Funcom to drop all single-player games due to Piracy.

Rodent242

Did a search about this and couldn't find anything about it so here goes.

Sadly I haven't found any information about this in english yet, but hopefully someone who hasn't been up all night can translate the norwegian for you all.

Norwegian newspaper linkie

What it boils down to is that Funcom belives 3-10 pirated copies of The Longest Journey 2 reached consumers for every unit sold. Citing 200k illigal copies in circulation before the game had even reached stores. They will be focusing completly on online games which they feel are much easier to protect from piracy.

For people like me who loved the Longest Journey series this is a bit of a kick to the nuts. There has been talk about a TLJ MMO aswell as talks of episodic content, but I just can't see a MMO giving me a satisfying end to the story.

DarkPrimus

So, how about just going for digital distribution on something like Steam? That should cut down on piracy some.

Steel Angel

Funcom's a European company and my understanding is that software piracy is much worse in Europe than it is in the states.

I remember reading some time ago how some company tracked European sales for a game and its expansion pack. The expansion had better anti-piracy measures than the original game. In Europe, the expansion outsold the original title by a significant margin. That's . . . not supposed to happen.

Rodent242

That's hopefully what they mean when they're talking about episodic content. Sam&Max uses something like that I belive?

Buchwald

i bought but still haven't played Dreamfall.

Rook

DarkPrimus wrote: »

So, how about just going for digital distribution on something like Steam? That should cut down on piracy some.

Dreamfall is on steam. ALthough, I think everyone knows that steam isn't exactly a massive barrier to piracy.

What I find odd about the statement is that when they were going through their financial summarys they said that Dreamfall did better than expected on the PC, and worse than expected on the xbox.

Ah well, here's hoping there's some sort of middle ground for the future.

zhadum

IIRC Dreamfall was released in the US several weeks before it was available in Europe. This obviously gave pirates the opportunity to distribute isos of the US version all over the world. A lot of people might have downloaded Dreamfall because it was the fastest way to get the game. I am not sure if Funcom was responsible for setting the US release date, but this was clearly a stupid move considering that Europe ist without a doubt the most important market for adventure games.

I think a lot of piracy is borne out of convenience. If torrenting a game wouldn't be the easiest and fastest way to get a game than piracy would certainly diminish.

I think people underestimate the impact of Valves online decryption system. Unlike pretty much every other mayor singleplayer PC game, the people that bought Half-life 2 were also the first to play Half-life 2. Take on the other hand Doom 3. By the time it was actually in stores pirated version and bad word of mouth were already all over the net.

To get back to Dreamfall. I could live with episodic content and online activation/distribution, but I really don't want to raid the Tower of Roper Klaks for 40 times so I can get the epic staff of the balance just so I can see how the story ends.

Meiz

Well so much for TLJ.

I don't have any interest in playing another MMO.

Magus`

So they're saying that it pirated at a ratio of 3:1 - 10:1? I find that somewhat hard to believe, but then again it might not have sold well on the fact that it was incomplete and very sub-par.

Synthetic Orange

April's pretty early this year. Usually isnt til March is over.

LewieP

This seems to be based on the idea that people who pirate you products would buy it at full price if piracy wasn't an option. I some what doubt the validity of that idea.

I would buy more PC games if they had no copy protection whatsover. No worries about serial numbers/lost disc/scratched disc/crap like starforce. It's a shame thats not what more people are like.

dsplaisted

Dreamfall is going to continue as an episodic game delivered online. See http://ragnartornquist.com/?p=291

Rook

Magus` wrote: »

So they're saying that it pirated at a ratio of 3:1 - 10:1? I find that somewhat hard to believe, but then again it might not have sold well on the fact that it was incomplete and very sub-par.

I really wouldn't describe Dreamfall as incomplete unless you though Empire Strikes back was incomplete. The game is all there.

Sub-par is a bit of a weirder one as the reviews for the game where all over the place from Gamespys 5/5 editors choice down to 1ups 4/10 and every mark inbetween. It really would have benefited for a demo, I loved TLJ and it took me a long time before I got around to buying dreamfall.

TxdoHawk

First Epic, now these guys...it's kind of odd that all of a sudden, piracy is becoming a big hot-button topic in the PC gaming industry. It has always existed, I honestly think companies are just using it as an excuse to go multiplatform, or break out into MMO's.

One thing is for certain: If this kind of viewpoint becomes common, I will not be happy. PC games gimped with limitations due to making them console-porting-friendly? 50 billion MMO's with a steady decline in other game genres? These theoretical possibilities make dropping a grand on a gaming-capable PC less and less attractive, and as a long time fan of PC games, that is upsetting.

Magus`

Rook wrote: »

Magus` wrote: »

So they're saying that it pirated at a ratio of 3:1 - 10:1? I find that somewhat hard to believe, but then again it might not have sold well on the fact that it was incomplete and very sub-par.

I really wouldn't describe Dreamfall as incomplete unless you though Empire Strikes back was incomplete. The game is all there.

Sub-par is a bit of a weirder one as the reviews for the game where all over the place from Gamespys 5/5 editors choice down to 1ups 4/10 and every mark inbetween. It really would have benefited for a demo, I loved TLJ and it took me a long time before I got around to buying dreamfall.

I realize that it's part of a trilogy (or apparently now a 20-part-ogy) but it pissed me off how they give you not one, not two, but like 2 dozen fucking cliffhangers in the last hour of gameplay. I don't feel like anything was accomplished.