That still doesn't mean anyone has actually LOST any money, as a bad review also can affect the total number of sales, and hopefully nobody thinks it would be sane to sue magazines for “loss of profit” over bad reviews.Īnd for a few games where there's a per-user cost, piracy can definitely be directly harmful to the company.Īs Notch states, no one's suing magazines for bad reviews… yet. This is especially true for hollywood style big story heavy big productions that are only expected to sell well and stay in the public conscience for a few months. More users means more talking about the game, which means more sales.įor other games, I think piracy can definitely negatively affect the total number of units sold. For a game like Minecraft, I definitely believe it's at least broken even because the game has quite a long lifespan and has viral aspects in that people enjoy sharing what they create in and with the game. This is an extremely interesting question. pirate software, as I do with most worthwhile software. Notch addressed the “lost sale” fallacy again, following up on a question from another Redditor.ĭo you think the sales that you've made through pirate versions are worth the number of downloads? I know I bought the real Minecraft after testing it out via. There is no such thing as a 'lost sale'… Is a bad review a lost sale? What about a missed ship date? If you copy a game, there are simply more of them in the world. If you steal a car, the original is lost. The difference between Notch and the aforementioned weeping sleepers is his refusal to equate piracy with either “theft” or “lost sales.” Minecraft has proven hugely successful for the developer (check out the “Do I need it?” link), much of that due to the sort of “rampant infringement” that makes Chris Dodd and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot cry themselves to sleep at night (and craft terrible DRM strategies during the day). Notch and TPB go way back, or at least Notch and piracy do. How much money have I lost because of this? Do I need it? God knows I certainly work hard enough to deserve it. That said, thanks for making the world a better place. But this is what Notch, the creator of Legos Minecraft, had to say when coming face-to-face with Peter Sunde.
The perception of the Pirate Bay as a lawless infringement paradise makes it an unlikely entity for a software developer to be praising, even with a few reservations. 005% of readers who aren't aware) featuring Peter Sunde, co-founder of the Pirate Bay, had a visitor drop by to pay his respects… and nearly derail the whole thing. A recent Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything, for the.