Saturday, March 19, 2011

Wow, I need to support this game company

I'm really encouraged by how many in the gaming community are coming together to support Japan and the Japanese in its crisis. Square-Enix is giving 100 million yen to support the recovery effort in Japan, in addition to shutting down its massive reveneue generating online game servers in Japan for Final Fantasy 11 and 14. I just can't picture very many american or european companies shutting down their ability to make money for the greater good of the country. Nexon is also donating millions to the cause of japanese relief.

But the most impressive to me was NCSoft who is donating 500 million yen, about 1 months revenue to them to aid with the Japanese recovery. More importantly, NCsoft is a Korean company and Korea and Japan do not have a friendly history towards each other. Many older Japanese and Koreans still bear major grudges towards each other. Japan occupied Korea prior to WW1 and held onto it until the end of WW2. So for NCSoft to send a huge some of money of say their thoughts and prayers are with them is a huge deal.

Way to go NCSoft, guess I'm definitely going to have to buy Guild Wars 2 and give it a try. Because that is the type of company I want to support.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

I'm glad someone said it...

From Game Politics:

Minecraft Creator: Piracy Isn't Theft

Minecraft creator Markus 'Notch' Persson told attendees of the GDC Indie Games Summit that the notion of piracy as being theft is incorrect.

"Piracy is not theft," said Persson during the session. "If you steal a car, the original is lost. If you copy a game, there are simply more of them in the world. There is no such thing as a 'lost sale.' Is a bad review a lost sale? What about a missed ship date?"

Persson suggested to attendees that many developers see pirates not as "inherently evil, but as potential customers." Persson also took on comments made by Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata, saying that his criticism of small and rampant mobile and social games excludes the fact that games such as Minecraft are more of a service than a one-time purchase. Persson said that games such as his creation and Angry Birds are constantly adding updates and new content and that both have incredible sales numbers.

"Treat game development as a service," he said. "Make a game last longer than a week. You can't pirate an online account."


It is amazing how well it works for business when you treat your customers better than than the pirates. One of the reasons I believe piracy is so rampant, is that there are often more rewards for being a pirate than an honest customer with many companies. That DRM (Digital Rights Management software) which can destroy your computer is no risk on a pirated version, which is only all the more reason to pirate what they put the DRM on!

I would hope this attitude would catch on, but I've worked too long in the corporate world. Power corrupts, and it is as true in the business world as it appears to be in the political one.