Stuff: What I dislike the most is the continuous escalation of DRM based on phony data. It reached a point, a couple of years ago for me, where I just stopped buying new game releases. I find it amusing that Ubisoft and EA are taking DRM to an even more absurd implementation based on the same or similar data.

Lobsang1979: ...

Red_Avatar: The Industry is one big corrupt bowl of monkeys who have no clue what they're doing except for filling their pockets.
Take Timmy. Timmy is 16 and gets 50 euros pocket money every month which he is willing to spend on games. Timmy also has Internet at home.
Now, let's take a look:
Situation A: Timmy sees an ad for a game but it costs 50 euros. He takes a risk and it turns out the game is pretty dull. Timmy just lost an entire month's allowance on a crap game. Still: 50 euros went towards the games industry.
Situation B: Timmy realizes he has Internet and can use it. He sees an ad for a game but downloads it first. The game turns out to be crap so he looks at another game which is fun. He buys the game, spending his 50 euros and is happy. 50 euros went towards the games industry.
What is the difference between A & B? The difference is that the industry got paid for a crap game and the customer was not happy. The thing is, the industry likes it that way. It means crap products still make money and reduce the loss of money even if it was at the expense of the consumer. Yes, the industry doesn't give a sh*t about us as long as they make money. BUT, in the end, the same amount of money went into the industry except now the people who deserved it got it instead.
In the end, piracy is about a person A having a limited amount of money and choosing where to spend it. THIS is what the industry needs to realize. Their "theory" seems to rest on the fact that consumers have bottomless pockets where each game they try is a lost sale. NO IT'S NOT.
Most people can only afford one or two games a month and what piracy really does, is give gamers a better reason to invest in an expensive PC. If a PC costs €1500 to play games, and games another €50, it would become too expensive for many if they couldn't play more games on the side for free. Yes it sucks they can't afford to buy all games but their limited money still goes into that same industry so in the end, it makes NO difference. Heck, many PC gamers would just stop buying PCs and PC game sales would drop even more if they had to buy every game to play it with the risk of getting ripped off.

Red_Avatar: In the end, piracy is about a person A having a limited amount of money and choosing where to spend it. THIS is what the industry needs to realize. Their "theory" seems to rest on the fact that consumers have bottomless pockets where each game they try is a lost sale. NO IT'S NOT.
Most people can only afford one or two games a month and what piracy really does, is give gamers a better reason to invest in an expensive PC. If a PC costs €1500 to play games, and games another €50, it would become too expensive for many if they couldn't play more games on the side for free. Yes it sucks they can't afford to buy all games but their limited money still goes into that same industry so in the end, it makes NO difference. Heck, many PC gamers would just stop buying PCs and PC game sales would drop even more if they had to buy every game to play it with the risk of getting ripped off.

Aliasalpha: Also note that there's a distinct lack of demos around these days, almost like they didn't want you to realise how shit the games are...

Gundato: You forget the third, and much more likely option:
Timmy downloads the game. he plays it and enjoys it, but would rather not spend 50 euros. He downloads another game instead.
Just saying :p

Red_Avatar: Definitely part of the problem - I tried to keep it simple but yeah, the industry does everything to make you gamble money. Killing the second hand market is just another step to stop consumers from trying to limit the money the lose from gambling.
I didn't forget that - that's why I started with "Timmy is 16 and gets 50 euros pocket money every month which he is willing to spend on games." The "willing" part is important ;). But I know a LOT more people who buy games & pirate some as well than people who buy none and only pirate. I even know more people who ONLY buy games than those who only pirate so I don't believe for a minute that most consumers are as bad as the industry makes them out to be. Not in the West anyway.

Gundato: True, but you open up a can of worms when you start using piracy as a way to avoid paying for "bad" games. Because then you run into "Well, what is a game worth?"

Gundato: Then it becomes a matter of pirating a game, and maybe buying it when it is cheaper. That works PERFECTLY for singleplayer games, not so much for multiplayer. Which is probably why multiplayer has gained such a huge focus. It is the better investment from a dev/publisher point of view.