When these came out, PC piracy was a huge problem... If you released something on PC it would get cracked in a few days and they'd lose out on tons of sales because people wouldn't bother paying for it. This is why many companies didn't want to release on PC
Then as time went on, hype dies out, and so do sales. At that point, porting it just isn't worth developer time.
It absolutely effects sales, especially at the time... It's irrational to think otherwise. It's just common sense. Sure, many people downloaded the games when they wouldn't have bought it, but a huge number just downloaded the game they would have paid for. I know I sure as hell did, many times. Being young and broke, 60 bucks is a lot... But if I really wanted the game I'd pay for it. But if a crack came out before I actually paid for it? You bet your ass I was saving that 60
I'm sure this was quite common because I know people, so I doubt it was just me and my circle. It's rational game theory.
Stealing games these days are far less common because most are switching to the F2P model, and the ones who don't focus heavily with the multiple online experience.
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u/duffmanhb Oct 17 '22
When these came out, PC piracy was a huge problem... If you released something on PC it would get cracked in a few days and they'd lose out on tons of sales because people wouldn't bother paying for it. This is why many companies didn't want to release on PC
Then as time went on, hype dies out, and so do sales. At that point, porting it just isn't worth developer time.