Company leaks game on purpose for pirating

[Lord Ned]

A con for pirating:

The law!

[Jetsetlemming]

I think 90% is a bit high for the average on when pirates can get updates. For the vast majority of games for example each new patch has to have the .exe re-cracked to work. A friend of mine downloaded Torchlight because he's currently traveling, so his credit card address and current location don't match, so he can't actually buy anything online. He's been complaining that he can't patch the game.

[Sentura]

basically what skjalg said up until now. whether you think the excuses are pathetic or what you think about the entire ordeal is irrelevant. it's what people think, that matters. you can't build an empire on slaves without proper propaganda.

[Skjalg]

I think 90% is a bit high for the average on when pirates can get updates. For the vast majority of games for example each new patch has to have the .exe re-cracked to work. A friend of mine downloaded Torchlight because he's currently traveling, so his credit card address and current location don't match, so he can't actually buy anything online. He's been complaining that he can't patch the game.

Lol yeah sorry, I ment to put (dont) in the middle of that sentence. Basically my whole Cons list had that problem, but its fixed now.

In 90% of the cases, you dont get updates for the game.

Also, funny you should mentioned Torchlight; while playing it I noticed quite a few bugs and while at work I browsed the torrent site to check for updates to some tv series I watch and noticed

Torchlight v1 12 Update-SKIDROW

, and when I got home I immediatly downloaded it on steam

[Defrag]

Skjalg's argument of laziness may sound ridiculous, but it rings true. Companies should do their utmost to remove all of the barriers between the customer and their product. It doesn't matter if it's a small or a large barrier. You can't impulse purchase something very effectively if you have to think too much about it.

I've been on steam since the beta and I've purchased a grand total of one game using it -- Half Life 2. Why? Two reasons.

1. For new releases, steam is very expensive. £40 for MW2? I've seen it for as low as £26 (Sainsbury's stunt) and you can find it easily enough for ~£33 in other places. I'm guessing Valve takes their cut and the game's regular publishers also want their standard cut so it pushes the price up, but I'm not willing to pay an extra £7 for 'convenience', especially when I see the US pricing. I can buy 4 triple A games on steam, or I can buy 5 online for the same money. No dilemma here.

2. Steam doesn't accept debit cards and I neither have nor want a credit card. If I want to purchase on steam, I need to deposit money into paypal and then pay using that. It's too much hassle for me, plus I don't trust paypal -- too many horror stories. As a result, Valve never gets my money, nor do any of the companies that sell their games via steam. It may sound weird to some people, but I am far happier to go to play.com, order and wait for the best part of a week. It takes longer, but I don't have to do anything other than click two buttons on a website. Ever since I started working full time, I am much more mindful about how much time I waste doing stupid bullshit. Stupid bullshit like logging into my bank, moving money into a pay pal account, then remembering all of my details and purchasing. 3 steps instead of 1. 15 minutes of fail instead of 1 minute of simplicity. I don't want to fuck about on 3 websites to order 1 game.

Now, I'll admit that I'm rarely going to purchase new releases of 'big' games on steam because of the price, but there's been loads of games that I would've purchased in an impulse buying mood (especially around the £5 to £15 mark). However, it's too much effort for me. I cannot be arsed to go find my wallet and move money around etc. Instead, I'll fire up an old game or do something else. I would probably spend an extra £50 a year on steam on smaller titles if they removed the barrier. In these cases, the wait does matter because I want to buy and play something now, so I don't want to order via play.

I don't pirate because

A: I cannot be arsed

B: I'm not a student any more. I don't really have an excuse.

[madgernader]

2. Steam doesn't accept debit cards

Is that just a Europe/not U.S. thing? because my debit card works on steam dandy...

[Sentura]

Skjalg's argument of laziness may sound ridiculous, but it rings true. Companies should do their utmost to remove all of the barriers between the customer and their product. It doesn't matter if it's a small or a large barrier. You can't impulse purchase something very effectively if you have to think too much about it.

...actually that was my argument...

[Jetsetlemming]

2. Steam doesn't accept debit cards and I neither have nor want a credit card.

I don't know how things work in your end of the world, but the debit card my bank gave me is sponsored by Visa. There isn't anywhere I can use a credit card but can't use this debit card.

[FrieChamp]

Interesting angle on steam vs retail in terms of convenience Defrag! To me it's just the other way round really. I cannot be arsed to go to the store. I've got a credit card (why don't you get one mate? You'll be happy you got it once you travel abroad!) and the game is just 2-3 clicks away. Download times aren't really any issue either when you got a fast internet connection like me (yes ladies let me tell you...it is very fast ) plus you can preload. About the price: of course I paid a premium for convenience as far as MW2 is concerned. In hindsight it was maybe a bit stupid, but as far as other games I've purchased on Steam go, I think all of them had some special discount.

[Defrag]

Frie: I tend to order my planned purchases via play.com. I browse in shops and make the odd impulse purchase, but that's about it

[Gloglebag]

Never ever buy anything on impuls, weather it be games or other stuff. I always do research for reviews and experiences if I can. For me steam is convenient, as it can use click&buy, which is a service similar to paypal, except it accepts iDEAL, which is an instant way to transfer money from duch banks, and even if you don't transfer the money beforehand, it will buy the product for you and just wait till you pay. Paypal takes 2 weeks to transfer, which is a bitch, especially on ebay where seller expect the money in a few days. Funny thing is before I got my account verified it took 3 to 4 days on paypal.