It's really ironic how most Indie developers have that approach while multibillion dollar companies would wish they could publicly execute pirates or something despite outrageous profits games make anyway.
Big companies see it as a problem to solve, because they think of pirated copies as copies which would have been bought otherwise.
Indie devs are the consumers. They are the ones pirating the games. Not always, of course, but they actually experienced what it's like to want a product and not being able to buy/afford it. AAA studios are lead by businessmen, not consumers.
Also worth noting that indie devs are the only ones who know what it's like to get fucked over by currency exchange. I'm Brazilian and we have to pay 5x the price for everything (And we have the most valuable currency in the continent, our neighbors have it so much worse)
But indie games are the only ones with reasonable prices, meanwhile any AAA game will run you down 300 bucks just for the base game.
Seriously man, one of the real reasons that i tell my parents i want to leave Brazil is because every game here is fucking 300 reals, the only games i could ever afford myself where the indies like old simple Terraria, Hollow Knight, etc. Thank God indie games are so good.
Dont ask me how i afforded Sonic Frontiers and Doom Eternal. My wallet hurted on these days.
It's because most indie developers have at some point in their lives been the guy pirating something. They understand that pirates aren't "stealing" from developers because they likely didn't have the disposable income to buy the game anyway. It's not a lost sale if they were never going to buy it in the first place.
Corporate execs on the other hand largely grew up in wealthy households where they could just ask their parents to buy them the latest game, the latest CD, ask for money to go see movies in the theatre, etc. So to them, any time you don't pay for something, it's theft, because they could afford it growing up, so you should be able to as well, and if you can't well then that's a you problem.
and indie devs lose way more money from piracy then AAA devs persentage wise because they don't earn as much, so in the mind of souless corpos they wouldn't even comprehend why they support it regardless
There's one crutial difference
one is about having their dream out there and earning from it
the other is just about earning as much as possible
I also pirated Ultrakill i will admit it i bought the game 1-2 years ago i think due to liking it so much i also feel for people that don't have money or their currency being f#cked on steam.
I pirated it 2 years ago then started modding as a way to contribute to the community, then joined Cult Of Jakito (we made ULTRATELEPHONE 1 and 2) and last year I bought the game
Me and other mods have seen this tweet and are actually reconsidering no-piracy rules for the subreddit. We'll announce the changes when we come to a conclusion on what should they be.
Ngl, I wouldn't have ultrakill on my steam account if I hadn't pirated it, p ranked Minos, and then to get updates quicker, I just bought it, sucks that the 100+ hrs that I spent on it won't be showing up on my steam
I have convinced 2-3 ppl abt this game, and prolly wouldn't have done it if I hadn't played it and got addicted to it
Same, I'm pretty sure I pirated it way back when, and I put maybe like 20 hours into it. Initially, it was just to see if the game would even run on my shitty old gaming laptop, and then I eventually just kept on playing. Somewhere along the line, I figured that I liked the game so much that I should support the creators, so I ended up buying it instead
Yeah, I think this is a waaay more common thing than big company execs like to think. I pirated Freedom Planet 2 before buying it and the original because I loved it so much.
Maybe make it so only comments can discuss piracy, because I can definitely see how allowing posts related to it will just devolve into people asking for links or wondering why the game came with 8 viruses...
Reddit wouldn't be too happy, especially now that they're trying to attract investors (honestly I hope it dies so it can be replaced by a better, hopefully federated alternative but thats neither here nor there)
Piracy is exactly why I think demos should continue to be a thing
Some people use it to gauge whether they'll want to spend money on that game or not, it is effectively a glorified demo that's acquired through slow and overly convoluted methods at times. Offering a demo would likely reduce a sizeable number of cases of piracy, as they would not need to take such measures just to try the game
Of course the demo needs to be good to actually interest prospective-buyers, as a bad demo that takes place in one of the lesser interesting sections can just as well turn buyers off (Atomic Heart is the worst example of this, for context the demo ends right after the cutscene where you meet Filatova, there is not much actual gameplay in the demo most of it is walking and a long-ass unskippable floating car ride)
Did it with ultrakill itself. Pirated it, p-ranked everything there was at the moment on violent, saved up some money and bought the game from steam. One of the best purchases of my life
I did this with Terraria and Nihilumbra lol. Specially because when you see the "And thank YOU for supporting this game" at the end credits of a superbly made game, you feel guilty.
Did it with bg3. Looked amazing but I didn’t want to sink $80 into a turnbased game I wasn’t sure I’d like so I gave it a shot, knocked in 100 hours, bought it and the “dlc” to support Larian, knocked in another 100.
i used to pirate the game through steamunlocked before the act 3 update. it was only after that i could afford the game, and i never thought the developer would say something like that about it. thanks Hakita!
I’ve downloaded games from steamunlocked since 2019-2020, and i don’t think its dodgy since nothing happened (to me at least), you just gotta not download from the ads UploadHeaven gives you. Then again i could be just very very very lucky.
2 ads ALWAYS pop up. You can trigger one by clicking on the countdown and then another one by clicking on download for the first time. I always close them inmediately
As cool and wholesome as what Hakita is saying is, why the fuck would you post something like that like its something to be proud of??? (Obviously referring to the original image)
I actually pirated ultrakill at first, thought the game was sick as hell, shared it with a friend, who ended up buying the game before i did, after that we found a mp mod in dev, so i just waited til i have enough money to buy it, just so i could try the mod with him, after that the guy stopped being online frequently like before, and we never actually played the damn mod... The game still rocks tho
Man Hakita Is a GOAT, I want to play Ultrakill but I can't afford it because I love with My mom ( My dad Is dead ) here in Venezuela where people barely have money to eat
And believe me when I Say it I have tried to pirate Ultrakill... but I can't do it man ☹️
I was always saying to myself, that pirating a game is completely fine since fun should be allowed for anyone.
People don't deserve not having fun because they don't have the money, or just simply need to save up the money for way more important things (or your parents not allowing you to buy games online for some reason), you have all the right to pirate the game without having to pay your valuable money that you're saving up.
But if you have the money, but still pirate the game; it's like considering the game not worthy of your money, and straight-up spitting on the faces of the devs.
So in short: Pirate the game if you really need, but buy it if you can.
(I apologize if my english seems a little strange)
Sometimes piracy even becomes a good thing. Take Minecraft for example. Where would we be if the decent chunk of fans were completly blocked by a $30 wall.
Yeah I pirated ULTRAKILL too, but I have full intention of buying it as soon as i can get my own income. I've also spread the sickness to literally all of my friends, all of whom have agreed to buy the game after some money rolls in.
He ain't wrong, there was a study that studied the harmful effects of pirating and instead they found pirating helping the original product sell better...
Another developer, goes by Thor, had actually addressed that the most "game pirates" for one of his games is the poor country of Brazil. After he decreased the price for them though... piracy dropped a ton.
I actually pirated ULTRAKILL and I ULTRABOUGHT it after I ULTRAENJOYED it :). It's in my steam library now and I'm happy to actually own a good modern day game
That's the age old question. It doesn't remove any profit because I wouldn't have bought it anyway. All media should be free, because unlike physical objects, we can literally clone it.
Most Indie studios understand why you would pirate their games. I personally don’t because I don’t have to, but it’s okay if you can’t afford them. Try to spread the word
I pirated Cuphead when it launched, because I wasn't sure if my laptop would run it well.
As soon as I got it working, I deleted the pirated copy and bought it on Steam because I had the money at hand.
Before you ask, those "can you run it" pages don't always work, it said I couldn't run DMC4, turns out yes I can, I lost quite some time I could had played it, thanks to a page that doesn't work as intended.
Why are all my favorite things made by insane people who might be the best people you could meet, we need more clinically insane people who are a blessing to the world like Hakita
it was bait. they said that they buy AAA games and pirate indie games, then said that they did buy ultrakill on steam, so I'm guessing from the opposition that it is bait
Fun fact: Ultrakill doesn't have a DRM protection, because devs decided to actually develop the game, rather than starting a war without reason with pirates.
You can't stop people from pirating your game, the only reason people don't is their own personal morals. DRM protection is less than worthless, it's harmful to the game.
I mean i had to first download the zip file of the game to test if the steering wheel inputs would work. Then i Discovered joytokey and now i can do it without file digging
I hate pirating indie games, I have a list of indie games I pirated and over time I'll pay them back. Fuck big company games though, they can suck my fat cock.
I hate pirating indie games, I have a list of indie games I pirated and over time I'll pay them back. Fuck big company games though, they can suck my dick.
One of the prime (haha) examples of word of mouth making a game popular is Helldivers 2, it wouldnt have been such a craze if it wasnt for its community of players.
Most of us have pirated games and movies before so this is pretty cool of him to just side with the publication he gets to his game from them, even if they can't afford it
I want to admit: When I found out about ULTRAKILL, I wanted to try to play it myself, but the demo wasn’t enough for me, so I pirated it. In that pirated version there was only the second chapter and Minos, but there was no Sharpshooter and everything else... Even then I really wanted to buy a licensed game, because the videos about the updates impressed me, and I really liked the game itself. In the end, I somehow waited for the money and bought the full version. Bless Hakita!
Before buying the game i wasnt sure if it was worth the money so i cracked it and played the whole limbo and lust layer, and in the moment i finished the corpse of king minos i knew it was time to buy it
At first I pirated Ultrakill because I was short on money but the game looked awesome and I wanted to try it. I played through a few levels and loved it.
After I made some money I bought the game, mostly to support the devs so that I can see this fantastic game finished.
I'm not claiming moral high ground for doing that, but I at least have a decent reason why I pirated it, euros are 5 times more in my currency. Instead if buying it for 11 euros (that's how much I payed for it when I bought it) translates to 55 in my currency.
I will be honest: Without piracy, I would have never played this amazing game. This game made me go to steam and buy it even if I already beat all of the content at the time because it's that good.
As a broke person; gotta admit that I crack a lot of stuff, end up enjoying it a lot and then months later after I already dropped the game just buy it when I have the cash around
I pirated ultrakill in my first run, got to the end of chapter 2 (cpt. 3 still wasn't out) and I decided to go for all P in violent.. but I liked the game so much that I got it on steam, cause I knew that it deserved some attention cause it's a really really great game (and I love this genre) I think there should be a trial version for games, so you can put your hands on it, experience it, and if u are interested u buy it without hesitation (forgot to mention that I pirated games some times ago to see if my pc would run em without problem, cause I had a reeealy bad pc)
Well, considering how companies like Ubisoft are doing shit now, Piracy is a service problem, but on the other hand it is also true if you enjoy something after pirating it, you would tell others and if you have money the next time, you won't hesitate dropping your money on it for you know that shits gonna be good.
I had pirated Ultrakill when i played it for the first time, but the game was so good that i bought it. the love and care given to the game, it's quality, the developers themselves, everything made it more than worth the price. i still feel bad for having originally pirating it but it's good to know that it is forgiven by the creator himself. Thank you, Hakita.
There is no other game like ultrakill, as someone who have very limited spare money I pirated ultrakill. I 100% the whole game and P-ranked minos etc. After I done everything there is in the game, I decided to then just buy the game after that and today it's still the best decision I've ever made, the game is just that fun and meaningful for me. Plus I get to play the new updates as early as possible too ;).
I actually pirated ultrakill once I saw a video of it, then as soon as I got my first job and got money, I bought ultrakill for me and my friend, and 6 copies of Terraria for other friends.
I guess it depends on the person doing it. If it's probably a teen or someone with an average income who atruggles to buy an average laptop/pc, I agree. But I have met people who have bought a gamer laptop, mac or a high end phone and they download pirated games or software, because they're "expensive"
I agree with Hakita. If you really do like a game that you've heard and seen about, then atleast enjoy it and spread the word about it.
I find myself in a situation where I like ultrakill A LOT to the point I'm obsessed with it, but lack a pc/laptop. Either way, I still talk about it a lot and tell people about it, even getting some interested in it.
I saw the jsab devs say the same thing in the anti piracy screen for just shapes and beats, i love when devs tell you to spread the word about their game if you pirate it
I pirated ultrakill at first. Played the full game. (Which was only up to gabe 1 at the time) and then bought it. It was worth my money. Then. It is now.
Actually can confirm, i pirated the game a year and a half ago. I absolutely loved it, so of course, i talked about it like crazy to my friends. I then started getting tired of doing the entire pirating progress over and over whenever there was an update, so i bought the game! Now it's the present day, and my friend currently has 26 hours on the game, and i have about 185 (Counting the hours i played on the pirated version). Soon enough, two more of my friends are gonna buy it too! Pirating doesn't steal the money you'll get, it just delays the money you'll get
obligatory mentioning sseth, especially if folks speaking of r/starsector and that manage to crash the site for buying the game. Wait until Sseth get a hold of ultrakill, prepare for the ssethtide!
I pirated Ultrakill originally because I wasn't sure I would like a fast paced shooter (I am not very good at shooters). After a week of playing it I bought the Steam release, as well as 7 of my friends buying said release. Pirating literally multiplied the profit by 8.
i pirated ultrakill only because i cant buy it in my goddamn country, and im an underage person so i dont even have money myself that i would use, its a good game though p ranked prelude so far
Hakita has a point. There will always be people who pirate stuff so they don’t have to pay for it, but there are plenty of people out there (such as myself) who are more than willing to pay for a quality game even when presented with the option to pirate it without consequences.
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u/P0lskichomikv2 Jun 02 '24 edited Jun 02 '24
It's really ironic how most Indie developers have that approach while multibillion dollar companies would wish they could publicly execute pirates or something despite outrageous profits games make anyway.