Irdeto has shared some new data from its recent research regarding PC gaming piracy. As the press release reads, Irdeto tracked the downloads of a major sports title on P2P networks after the title, which did not include anti-tamper protection, was cracked on the same day of its release.
During the first two weeks, Irdeto detected 355,664 torrent downloads of the illegal copy of the title. Given the retail price of the game, this puts the total potential loss of revenue from P2P downloads at $21,336,283. The research also found that the first day of release is crucial for the protection of a AAA title, as 12% of the illegal P2P downloads occurred within the first day of the cracked copy appearing on the P2P networks (and a substantial number of these in the first hour).
Reinhard Blaukovitsch, Managing Director of Denuvo, Irdeto, said:
“Piracy is a threat that is firmly established in the games industry and, as our research suggests, it can result in potentially huge revenue losses for publishers if their games are compromised within the 14-day window following release. With this in mind, it is crucial for publishers to implement security strategies that make their games as difficult as possible to crack and reverse engineer. This way they will be able to better protect the revenues that allow them to continue to create such compelling games.”
The research, however, did not include the number of gamers that bought the game after testing/playing the pirated copy. As such, the real potential damage for publishers is not as enormous as the report claims. Moreover, a pirated copy does not equal to a lost sale as there are some gamers that are simply tempted to download the game in order to test it (similarly to what demos were back in the days. And since these days there aren’t any demos, some gamers are using pirated versions as mere demos and nothing more. Of course it’s illegal but then again these gamers were never part of the game’s target group and would had never bought the game).
So yeah, while Irdeto’s report is an interesting read, it does not really cover everything and does not really represent the real damage for publishers. 355K illegal downloads is a big number but what publishers need to understand is that a respectable number of those 355K pirates would had never bothered with that game in the first place. As such, publishers should not treat their legal customers like criminals and slap DRMs in their games. If your game is good, your target audience will buy it in order to support it. However, if you immediately treat them like criminals and – on top of that – include one hell of micro-transactions, you can kiss those PC sales goodbye, no matter what DRM you will be using.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email
Irdeto, the owners of the DRM system Denuvo, now that’s not biased and self-serving research at all.
“””””Research”””””
They literally just went to torrent sites and counted the downloads, that’s all they did here.
games that people want to play will buy those games regardless of
their port status, price, & drm protection.
While your point is valid that the number of purchases after piracy are not accounted for, you have zero data to account for how many people actually have done that, failing to prove that such instances even exist at all.
There was an old experiment done by Sports Interactive that used pre-crack and post-crack data and models to estimate what percentage of pirates would have bought the game if piracy wasn’t an option, the result was less than 2% of the total downloads. A more recent study by the EU estimated a positive effect (i.e. availability of pirated copies slightly increased legitimate transactions).
Pathfinder Kingmaker
Dragon Quest
Elex
Ruiner (ok so that was on sale)
Just off the top of my head and just in the last 3 to 4 weeks. Downloaded played liked bought. In some cases (like Ruiner and Elex) in some cases almost within the first 2 hours of game-play, despite bugs (Pathfinder Kingmaker is still a buggy code with a price tag).
Since each download loses them money, I’m going to download, delete and redownload the game over and over until the company goes bankrupt.
https://johnjohns1.fjcdn.com/pictures/I+like+the+cut+of+your+jib_228589_5463185.jpg
Haha I love you man. That was the best comeback to these mindless drones ?
Neither Irdeto nor any Publisher can know for sure what profits are lost due to piracy. In addition to the illegal downloads that cause a purchase because the person wanted to try it before buying it there are the people that download it with no intention of ever buying it no matter how good it is because they can’t afford to.
Irdeto would like for us to believe that they are forcing pirates to buy games if they want to play them right away but how many? No one knows how many are buying the game because they can’t get it for free and don’t want to wait for the crack.
My opinion is that the majority of those downloads were by people that would never buy the game anyway because they are too poor. Some do pirate games that can afford to buy games simply because they can get them for free but how many? What percentage? No one knows.
The last paragraph is on point!
1) what game?
2) uninstall after 5min = ask refund after 5min
3) download and seed for upload ratio, never install
3 is a big factor in why these numbers are so ridiculous. There are tons of “copy hoarders” out there. People with many terabytes of hard drives who just download every new “thing” out of habit, “just in case”. I used to know people like that, they would always brag about how they downloaded this or that and when you asked them, “how is it?”, they’d admit they hadn’t watched/played it and probably weren’t going to. I’m talking literally every new big budget movie or game (think anything with marketing basically), for years. It’s not humanly possible to consume all those media.
First: “Research”
Second: How many of those downloads translated to sales?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c315891a1ba8b0cf59ae6bf5f0d9dd3f8b4e0cdbfd66c546e33af458276ac058.png
https://i.redd.it/aynskp3acmwx.gif
I couldn’t possibly comment, officer!
Most of the pirates are from third world countries with low wages, bad internet connections etc. they never gonna buy real stuff no matter what kind of DRM use.
Why do SJW infested game companies expect us to pay for their shìtty games? They keep telling us that capitalism is racist white supremacy.
why do you even play the sjw games?
Not advocating piracy but lets get real. Tons of real world examples of DRM-free games being very successful (and pirated) because actual “loss” cannot happen with virtual goods.
Virtual goods are built once then the master image is copied/pasted for every single copy in existence thereafter. I cannot click a button and copy materials for a real world products, but gaming companies want people to think they have to build/acquire materials for every game copy.
Once a game is finished, only publishers/investors are making the money because devs (the labor) have been paid. Game is done. Doesn’t make it ok to pirate, but to claim there is a “loss” is absurd for products that don’t exist.
Unlike virtual goods, if I build chairs, cars, or boats for a living, I have to acquire real world materials and apply the labor for each and every one. If one is stolen or burns in a fire, then I have to procure materials again and put the labor into replacing that item.
This is corporate PR to convince paying consumers that DRM must be applied and accepted to stop the bad ol’ people who weren’t going to buy it anyways.
They are only attacking paying consumers.
actual “loss” cannot happen with virtual goods
If you’re talking about the morality of pirating, then that’s not the question to ask. The question to ask would be whether you would want someone to enjoy the fruit of your labor without compensating you for it. You write for profit an e-book, a song, an application — would you want it to be pirated or would you want to be paid?
“Irdeto detected 355,664 torrent downloads… this puts the total potential loss of revenue from P2P downloads at $21,336,283”
A disingenuous claim based solely on a $60 price point. They’re failing to take into account regional pricing variations.
Newsflash to Irdeto:
– people outside of the USA use torrents too!
– videogames aren’t priced at $60 throughout the world
tl;dr version: Lies, damned lies and statistics.
Well said !
Actually the price point is entirely irrelevant. Even at 1 dollar per copy there’s zero evidence that even ONE person who downloaded it illegally would have spent money on it. None. Of course, this becomes more immediately obvious to a thinking person when the example price is 60 dollars, but it actually holds true regardless of the price, as long as there is one.
“Actually”, the price point of $60 is wholly relevant to the claim they’re making so therefore it’s not “entirely irrelevant”. If, in your hypothetical scenario, the price was $1 then the impact of their claim would obviously be dramatically lessened (if we momentarily subscribe to Irdeto’s inherently flawed rationale, of course).
It may be irrelevant to whatever assertion/s you’re making but that still doesn’t make it “entirely irrelevant”. I of course agree with you that the basis of their argument is deeply flawed in numerous ways but whether we like it or not it does have some relevance within the industry and perhaps also for the legal authorities who seek to prosecute pirates and those who facilitate piracy when such flawed sums are often cited in prosecution.
Anyway, back to trolling KIM now!
BIngo!
Let’s be honest with ourselves if not with other people. There are so many games I would’ve spent money on day 1 if I didn’t have the opportunity to get them for “free”. Stop lying and admit it. So yeah, piracy hurts sales. There are 3 types of pirates though. Those who would spend money if they couldn’t pirate, those who would wait for a discount and those who are simply cheap ba5$stards and wouldn’t spend a dime even if piracy didn’t exist.
I would say that piracy affect sales. While sure it does have those who refuse to buy a game even if it’s one dollar for multiple games (I have met plenty of those myself). It’s also have those who buys games that they pirated before (I would belong in this category).
Now can you say that if piracy never existed in the first place the first example would buy the game that he pirated ? Maybe but not with without a doubt, but i can tell you that many games i have, i would not have bought if i couldn’t have played before.
So again in the end Piracy would AFFECT sales, if the result is bad or good it’s honestly hard to say, but i’m pretty sure it’s not the big deal that publishers portrait it to be.
Simply not….. just count all the different consoles, devices, and PCs ofc and all the released games, including indie ones. If piracy never existed, we all still wouldnt buy every damn released game and support all the different companies to save them from bankruptcy, it just doesnt works that way. Im not saying that piracy has no impact to game sales, thats also delusional……. but look for example at all the different consoles from the very first generation to the latest, most consoles were hacked veryfast but they were still successful in the long run.
Exactly. Just look at the whole PS3 x X360, while in the end they both got on equal footing the 360 remained on the front-sit of the “war” for the most part, and trought out the most part the 360 was easily hacked. Yet funny enough i didn’t hear developers or publishers complain about it at the time, also it was the same time that PC gaming was “marked” and doomed to die due to piracy so the hipocracy is mind boggling.
Yep!
In the case of 3, how does that hurt revenues though? They are not gonna buy the game in the first place and considering how most games nowdays are freaking reskins, i fail to see why anyone who is a pirate and doesnt buy games, would buy generic rehash of sport game 2018.
“There are so many games I would’ve spent money on day 1 if I didn’t have the opportunity to get them for “free”.”
If you didn’t have second thoughts about spending your money why would you have even looked up if there was a torrent available? It’s hard to prove that you “would have” done something had circumstances been different.
I didn’t have second thoughts. I like saving money. I bought every denuvo game that I wanted to play.
Also remember that bizzysgs is a rabid Sony Pony who’s been roundly mocked here on numerous past occasions for his anti-PC jibes and pro-Sony disingenuous nonsense. Hence for why his hypocritical plea of “Let’s be honest” is so laughable to me.
Please go and Fuq yourself because i buy my games. Stop telling us what we should admit to. Go speak for yourself you Cock-Juggling Thunder-Cunt. The sad part of your comment is that you would actually be applauded for the BS you just typed. The only thing i will admit to is that you are Fuqing Imbecile.
The truth hurts I see…
Don’t even bother trying to have a conversation with these Brainless Schills. These people have a hard-on for destroying their own civil liberties. #FCKDRM.
Stop using “civil liberties” as an excuse for pirating games. It’s pathetic. I would be willing to bet my life on the fact that you have pirated lots no DRM games. You probably haven’t even bought The Witcher 3.
Hey dipshit, when the fuq did I use civil liberties to defend piracy? What part of my argument even remotely suggest that I defend piracy or that I’m a pirate? So let me get this straight because I hate DRM and Despise Denuvo, that means I’m a pirate? Please go and kill yourself.
Truth be told, looooots of games actually do use DRM. Only some of them dont use any kind of DRM. Not to mention that you cant play some older games under Win7/8/10 anymore due to the SecuROM/Starforce DRMs (considered now as malware)…….. even if the CPU/GPU is capable of running them correctly.
What ? Where on earth did you get that idea ? Go look up the actual numbers. Ps4 is always the top selling platform for almost every game.
lol what do you mean it’s dying ? It already outsold the PS3.
On what facts do you base that ridiculous claim ? How can it be dying when it’s more popular than ever ? They censored some hentai games that only some no life virgins care about. Nobody else cares lol. and I haven’t heard of any scamming. All I’ve heard is everyone talking about all the amazing exclusives they deliver every year.
So many variables (even more if we go deeper) but their logic and mathemathics are: 355K downloads = 355000 X $60 in loss. Kindergarten is all I can think of right now…..
Oh look this again, the silly assumption a downloaded copy it’s a lost sale. The amount of times i downloaded a game just to install it, check if it’s working and unistall it 2 weeks after because i didn’t play once it’s astonishing. Even in my Steam games the amount of titles i barely played is surprising. But i guess only the times that the games are downloaded illegally matters, the people who pirate first to buy later ? Nah, that sh*t dosen’t matter. Right ?
Oh look this again, the silly assumption a downloaded copy it’s a lost sale. The amount of times i downloaded a game just to install it, check if it’s working and unistall it 2 weeks after because i didn’t play once it’s astonishing. Even in my Steam games the amount of titles i barely played is surprising. But i guess only the times that the games are downloaded illegally matters, the people who pirate first to buy later ? Nah, that dosen’t matter. Right ?
By the way, which Major SPORTS title is this article referring to ?
Irdeto did not reveal but I assume it is NBA 2K19 (which only used Steam’s protection).
Thanks for the quick reply though !
Can denuvo invent a protection system to secure lost revenue on consoles? Because AAA games are not doing so hot lately, franchises are put on hold and studios shut down.
…AND THAT’S A GOOD THING. ™
I d like to know what kinda piracy is going on in the console market because too many games fail to make profit recently.
They just afraid losing customer,thats all this BS all about
I have downloaded a lot of pirated games but 90% stop playing them after 30 min or 1 hour
So why not take advantage of Steam’s 2-hour playtime refund policy so to do what you’re already doing anyway without having to trawl through torrent sites?
I don’t like waiting 5 or 8 day for a refund I’m still waiting for a refund on google play stor for 8 day so this is bullshit
And i normally stop at 4 hour if the game not perfect i only finish like 3 or 5 game every year
You cannot abuse Steam refund policy to play test their entire library you know.
Ah, fair point.
I only ever used that site once. A couple of days later after redeeming the key I got a message on Steam informing me that the key was basically from a dodgy source aka stolen and that the game/key had been removed from my library. In fairness to said site, they did refund me without quarrel but I won’t be using them again.
Never trust G2A, Kinguin, basically every gray market. While sure you can buy it and not get any problem, but it could be desactivated in days if not weeks, in the end no worth the extra headache.
Indeed. I do trust the likes of Green Man Gaming and cdkeys(dot)com though but they’re not dabbling in the same kind of ‘grey’ markets as those sites you mentioned.
GMG and Nuuvem for me are godsends specially since for me the dollar value equals 4 to 1 and their offer my local currency wich vastly improves the price of the offers.
Nice!
you are dumb, maybe later you’ll understand why i’m saying this.
Doesn’t matter, the people who buy their services are the type who believe this sort of nonsense.
They are just talking to their target customers.
I.e. shareholders. Imagine the roundtable office discussion:
“Irdeto CEO: We are advancing our technology”
“Shareholder#1: Sure you do, see the spike in the graph you show us!”
I can’t speak for everybody, but what i know is that i *will* pre-order CP2077 as soon as it’s available. It’s easy to pay for quality, because it’s a win-win.
Thatshouldn’t be reason to lower your standards
Pre ordering is garbage in every occasion unless availability is extremely limited which is what started that practice in the first place, wait until you can see the state and quality of the game.
And Climate change is an hoax invented in China. What else? This is trash, because PIRATES DONT BUY GAMES IRDETO. If someone cant pirate PES or Fifa they just dont play it!!
All games i ever pirated were games i had not interest in them at all, and many games i pirated made me love the series and buy the sequels and even the game i already played like the witcher 1 and mass effect 1 i heard they were good but i was not attracted enough to buy them but after playing them ive bought their sequels and even bought the first of their series because they deserved my money.
I know that some pirate games because they are cheap bastards,but most of the time pirated games downloads are mostly from people that never had any intention of buying the game not even at discount so they cant really call those numbers “loss of sales”.
turns out my good friend and buddy KIM was right all this time, no surprises here. anyone who makes sense is called troll in here but know that his IQ is probably insanely higher than all of you.
i think i had an argument with you before and i regard you as someone who’s unbelievably dense in my mind. anyways, i’m mentally superior to you and that’s a fact. i’m superior to almost anyone because i’ve never scored an iq test lower than 140, you’re beneath me.kneel kunt.
“online IQ tests”
only someone with a low iq like you would make a sentence up. one in high school, one for a job interview and one for college. kneel to me inferior monkey.
lol
Irdeto can take the data and go wipe its a!& in a public toilet.
Poor sods. They look so homeless… their copyright protection lasts days, a SECURITY FIRM can’t control its own product to provide the environment its corporate employees market “top-dollar” on the media. Can you believe the jokers!
(I feel sorry for them going so low)
Loss of revenue LOLOLOL you mean revenue that there’s absolutely no proof would ever have existed otherwise? You CANNOT consider torrented games lost revenue. There’s no way whatsoever to claim that those people had any intention of buying the game if they had no option to torrent it. They may not even have played the game and may have just downloaded because they can.
Evidence more than exists to prove the opposite – people buy games once they torrent them and decide they want them.