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from the deadwood-'deadweight'-delights-dollar-delinquents dept.
Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Acid Wizard Studio, the creators of the popular Darkwood game, have shared a copy on The Pirate Bay. The developers want to help out people who don't have the financial means to buy a legal copy of the game and also prevent them from going to unauthorized key sharing sites.
Online piracy is an issue that affects many industries, and indie game development is certainly no exception.
While some developers see piracy as an evil that needs to be rooted out as soon as possible, others are more open to the motivations behind it.
The average game fan may not have the financial means to try out all the new titles that come out every month, for example. While these people are not by any means entitled to a free copy, sometimes the human element resonates with developers.
Acid Wizard Studio, the three college friends from Poland behind the horror game Darkwood, started thinking about this when they recently received an email from a desperate young fan.
They recount how a fan, who loved the game, asked for a refund because he was worried about his parent's reaction to the cost. They realized this was not an isolated occurrence and decided to do something very unusual in the videogame industry: make a free copy available on a torrent! The story concludes:
"We have just one request: if you like Darkwood and want us to continue making games, consider buying it in the future, maybe on a sale, through Steam, GOG or Humble Store. But please, please, don't buy it through any key reselling site. By doing that, you're just feeding the cancer that is leeching off this industry."
People who are into horror games can download a copy of the game here, or buy it here. The Imgur post with the full story of the developers, spotted via PC Gamer, is well worth a read too.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday August 27 2017, @09:45PM (2 children)
You sell your key, you make some money. The studio makes no money. Where's the money for the studio? There isn't any. It's like used books. You buy a book, you read it, you sell it. You get money for your used book. The author doesn't get a cut. Nothing for the author. To make money as an author is hard. You have to be very smart. You don't make money off the book itself. Not much. The book is like a big, big brochure for your real business. The book sells your business. It sells you. Brings in customers. Who bring in the profits.
(Score: 3, Informative) by vux984 on Sunday August 27 2017, @10:34PM (1 child)
They sold me the original key.
Redeeming a key on steam etc adds the game to your library. Once you do that, you can't resell it. Until you redeem it, you can't play it. The vast majority of key reselling is selling keys obtained from X at low cost (humblebundles, giveaways... etc??) and the resold at higher cost (after the bundle is finished, after the giveaway is over, etc...). The book analogy doesn't apply.
(Score: 2) by Jerry Smith on Monday August 28 2017, @06:55AM
I've heard that keys in economic less performing countries are cheaper. So 'buy in Poland, sell in UK' could be an option. But then again: I just heard it.
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