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Ubisoft: piracy hounds DS, reason why they retreated from PSP, will launch anti-piracy tool this year |
Listed in: News, Titles Tags: Nintendo, piracy, Sony, Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot
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Ubisoft is hell-bent on putting its foot down against piracy as they are targeting this year to come out with a piracy solution for their games on the various platforms. The publisher has admitted that their products have been dealt a heavy blow because of the piracy, and they are now working on a tool that should cushion the impact of the said problem.
CEO Yves Guillemot discloses, "Altogether on console, the piracy is low. On the PC the piracy is quite a lot. We are working on a tool that would allow us to decrease that on the PC starting next year and probably one game this year."
Having described it as a tool, it is suggestive therefore that the solution they are working on is not an existing form of DRM, but rather, is an internal solution. Guillemot specifically zoomed in on the problem with piracy on the DS handhelds, referring to the R4, pinpointing the rise in Spain. He further characterized the DS sales in the country as "going down at a very strong level."
But the problem is not necessarily limited to Spain and, obviously, has spread on to other countries. "We see it coming country by country," Guillemot said. To counter this on a physical level, he suggests adding in extra collectibles like figurines to go along with the copy of the game.
We see when we put other things with the product (people) go and buy the game. We need to make sure that the value is better when they buy the box then when they download (the game) from the Internet.
Nintendo, for their part, has committed themselves to helping out Ubisoft. Guillemot reveals, "Nintendo has been able to slow down piracy a lot in Japan. They are now putting pressure to make sure it decreases in many other countries." He remains optimistic, "We think we will be able to solve this matter."
What of the PSP? He said that piracy was also one of the primary reasons why they retreated from Sony's handheld. But that won't be the case any longer as there are now "new ways to control piracy." Guillemot promises that Ubisoft will then be reinvesting in the handheld.
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Via Kotaku
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@lavino - Believe me, companies know you like the $20 price point, but they can't remain in business if they start their games at such a low price. The costs of developing games is rising exponentially every year, to the point where publishers are hesitant to try new things in current games, or acquiring new IPs. I will say that not all games deserve support from me, too. Personally, the only PSP games I own are the two Star Ocean games, though I bought ToEternia new, too. I also have an Xbox 360 and feel that Microsoft could use the support with it's massive RRoD problems, but have definately been wanting it chipped or flashed. As for Wii, I can only dream of throwing a chip in it.. There isn't anything on it that I remotely want to play. The new Tales game was OK at best! I'm rambling now, heh.
You see it like it is. I think companies SHOULD include more incentive to purchase the physical copy, I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE a figure of Xion or Kairi from KH. I'd buy a collectors edition for $120. You have my word.
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I really don't see what Ubisoft can do tho... they can't implement anti-piracy in any handheld or console and DRM on teh PC is thus far a POS that more or less makes just installing ur games a hassle.
In the end price is everything. I love my PSP and DS but refuse to pay $40 or more for a game! Handheld games should not top over $20. $20 I'm fine with 100%, but if it's $40 I just wait till it drops in price.
Console games... I practice the same thing more and more... I just wait till the game drops to $40 or so instead of paying $70 for it when it's released. Sure... that may mess up their sales and there's a chance used games will take more of that money away, but I really don't know what they expect. Someone like me who buys a lot of games is hit hard if I buy just 1 for each my PS3, PSP, DS and 360 per month! It nears $250!!! THat's just retarded!
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PIRATES ROCKS!!! soon,very soon all this protection-inventors will retreat from they offices and even warm houses!!! we put in your ass this your "internal solution" , don't spend your money for nothing - this maybe hold pirates week or two and will be cracked ^_____^
just made games and get your part of money and sit quiet in your office, if you want more, you get nothing!
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))))))))))))))) ))))))
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Guess that why Dragon Quest IX has done so poorly with only 2 million copies sold in Japan in the first couple of weeks ,sarcasm>
Piracy doesn't affect games sales - continuously producing crappy games does. And UbiSoft is king for that.
I for one am glad that they won't be producing for the PSP. It just makes it that much easier to filter out the crappy new releases.
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The problem is the companies are treating "secondary sales" as "piracy" because they see people buying the games, backing them up to R4, and reselling them. THEREFOR SECONDARY SALES ARE PIRATES! ALSO GAMESTOP.
I won't be suprised to see "activation" or "license" codes coming to the consoles.
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Only an idiot would pay $35-$40 for a DS title. If video game manufacturers lowered the base price to $19 their sales would triple over night.
Game manufacturers and content produces love love love to count pirated (and used) copies as "lost" sales but the fact is, at the prices they're being offered the majority would simply be *missed* sales if people were unable to pirate.
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Not to mention, piracy is pretty much the SAME exact thing as game rental stores, if not better. Game rental places buy a game and let everyone share it. They don't even buy it for full price, they get it at a wholesale price. Not to mention the fact that after 3 months of it being on the shelf the game's creator no longer get a precentage. Maybe even less than that, they're only required to pay off the rest of the game. And then after that they get all of the profit. I'm inclined to believe that worldwide there are more video game rental stores than pirates. We pay for the game full price and share it with everyone else too.
Don't get mad at us Ubisoft, we're just mimicking what society tells us is alright!
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Their actions make no sense aside from typical know-nothing share holders making decisions based on poor information and padded statistics.
I think it's hilarious how much money people spend on anti-piracy when, in the end, piracy is alive and well. With one exception.....PS3....hum.... Even microsoft is getting it right with their new OSs.
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No doubt Ubi is counting on selling alot of copies online to new PSP-Go consumers.
PSP-Go is primarly a re-launch of the PSP with a better strategy against piracy.
Now we will have to wait and see if it stays uncracked liked PS3 or if the PSP-Go has it's own vulnerabilities . I am thinking Sony spent alot of time on PSP-Go making sure it would not be cracked though.....
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DS IS a simple process, but still, you have to order things online. To do that you need a CC or have to get a money order. Then you have to wait for the stuff to arrive. Definitely a much huger hassle.
The majority of PSP's you just need to download some stuff off the internet and follow easy instructions. If you had a version 1.00/1.50 you didn't even need to do anything...they basically came hacked out of the box.
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Anyone with a large collection of movies/games and a storefront can just start renting them out, without having to answer to the publisher, other than paying the retail price of the game/movie.
This might be what piratebay is trying to do now that it has gone "legal", just using a digital storefront.
Regardless, I only pirate games that I would not buy anyways....I play them for an hour or two, confirm that I did not want to buy the game, and delete them. I've only bought one game for PSP, and that was wipeout at launch....since then nothing has come out that interested me or that I could not play a better version of on my 360 or PS3.
PSP needs more games that are small and cheap and are meant to be played on the road in 10-30min bursts.
PSP has way too many games that are just dumbed down console games. Games you have to spend hours playing, not very good for playing on the bus and other random places, which is what handhelds are for.
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DS is lock and load. all you do is buy a cflash cart and you're set.
And the iphone. omg that is plug and play hacking now.
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also a PSP spookperson said in qj.net " psp piracy is only 10%" and DS games are targeting jap market for the most so i think its " 5%" piracy since most DS players are kids .
so whats wrong with UBISOFT !!!!!!!
are ubi gona dead
1 - canceling 4 games this year
2 - canceling handled games
3 - and no great games for about 3 years
they meet have big internal problems .
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4 - Ubisoft you are greedy monkeys! you want all money in the world for your ***** games
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People are low on money and entertainment is not a priority (for most) when you need to buy food for your family first. One doesn't need to be a genius to realize that (I can conclude CEOs like Mr Guillemot aren't exactly bright when they say what he said).
Also, on most countries in Europe the games' price is absurd (except UK, bless some of their online stores).
60€ or 70€ for a game is just retard. We're talking between $80 and $100, in some cases games with more than 1 year (this happens where I live). It shocks me, am I the only one?
I can tell you I buy all my PS3 games on UK stores since their price drops after a few months, but I (almost) never have paid full price for any. As for other platforms I own (PS2, PSP, PC), well... I won't comment that in public ;)
As others have mentioned above, if publishers lowered the prices on games then sales would boost, I have no doubts. In all platforms, not only those that can't be pirated (PS3 is the only one afaik).
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With the PSP though it's different, all you need to do is install CFW and put the ISO on the mem stick and bam its that easy, still I buy games for the PSP.
I think Ubisoft has the right to do this, if it brings down there profits...
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There isn't an excuse legitimate or solid enough to mask greed. The man's sole business was this shop. He was 'hurting so bad', but his Maserati never missed a tune-up or a paint job.
To software companies: this is pretty @#$#&! simple. If one can't even afford your products in the price bracket that you sell 'em, *THEY AREN'T A VALID SAMPLING POOL FOR YOUR VOODOO PIRACY STATISTICS*!
On the other hand, I find that to be a weak justification of why someone pirates a game or software title. However, it is what it is.
Yes, I've played many a game through those means. The $60 MSRP reflected half of my electricity bill, a service that was about to be disconnected. I can't play games without a hot outlet, can I? :)
I don't even care to read into how hard it is for game studios to play like little Hollywood types and spend $10 million to make a football player's fingers reflect a real-life player givin' it up to God after a touchdown.
To the game companies: it's a compromise. Look at ways where you can shift your business to churn out a product at a more reasonable product. In the same turn, consider just how deep and wide your cookie jar hand is at the moment.
Most people love to have that hard copy sitting on their shelves. It's akin to why many are not fans of solely digital distribution. Folks would pay for it if it didn't cost 30-50% of what they probably paid for the system hardware in the first place.
I won't blather anymore, I promise :). Thanks for hearing me out.
Love you, QJ!
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Sorry 'bout that!
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Just sayin'.
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Piracy has been around as long as personal computing has been around. Why can't these greedy asshats just be happy with making a massive profit?
Being a game developer and sobbing about piracy is like the CEO of Walmart sobbing about shotlifting... what is he going to do, close all his stores and lose out on billions nationwide because people steal about a mil in merch every years. Take your fat bonus and STFU.
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