enough to get good reviews - to be envagelised by a great many players - and with a bit of luck get featured by Apple - then you're onto a winner, and the piracy numbers will indeed be just 10% of the overall number.

It happened with Air Supply. It didn't happen with .Matrixx.

QS

ultima · August 2011

with air supply you also spend a lot of effort, with matrix you sort of was just trying to proof a point ;D. i almost send u an email to see if you'd be interested to have me work on the art for you, because it's really a fun game and the graphics doesn't live up to the bar you set for air supply. you've really set the bar high for that one. =D

quantumsheep · August 2011

ultima said:
with air supply you also spend a lot of effort, with matrix you sort of was just trying to proof a point ;D. i almost send u an email to see if you'd be interested to have me work on the art for you, because it's really a fun game and the graphics doesn't live up to the bar you set for air supply. you've really set the bar high for that one. =D

Well, thank you for the kind words

.Matrixx is .Matrixx -I knew it wouldn't sell well because the look isn't as appealing as Air Supply.

Still, I stand by it. I did my best to make it easy for people to give it a chance - a $.99 price point, plenty of videos/screenshots, and even a free version for the Mac

Still, the pirates couldn't resist!

And I'm proud of it as a Quantum Sheep game - most that have played it have enjoyed it, and for that I'm very grateful!

Hopefully the next game will have wider appeal

I just don't want to end up being 'The Air Supply guy' - I have plenty of games in me (though of course there'll be more Air Supply games - just spread out a bit!).

QS

SAZ_1 · August 2011

well if anyone here wants my game Fowl Ops. was hacked i drafted a generic email template which i sent out to all the file hosting sites, everyone of them except fileape removed the files... i can post that template here but the problem is they remove one type... two days later someone else re-uploads the file with different links ... i gave up in the end...if people knew the amount of money/time and effort required to make a decent game maybe they would've given their 99c..unfortunately the world doesn't work like that...

cesar_m_romero · August 2011

Actually, after some thought (and some frustration, yes) I found my Zen spot

.

You are right, it's impossible to stop it and, as SlickZero and ARandomDay suggested, I will try to go with the flow and perhaps get something out of it. I'll attempt to get some feedback from all these guys who are getting it from free. Hell, I'll even try to get a review! Probably I'll get ignored but, who knows...

Thanks to all of you guys. You all helped a troubled soul

Now back to game making...

My game is on warez sites!!! :-/

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