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The Witness is being heavily pirated. J. Blow says piracy could impact his future.

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R

Raylan

Banned
The Witness is being heavily pirated

Jonathan Blow says piracy could impact his making another game

Jonathan Blow's newest work, The Witness, has been mostly showered with praise, but unfortunately a lot of players don't feel Blow should be paid, as they've been relentlessly pirating the $40 game. Blow tweeted today that "It seems The Witness is the #1 game on a certain popular torrent site. Unfortunately this will not help us afford to make another game!"

The independent developer then continued to lament the potential impact of his game being stolen: "I'm glad that a lot more people will be experiencing the game! But I also want to be able to make another comparable game next! Just sayin'."

For Blow's hit game Braid, which some would argue was a catalyst for the indie resurgence in the industry, the developer actually created a fake version to distract potential pirates from the real game, but on The Witness Blow just didn't have the time to do that.
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More here
 
M

Makonero

Member
Isn't this an example of pricing yourself out of the market? I mean, piracy is completely wrong, but I doubt the vast majority of pirates would have paid $40 for the game in the first place.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Yeah, people are assholes.

Try to focus on the sales you are getting instead of the ones you aren't. Chances are most of those people wouldn't have paid for your game in any context.

Makonero said:
Isn't this an example of pricing yourself out of the market? I mean, piracy is completely wrong, but I doubt the vast majority of pirates would have paid $40 for the game in the first place.
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There's nothing wrong with the price point.
 
6

60EffPeeEss

Member
The price point shitstorm will do that. People think its just a kooky wee puzzle game and not something worth the asking price. Did he do much to really push the reason for his price across before it was announced?
 
S

Symphonic

Member
I thought $40 bucks sounded a bit steep (not that it's not worth that, but just what it's worth to people as a puzzler), so this isn't surprising.
 
B

bananafactory

Banned
Makonero said:
Isn't this an example of pricing yourself out of the market? I mean, piracy is completely wrong, but I doubt the vast majority of pirates would have paid $40 for the game in the first place.
Click to expand...

I doubt they would have paid $30 or even $20. I really don't think pirates give a fuck about the price
 
E

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
Makonero said:
Isn't this an example of pricing yourself out of the market? I mean, piracy is completely wrong, but I doubt the vast majority of pirates would have paid $40 for the game in the first place.
Click to expand...

Well, these people will then also not buy the game during a sale or after a price drop, so the financial impact is still real.
 
S

Soulflarz

Banned
Makonero said:
Isn't this an example of pricing yourself out of the market? I mean, piracy is completely wrong, but I doubt the vast majority of pirates would have paid $40 for the game in the first place.
Click to expand...
For a full length puzzle game, no, he didnt.
Some people would have pirated it regardless and this works as a great excuse for them. The sale price will be completely in their range, they just don't want to wait
 
N

Nibel

Member
According to the release stream, The Witness budget is around 6 million dollars.

SteamSpy shows sales somewhere in the 23k+ range last time I checked. And who knows if all of these were bought from the Steam store.

Man, really scared about him and his team - this is shitty.
 
K

KyleOnTheRun

Member
Makonero said:
Isn't this an example of pricing yourself out of the market? I mean, piracy is completely wrong, but I doubt the vast majority of pirates would have paid $40 for the game in the first place.
Click to expand...

It's priced lower than thousands of games much shorter and less fulfilling. If pirates think it's a good game, good enough that they'd want more games like it to be made, the onus is on them to help make that happen.
 
M

Mr.Marston

Member
Nibel said:
According to the release stream, The Witness budget is around 6 million dollars.

SteamSpy shows sales somewhere in the 23k+ range last time I checked. And who knows if all of these were bought from the Steam store.

Man, really feared about him and his team - this is shitty.
Click to expand...

I wonder how the console version is doing...hopefully good enough.
 
F

flkraven

Member
When companies delay the PC release, and release on both consoles first, I wonder if that is an attempt to curb piracy. I wonder if Blow would have been better off releasing on PS4/XB1 first, then delaying the PC/Mobile releases.
 
V

Venfayth

Member
I bought the game on steam for $40 and even after just a few hours of playing I absolutely feel like I'm going to get my money's worth.

edit: It's probably a worrying sign that he's upset about piracy. If the game was doing fine I don't think an indie dev would worry about pirate numbers? Maybe I'm wrong there. Just a thought.
 
G

Gipsy Danger

Member
ElTorro said:
Well, these people will then also not buy the game during a sale or after a price drop, so the financial impact is still real.
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It's really not. Most pirates would pirate at any price. They just don't like paying for things. These aren't really lost sales as they would never have been sold even without the pirating option.
 
S

shortsFortallPeople

Banned
the Witness has already made a million dollars on Steam before valve takes its cut and probably something around that ballpark on the PS4, too.

I mean the man might already have made 2 million on the witness in less than a week, i don't think piracy is really putting a hurting on him. Not to condone piracy in any way shape or form, but I'm not buying his concerns.

edited because i was tired of explaining what i meant since people don't seem to grasp what "im not buying it" means. christ almighty, put your pitchforks down
 
S

Stanng243

Member
Seiru said:
Yeah, it seems like some devs just get super obsessed with the idea that people are pirating their games. Doesn't seem healthy or rational to get so bothered by it.
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Or you know, he wants to be able to fund another game, and people pirating this one may stop that?
 
F

Fireblend

Banned
Is this some sort of price-shaming that's going on in this thread? ffs. We-re talking about a 60-hour long game with high production values that was 8 years in the making and you think it's his fault people are playing the game illegitimately for pricing it at $40?

smh.
 
L

LegendofDragoonLives

Member
Why are you people complaining the game is 40$? Isn't it like 40 hours long with AA quality level graphics? Just because a game is indie, doesn't mean it can't go above 20$. As for pirating, yeah it sucks. Got to love people who spend 1000$ on a PC and then pirate more than half of their games. :\
 
S

silvermember

Banned
This might be a hint for companies to first release on consoles to ensure sales then eventually release it on the PC to get whatever is left over.

Anyways pirates suck.
 
rbanke

rbanke

Member
Not that this is unique but that its accepted to essentially make up a news story based on a few tweets is ridiculous.
 
G

GhostTrick

Banned
Price issue is relative. At 40 dollars, the game is producing higher revenue. Now, would the market react far more favorably at 20 dollars ? It would need more than twice more the actual sales. And I believe this is a game that will show some legs in the end.
 
D

Dreamwriter

Member
Htown said:
Try to focus on the sales you are getting instead of the ones you aren't. Chances are most of those people wouldn't have paid for your game in any context.
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Pirates always give this excuse, but it's 100% false. I've known a couple hardcore gamers who regularly purchased games, then got the ability to pirate games, and didn't pay a cent after that, even if they really liked the game. People who made decent salaries and could easily afford to buy the games. Sure, some of those pirates wouldn't have paid for the game in any context, and some will buy it after pirating it because they like it. But many people who would have paid for it, will now not pay for it. A real lost sale due to piracy.
 
L

Lady Gaia

Member
It's a shame, and obviously a good reason why so many PC releases don't come alongside their console counterparts. I'm really enjoying The Witness on PS4 and would encourage anyone who likes to think about their games to buy a copy.
 
M

Mass_Pincup

Banned
It's top 4 in the best selling games on steam, not like it's not selling well.

At least it shows interest in his game, he should be happy about that.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Nibel said:
According to the release stream, The Witness budget is around 6 million dollars.

SteamSpy shows sales somewhere in the 23k+ range last time I checked. And who knows if all of these were bought from the Steam store.

Man, really scared about him and his team - this is shitty.
Click to expand...

It's too early for Steamspy sales numbers to be accurate.
 
D

DrArchon

Member
I also thought that $40 was too high, but that's no excuse for stealing the game. I put it on my wishlist so that I wait for it to go on sale, but apparently these guys are just too impatient, or maybe think puzzle games should all be free.
 
T

TheShampion

Member
Hopefully the PS4 version makes up for the piracy on the PC version.

Though, I suppose the devil's advocate response is that what The Witness is and why people are loving it so much is pretty mysterious to someone who isn't playing it right now. The problem is exacerbated by any explanation being a spoiler and potentially ruining the experience for anyone who wants to play in the future.
 
A

Amneisac

Member
KyleOnTheRun said:
It's priced lower than thousands of games much shorter and less fulfilling. If pirates think it's a good game, good enough that they'd want more games like it to be made, the onus is on them to help make that happen.
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It's not really as much about pirates not buying, as people like me not buying it. I'm not going to pay $40 for it, so that's one less sale. So if the same X number of people pirate the game, and only Y people buy it because $40 feels like too much for them, then piracy seems to have a larger effect.

At least that's my opinion on the whole thing. It's not about people pirating it because it's too expensive, it's just about people not buying it because it's too expensive.
 
H

Hoje0308

Banned
Makonero said:
Isn't this an example of pricing yourself out of the market? I mean, piracy is completely wrong, but I doubt the vast majority of pirates would have paid $40 for the game in the first place.
Click to expand...

Pirates would have continued being the entitled fuckwits they are at any price point. Don't blame the creator for the shitty behavior of others.
 
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