Gabe Newell says piracy is about service. Not price.
We all know that Gabe Newell feels that the root of the gaming industry's problem with piracy is not the price of the products but rather the quality of service that the products and the developers of those products provide.
During a recent interview with The Cambridge Student Online, Newell discussed what he means by that in a little further detail.
He said the most common misconception about the piracy issue is that it is all about the pricing of products but Valve believes the issue is more commonly rooted in the services which said products provide.
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"For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24/7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country three months after the U.S. release and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable. Most DRM solutions diminish the value of the product by either directly restricting a customer's use or by creating uncertainty."
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He said that because Valve provides a much greater variety of service that the software pirates can not possibly match, the company has become such a large success in online distribution, that online piracy is basically a non-issue for the company.
Newell concluded by saying Valve doesn't necessarily strive on being a better game developer or ever a better online distributor but rather becoming the best provider of customer service it can possibly be.
This is definitely a refreshing and dare I say innovative way to combat piracy. Valve's initiative to provide top notch customer service, work around BS restrictions like region-locking and make each gaming experience as rewarding and unique as possible, is a greater way to combat piracy than to merely lower prices, or promise to create eventual DLC add ons that will cost the consumer more money.
Gaming is an expensive hobby and gamers want to have a gameplay experience that is well worth the investment that is put into each purchase. This is what will guarantee repeat business, no matter how tempting the thought of downloading from a torrent site might be. Free might be the best possible bargain (even if it happens to be from an illegal source) but if the product is truly great, people will spend the extra cash to own the genuine article. Plain and simple.
But that's just my opinion g1s. What's yours?
» Source: http://games.ign.com/articles/121/1213357p1.html
» Tagged In: #gabe newell, #PC, #piracy, #Ryan Conway, #valve
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AstartesPanda
Nail on the head, and its not just games either its movies, why piss off your customers by bringing a game out in US first and THEN weeks/months later the rest gets it, they are only hurting themselves and movies are just as bad, endless shit they bring out the amount of money they throw at "stopping pirates" they could use to bring out movie/game on a GLOBAL scale, absolute no reason why not. I remember everyone was crying about music being pirated till the industry kinda woke up and itunes lead the way, who the hell wants to pay out the ass for an album with 2/3 good songs and the rest is shit ? no -one. Games & movie industry need to get with the times. And stop wasting money trying to cling on to the complete control they used to have over us, embrace the future or be left behind.
BitCloud21
I agree with Gabe. Three years ago I owned maybe a dozen PC games, now I have over 60 on Steam. Steam offers deals and great services that have won me over to using there service. I have two different computers and the ability to have the same save games on both is very convenient. Steam provides a valuable service that keeps me coming back. They keep bringing me back with their sales, but I now use the service so much that I even buy new games on Steam, because they give a 10% off pre-order bonus that I actually care about. Keep up the great work Valve.
I also want to add that I do not buy games with invasive DRM, like some of Ubisoft's always on DRM that requires an internet connection. It has resulted in me not playing some of their games or buying them used for console since I know they don't get money for used game. DRM makes piracy worse by screwing over the people who aren't pirates. DRM can always be gotten around and by mandating an internet connection, your game is now less valuable than the free pirated game that does not require internet.
DerikLink
What? It's about service? I live on Brazil, I spend about 150% more in comparison with US on games, and this guy says that the piracy it's about service?! Don't be a bitch, dude. You don't know how is hard to live with abusive taxes...
The_SlaY3R
I toally agree. I mean you do spend money on the things you like and to support the product/things. It's basicly like screwattack. You like the site and all, you watch the great job they're doing then you'll support the show. How? Buy stuff from the store.
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LightningFast
... And Gabe Newell continued to be boss. THE END.
Seriously though, the guy knows what we want.
keykarl97
but piracy is the reason why they creating the online censorship in the first place