What I'm trying to get to is that if developers put a second tier product out, the gamer will react to that accordingly that it is not worth their money and with that perception that there will be no post release support such as fixing bugs, net code optimization and optimizing the engine to run better, then what do they expect, that people will shell out fifty dollars that they cant resell or trade in for a sub standard product. and that's how games get pirated.
So you're saying that it's okay to pirate a game because it's not a great port job? This is why developers and publishers are turning their backs on the PC market. "
Im not saying it is ok to pirate games at all, im just stating that this is some of the logic that brings someone to pirate. If developers want to keep shoveling half assed ports to gamers that would have bought if the game wasn't gimped or had no long term commitment, then the developers and publishers have no one to blame but themselves. Also the fact that digital versions of pc games don't drop in price as fast as their console counterparts, hell a half assed port of Borderlands sells for 50 bucks on steam, Gearbox can piss off. Piracy is huge problem, and hopefully they will figure out a way to slow it down, but there will always be people who have no morals and have no problem with piracy. "
So what you're saying is that Jeff is right and developers should stop making PC versions of games, right? Financially speaking, it doesn't make sense to devote a team to do a "perfect" port job for the PC for most games. Would an awesome port of game X and the relatively small revenue gained from the PC sales even pay for a top developer to devote time to it? Probably not. As a PC gamer, yeah you get jobbed--this is the end result of PC gamers deciding that for any non-AAA title, piracy is justified. "
But i would argue that Jeff is right in some of his assertions, even though he was stating that they should give up on making single player games on PC, not PC games all together. But I would say that it is the non-AAA games and game developers have capitalized on the lack of support of the major publishers. Just look the developers of Killing Floor, Torch Light, and Audio Surf. their understanding of what PC gamers expect in a game, commitment in content and refinement of the overall experience made them gather a cult following. How else could you explain games like Stalker, Dawn Of War 2, Metro 2033, Supreme Commander 2, Sins Of A Solar Empire. And those developers of those games are no where near from what people would consider AAA. The audience is there, they just need to know that they are getting their getting what they paid for and not getting treated like second class citizens. I would rather publishers to stop putting out half assed ports than to complain that their half assed port is getting pirated. And I'm still not underwriting that piracy is a huge problem.
What I'm trying to get to is that if developers put a second tier product out, the gamer will react to that accordingly that it is not worth their money and with that perception that there will be no post release support such as fixing bugs, net code optimization and optimizing the engine to run better, then what do they expect, that people will shell out fifty dollars that they cant resell or trade in for a sub standard product. and that's how games get pirated.
So you're saying that it's okay to pirate a game because it's not a great port job? This is why developers and publishers are turning their backs on the PC market. "
Im not saying it is ok to pirate games at all, im just stating that this is some of the logic that brings someone to pirate. If developers want to keep shoveling half assed ports to gamers that would have bought if the game wasn't gimped or had no long term commitment, then the developers and publishers have no one to blame but themselves. Also the fact that digital versions of pc games don't drop in price as fast as their console counterparts, hell a half assed port of Borderlands sells for 50 bucks on steam, Gearbox can piss off. Piracy is huge problem, and hopefully they will figure out a way to slow it down, but there will always be people who have no morals and have no problem with piracy.
I would say look at the success of battlefield BC2. From the start DICE gave it full commitment to the PC version. The end result is that the PC version sold more than both console versions combined. If you look at some badly ported games or games that from the offset were not going to get the optimal PC treatment such as Modernwarfare 2 and Borderlands; they became some of the most pirated games of 09. What I'm trying to get to is that if developers put a second tier product out, the gamer will react to that accordingly that it is not worth their money and with that perception that there will be no post release support such as fixing bugs, net code optimization and optimizing the engine to run better, then what do they expect, that people will shell out fifty dollars that they cant resell or trade in for a sub standard product. and that's how games get pirated. I'm not trying to advocate piracy, just trying to give it perspective, in my opinion, being a person new to PC gaming, i have found it more enjoyable than i though, and it is really bad to see all these sensationalist stories that PC gaming is dead. Also hopefully Steam coming to Mac will encorage publishers to develop PC/Mac exclusively.
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