Piracy forces game to be made Freely available

kennyc · 08-02-2012, 04:21 PM

Is this the future?

Quote:

Madfinger game goes free on iOS, piracy to blame like on Android?

Summary: When the Android game Dead Trigger went from $0.99 to free, Madfinger Games blamed "unbelievably high" piracy rates. Now the company has released the iOS version for free as well, but is it due to piracy again?
Emil Protalinski

By Emil Protalinski for Zero Day | August 2, 2012 -- 15:35 GMT (08:35 PDT)
Madfinger game goes free on iOS too, piracy to blame again?

Madfinger Games last week announced the relaunch of its game Dead Trigger, a zombie FPS for smartphones, as a free Android app. The company blamed "unbelievably high" and "soooo giant" piracy rates on Google's mobile platform. On Monday, the company did the same for the iOS version of its game. As a result, you can now download the game for free from the official Apple App Store: itunes.apple.com/app/dead-trigger/id533079551.

So, is Madfinger blaming piracy for the iOS relaunch like they did for the Android one? Not exactly. On the company's Facebook Page, which was used to criticize for Android piracy rates, the announcement was straightforward and didn't really explain much:

Great news, guys! DEAD TRIGGER is avalaible for free on the AppStore now! Moreover update 1.1.2 is finally out and should be visible on the AppStore for the moment. Enjoy!

.....

http://www.zdnet.com/madfinger-game-...id-7000002050/

Penforhire · 08-02-2012, 04:47 PM

I don't know about that particular game but there is a truckload of cash being made from so-called free-to-play games. They are making more money than when they were directly pay-to-play! Here's an article on some -- http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/0...ription-model/

JSWolf · 08-02-2012, 05:17 PM

The controls for this game suck.

ramsey_isler · 08-02-2012, 06:31 PM

Hello! Writer and app developer/publisher here

There are two points to make here:

1.) The gaming community is calling "BS" on this one, considering that pirating a game is more effort than a dollar's worth of time. It's also possible that Madfinger could be mistaking Titanium backup restores and ROM flashes as pirated copies. Or this could simply be a marketing ploy, or a way to cover up bad sales numbers.

2.) I wouldn't say free-to-play is the future. It's the present. This has been the case for some time now. I've consulted on a number of apps for the past few years, and the free apps always get more play. That doesn't mean that free = no revenue though. Far from it, actually. A well-made freemium game can bring in big bucks. Zynga and all the companies that they gobbled up understand the formula - get people hooked then hit 'em with the upsell (or shove ads in their faces as often as you can). This has been the proven model in the app store for the last two years. Just looking at the current stats for the game on Google Play, they've seen a huge jump in downloads since going free (like orders of magnitude higher). That's a lot of potential money from in-app-purchases and/or ad revenue. I would not be surprised if they make more money as a free game than they did as a paid game, so what's the fuss really?

sabredog · 08-02-2012, 06:48 PM

There are quite a few free iOS games out now. The catch is to extend game lay or obtain extra goodies it is strictly pay as you go.

Catchy phrases for required first and "additional" purchases abound.

StoryEnthusiast · 08-02-2012, 07:59 PM

$0.99 is no motivation for piracy. There must be something else, imho.

mr ploppy · 08-03-2012, 05:48 AM

Same as rants about ebook piracy, it's either a publicity stunt or an excuse for a crap game not selling.

kennyc · 08-03-2012, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramsey_isler

Hello! Writer and app developer/publisher here

There are two points to make here:

1.) The gaming community is calling "BS" on this one, considering that pirating a game is more effort than a dollar's worth of time. It's also possible that Madfinger could be mistaking Titanium backup restores and ROM flashes as pirated copies. Or this could simply be a marketing ploy, or a way to cover up bad sales numbers.

2.) I wouldn't say free-to-play is the future. It's the present. This has been the case for some time now. I've consulted on a number of apps for the past few years, and the free apps always get more play. That doesn't mean that free = no revenue though. Far from it, actually. A well-made freemium game can bring in big bucks. Zynga and all the companies that they gobbled up understand the formula - get people hooked then hit 'em with the upsell (or shove ads in their faces as often as you can). This has been the proven model in the app store for the last two years. Just looking at the current stats for the game on Google Play, they've seen a huge jump in downloads since going free (like orders of magnitude higher). That's a lot of potential money from in-app-purchases and/or ad revenue. I would not be surprised if they make more money as a free game than they did as a paid game, so what's the fuss really?

Thanks for that!

kennyc · 08-03-2012, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Same as rants about ebook piracy, it's either a publicity stunt or an excuse for a crap game not selling.

Yeah, this was my impetus for posting it here.

Giggleton · 08-03-2012, 08:35 AM

Some people don't like to pay for games, are they pirates or people who enjoy playing free games?? Who are we to deny them their entertainment??

Perhaps the developers have realized this.

Hellmark · 08-03-2012, 11:19 AM

Yeah, I'm calling shenanigans on this one. First off, it isn't really free. The game was 99 cents, and also required in-app purchases to finish the game (which the in app purchases HAVE NOT been cracked). Also, there were approximately 250,000 sales in the TWO WEEKS the game was available (the time leading up to them saying it was unprofitable due to piracy.) So, the game had 250k sales after two weeks, but they say that too many people are pirating, so they make it free?

Also, basically, what they did was any time a game was installed, they had it phone home. If they had something phone home to handshake with their servers, and they didn't do anything to block what they deem to be unauthorized installs, then what was the point in phoning home. Plus their's Ramsey's point, that they have no real way of tracking which is a pirated copy, and which is a legit copy that was just reinstalled via a local backup.

And, if they have released no data to support their claim it was widely pirated. How much is their "too much"? Also, their claim is only that the Android version was unprofitable (note: the 250k sales figure, was only for the Android version), but they released the iOS version for free too.

My thought? They wanted to make a lot of publicity, and playing the victim was an easy surefire way to do that.

EDIT: I should note that their full claim, is that 80% of all installs is a pirated copy. I am wanting to clarify my above statement that they released no data. While they didn't release any actual data, they did give that nugget which you can get an assumed estimate. 250k sales, and 80% of all installs are pirated, so that would make the 250k the 20% legal. That works out to be 1.5 million total installs. I don't know, seems a bit high to me.

RainingLemur · 08-03-2012, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramsey_isler

1.) The gaming community is calling "BS" on this one, considering that pirating a game is more effort than a dollar's worth of time. It's also possible that Madfinger could be mistaking Titanium backup restores and ROM flashes as pirated copies. Or this could simply be a marketing ploy, or a way to cover up bad sales numbers.

It makes me wonder if the backup restores are throwing them off, too.

There's another game (Rage of Bahamut) that was plagued with rampant "hacking" recently by this same kind of exploit. Someone installs the game, creates an account, completes the tutorial, gets their free stuff, and flashes a new (or just the same) ROM. Then, they have a "new" device to create a new account, do all that other stuff, and funnel the free stuff to some other account.

Hellmark · 08-03-2012, 01:36 PM

There's been a bit of an update. Apparently, nearly all of the pirated copies are in China. This is interesting, because Google's app market isn't available in China (due to Chinese legal issues, and even if it was, the chinese carriers are flat out refusing to deal with Google.), and that also kills off the ability for in-app-purchases (which are tied to to google's payment system, part of the app market). 33% of all chinese now have smartphones, and 38% have android phones, which works out to roughly 170million android users in China (which is about the total number for the rest of the world). So, because the Google Play market isn't an option for nearly half of the total users, piracy is their only option for many apps (pretty much any app not made in China), ending up with stuff like this (80% piracy figures for some games when it hits big in China).

Ninjalawyer · 08-03-2012, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggleton

Some people don't like to pay for games, are they pirates or people who enjoy playing free games?? Who are we to deny them their entertainment??

Perhaps the developers have realized this.

kennyc · 08-03-2012, 04:47 PM

Ah, gigglie is here. I knew he couldn't resist that subject line.

08-03-2012, 11:19 AM	#11
Hellmark Wizard Posts: 2,549 Karma: 3799999 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: O'Fallon, Missouri, USA Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3	Yeah, I'm calling shenanigans on this one. First off, it isn't really free. The game was 99 cents, and also required in-app purchases to finish the game (which the in app purchases HAVE NOT been cracked). Also, there were approximately 250,000 sales in the TWO WEEKS the game was available (the time leading up to them saying it was unprofitable due to piracy.) So, the game had 250k sales after two weeks, but they say that too many people are pirating, so they make it free? Also, basically, what they did was any time a game was installed, they had it phone home. If they had something phone home to handshake with their servers, and they didn't do anything to block what they deem to be unauthorized installs, then what was the point in phoning home. Plus their's Ramsey's point, that they have no real way of tracking which is a pirated copy, and which is a legit copy that was just reinstalled via a local backup. And, if they have released no data to support their claim it was widely pirated. How much is their "too much"? Also, their claim is only that the Android version was unprofitable (note: the 250k sales figure, was only for the Android version), but they released the iOS version for free too. My thought? They wanted to make a lot of publicity, and playing the victim was an easy surefire way to do that. EDIT: I should note that their full claim, is that 80% of all installs is a pirated copy. I am wanting to clarify my above statement that they released no data. While they didn't release any actual data, they did give that nugget which you can get an assumed estimate. 250k sales, and 80% of all installs are pirated, so that would make the 250k the 20% legal. That works out to be 1.5 million total installs. I don't know, seems a bit high to me. Last edited by Hellmark; 08-03-2012 at 11:29 AM.

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08-02-2012, 04:47 PM	#2
Penforhire Wizard Posts: 2,230 Karma: 7145404 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Southern California Device: Kindle Voyage & iPhone 7+	I don't know about that particular game but there is a truckload of cash being made from so-called free-to-play games. They are making more money than when they were directly pay-to-play! Here's an article on some -- http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/0...ription-model/

08-02-2012, 05:17 PM	#3
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 74,049 Karma: 129333562 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	The controls for this game suck.

08-02-2012, 06:31 PM	#4
ramsey_isler Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 170392 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	Hello! Writer and app developer/publisher here There are two points to make here: 1.) The gaming community is calling "BS" on this one, considering that pirating a game is more effort than a dollar's worth of time. It's also possible that Madfinger could be mistaking Titanium backup restores and ROM flashes as pirated copies. Or this could simply be a marketing ploy, or a way to cover up bad sales numbers. 2.) I wouldn't say free-to-play is the future. It's the present. This has been the case for some time now. I've consulted on a number of apps for the past few years, and the free apps always get more play. That doesn't mean that free = no revenue though. Far from it, actually. A well-made freemium game can bring in big bucks. Zynga and all the companies that they gobbled up understand the formula - get people hooked then hit 'em with the upsell (or shove ads in their faces as often as you can). This has been the proven model in the app store for the last two years. Just looking at the current stats for the game on Google Play, they've seen a huge jump in downloads since going free (like orders of magnitude higher). That's a lot of potential money from in-app-purchases and/or ad revenue. I would not be surprised if they make more money as a free game than they did as a paid game, so what's the fuss really?

08-02-2012, 06:48 PM	#5
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	There are quite a few free iOS games out now. The catch is to extend game lay or obtain extra goodies it is strictly pay as you go. Catchy phrases for required first and "additional" purchases abound.

08-02-2012, 07:59 PM	#6
StoryEnthusiast K. C. Lee Posts: 584 Karma: 3652522 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: New Zealand Device: Android phone	$0.99 is no motivation for piracy. There must be something else, imho.

08-03-2012, 05:48 AM	#7
mr ploppy Feral Underclass Posts: 3,622 Karma: 26821535 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Yorkshire, tha noz Device: 2nd hand paperback	Same as rants about ebook piracy, it's either a publicity stunt or an excuse for a crap game not selling.

08-03-2012, 08:35 AM	#10
Giggleton Banned Posts: 1,687 Karma: 4368191 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Oregon Device: Kindle3	Some people don't like to pay for games, are they pirates or people who enjoy playing free games?? Who are we to deny them their entertainment?? Perhaps the developers have realized this.

08-03-2012, 01:36 PM	#13
Hellmark Wizard Posts: 2,549 Karma: 3799999 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: O'Fallon, Missouri, USA Device: Nokia N800, PRS-505, Nook STR Glowlight, Kindle 3	There's been a bit of an update. Apparently, nearly all of the pirated copies are in China. This is interesting, because Google's app market isn't available in China (due to Chinese legal issues, and even if it was, the chinese carriers are flat out refusing to deal with Google.), and that also kills off the ability for in-app-purchases (which are tied to to google's payment system, part of the app market). 33% of all chinese now have smartphones, and 38% have android phones, which works out to roughly 170million android users in China (which is about the total number for the rest of the world). So, because the Google Play market isn't an option for nearly half of the total users, piracy is their only option for many apps (pretty much any app not made in China), ending up with stuff like this (80% piracy figures for some games when it hits big in China).

08-03-2012, 04:47 PM	#15
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	Ah, gigglie is here. I knew he couldn't resist that subject line.

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