Dec 04, 2013, 16:00 pm
More and more we see stories of content producers recognizing piracy as the opportunity it actually represents. It isn't universal, but these stories tend to happen in the following way. Upstart or established producer releases content, realizes it's being pirated, and then finds some way to make use of that admittedly non-paying interest. The Angry Birds people did it, as have independent filmmakers and entire music markets. The idea here is to push emotion to the side when you find your work being pirated and attempt to make use of the piracy.
It's an entirely different matter, however, when a producer proactively attempts to slingshot themselves to success on the backs of "piracy" they themselves create. It's not an entirely new concept by any means, but they're far too rare. That's what makes it worth highlighting it when such stories come up, such as this latest example of two game producers who created the Pixel Piracy side-scroller and then offered up a torrent of the game on their own website.
Now, I imagine we'll get the usual unimaginative arguments from the usual sources, typically centered on the idea that Kirpu and Poysky aren't Sid Meier, so it doesn't count, or how they somehow have nothing to lose or whatever. Unfortunately for those detractors, results count, and their decision to behave in an awesome fashion is causing many to support their efforts to be "greenlit" on Steam. And, in the meantime, the word of mouth campaign is putting their game in spotlights all over the place.
Now, they would have been well within their rights to keep their creation locked up behind the official barriers instead. And they could have been pissed off should their game be pirated afterwards. Going this route, however, they instead get a ton of exposure for their games, themselves, and they get to leave all the anger and angst by the wayside. Bravo.
Source
It's an entirely different matter, however, when a producer proactively attempts to slingshot themselves to success on the backs of "piracy" they themselves create. It's not an entirely new concept by any means, but they're far too rare. That's what makes it worth highlighting it when such stories come up, such as this latest example of two game producers who created the Pixel Piracy side-scroller and then offered up a torrent of the game on their own website.
Quote:Here is a direct torrent link that we will personally seed to our currently available version of the game. We aren't idiots, we aren't high. We believe that anyone who wants to pirate our game will do so anyways, and feel it's a much safer bet to offer those people the official link to our game in hopes that they keep their computer's virus free.
If you LIKE the game you can support us in a number of ways besides purchasing the title outright. Steam greenlight is very important to us right now, and a vote for it DOES make a difference, and your warm reception on our IndieDB review page is what pushed us to initially take this decision. Not everything is about money, and we want to thank those that pirate our title and actually give them the opportunity to do so with our blessing, while giving them an opportunity to actually make good on the piracy itself. Tell your friends about us, share the link around IF and only IF you enjoy the game, and if you DON'T enjoy it at least you didn't have to pay for it!
Vitali Kirpu and Alexander Poysky
Now, I imagine we'll get the usual unimaginative arguments from the usual sources, typically centered on the idea that Kirpu and Poysky aren't Sid Meier, so it doesn't count, or how they somehow have nothing to lose or whatever. Unfortunately for those detractors, results count, and their decision to behave in an awesome fashion is causing many to support their efforts to be "greenlit" on Steam. And, in the meantime, the word of mouth campaign is putting their game in spotlights all over the place.
Now, they would have been well within their rights to keep their creation locked up behind the official barriers instead. And they could have been pissed off should their game be pirated afterwards. Going this route, however, they instead get a ton of exposure for their games, themselves, and they get to leave all the anger and angst by the wayside. Bravo.
Source