"Unbelievably high" piracy has pushed an Android developer to offer its app for free.
Mad Finger Games is now claiming that it was forced to offer its latest Zombie-infested title, Dead Trigger, for free because Android piracy is "unbelievably high." Previously the app was offered for a mere $0.99 on Google Play while also utilizing in-app purchases so that gamers could progress faster.
"At first we intend to make this game available for as many people as possible - that's why it was for as little as buck," the company said on Facebook. "It was much less than 8$ for Shadowgun but on the other hand we didn't dare to provide it for free, since we hadn't got XP with free-to-play format so far. However, even for one buck, the piracy rate is soooo giant, that we finally decided to provide Dead Trigger for free."
The in-app purchasing system still exists, but players can complete the game without having to make a purchase, the company said. "All players are able to play it without IAP! We stand up for this statement, because all members of our team are playing (and enjoying) Dead Trigger without IAP."
Is piracy really that rampant on Android? Because of the platform's open-source nature, users can easily install pirated games on their device by simply allowing non-Market apps. Even more, there are apps offered on Google Play that allow users to back up their apps onto a PC, thus making it easy to distribute. There are even social apps listed on Google Play that feature app trading.
Eurogamer reports that Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson made a similar complaint earlier this year, saying that pirated copies of Football Manager were being downloaded at a ratio of 9:1, compared to the purchased versions. He pointed out there's no working copy protection on Android, so it's simple to install the pirated app and jump right into the game without having to pay a dime.
"The platform is also very popular in some countries where there's a larger piracy problem than in others," he said. "It's really disappointing that there are so many people out there who love our work, and spend countless hours being entertained by it, but don't think we deserve to get paid for that entertainment. There are no excuses for any form of piracy - if you don't want to pay the price set for a game, don't pay it, and don't play it! Gaming is an entertainment form, it's not a human right."
A study conducted by Yankee Group and Skyhook revealed last year that Apple customers download six times more paid apps than Android consumers. It also showed that Android developers make "much less" money from the sales of paid apps than Apple iOS developers -- 75 of those developers blamed the loss of revenue on "rampant piracy." 53-percent of those developers said Google is "too lax" on its Android Market policies, whereas 27-percent saw Android piracy as a "huge problem."
Currently the iOS version of Dead Trigger still remains as a paid download on iTunes.
I understand this doesn't solve the piracy issue, but there is no way I'm the only one who is frustrated with this new game model developers are pushing and in turn, turn towards just downloading a cracked version online.
Thinking out loud for a moment, what if, instead of paying a small fee or just being free, they leave the game free to download then, as the player progresses to different sections of the game, they have to 'unlock' the rest of it by paying the same flat fee, so that in the end the fully unlocked game will cost to the total of say $10-15 for EVERYONE, with no advantages given by the current model of buying in-game currency... And having those unlocks in the form of 'license keys' attached to the Google account the App was downloaded should prevent the piracy... similar to say how when I flash a new ROM on my phone and reinstall "My Backup Pro" on first launch it checks to authenticate the fact I've paid to unlock the full version.
I understand this doesn't solve the piracy issue, but there is no way I'm the only one who is frustrated with this new game model developers are pushing and in turn, turn towards just downloading a cracked version online.
Thinking out loud for a moment, what if, instead of paying a small fee or just being free, they leave the game free to download then, as the player progresses to different sections of the game, they have to 'unlock' the rest of it by paying the same flat fee, so that in the end the fully unlocked game will cost to the total of say $10-15 for EVERYONE, with no advantages given by the current model of buying in-game currency... And having those unlocks in the form of 'license keys' attached to the Google account the App was downloaded should prevent the piracy... similar to say how when I flash a new ROM on my phone and reinstall "My Backup Pro" on first launch it checks to authenticate the fact I've paid to unlock the full version.
many millions think like me and don't just buy stuff because it's available, so some developers got the wrong idea of making fast money by releasing useless apps/games.
it's not piracy, it's common sense
We have taken your XX million dollars and have not produced a quality product to date that will give you a return on your investment.
But for realz, it's not our fault! Everybody pirates our game! Blame android! Keep giving our software company money, we can't face facts that our people SUCK at writing cool games!
Sincerely,
Management of Mad Finger Games
P.S. We don't want to go get real jobs, it's not our fault our product got pirated.
You are so wrong. Thats why there are demos of games. If you pirate the whole game then whats stopping you from playing through it all with never paying?
Do you have any data on human purchasing behaviour and piracy, or are you making all this up?
The problem is not the consumer, but the developers. They need to realize the consumer is no longer forced to buy something just cause it is the only way. Technology has allowed for the consumer to know the true quality of a product now and they will not pay for junk. They will pay for quality though and that is the next problem. Dev's are so used to the old model that has been around for decades in which they develop something then turn around and sell it for whatever sum of money and people will just buy it. Sorry no longer. Wake up. Quality and usefulness, not quality "and/or" usefulness", are what will make you money.
I don't believe these numbers actually indicate what's going on. I have an ipod touch, and don't really peruse the app market much (mainly just use it for watching netflix), and I was surprised to see that there really aren't any free apps worth much of anything in the Apple iOS store. Maybe a handful of free versions of games that are ad-sponsored versions of paid games. Contrasted with the Android store that has an overwhelmingly large number of free (and also bad, but that's beside the fact) apps. It is only logical to assume that iOS users would buy more apps--there are more apps that are not free in the apple app store.
I use an android phone and an android tablet, and I honestly didn't even know that piracy was a problem. When I find an app worth buying, I buy it. If it looks like crap, I don't buy it (and usually there's a legit free alternative to some extent--in terms of "productivity" apps and the like). To be honest, until this article, I didn't even know there were ways to get paid apps without paying.
Here's the thing--if a game is $0.99, and the dev is complaining that they are not getting the revenue they were expecting and that it's due to piracy, I honestly refuse to believe that the game would otherwise have done well. $0.99 is a throw-away purchase. If the game looked to be any good at all, people would buy it. If it wasn't, they won't. It's not like we're talking about a $100 game here. Most people don't think twice to buy a $0.99 game.
This all just reeks as an excuse for not producing the product they thought would net money. SOOOOO many other games and apps are extremely successful despite this "rampant piracy." Explain that.
I would honestly say it's due to an entirely different userbase. What you really need to see is the general distribution of who buys similar games on similar platforms. Like I mentioned, there have been extraordinarily successful similar games on Android, which lends some weight to the quality of the game being the problem, not the ability to pirate it.
Piracy is more of a scapegoat than anything for companies. They see users using their software and automatically make claim that those are lost revenues when in reality (IMHO) not everybody who pirates were actually going to buy the software. I agree, software companies make a killing off of in-app purchases because really you can't be competitive unless you play every day for a year like in most games I played. Simply is no fun.
simple. i know a crap ton of people who pirate first, buy if they like.
really with todays entertainment, try before you buy is the way to go, not saying piracy, but renting, or anything that you can do to see whatever it is before you buy.
people who pirate a game or anything, and never buy it but finish it, would never have bought it in the first place, and this is YEARS of anecdotal evidence, and people talking candidly about it.
i many not have used every word above the way it was meant to... im really tired right now.
yes and nether is healthcare, but people people still believe that it is!
pirating is stealing.. period!
i feel the same way.
i whole heartedly agree, the idea is right on, the app should included the first 3 maps or so, and inorder to get the rest of the game you have to buy it and the app dev will provide the rest in a d/l.
just like the trial cds retail stores have or used to have until developers realized their POS console games were crippling their (pc) sales.