Everything changes. That's life.
Way back in 1980 Richard Garriot (aka Lord British) created Ultima, a simple computer game that led to a long running series (Ultima online in the 90's was one of the first online games).
He talks about having his friends help him make tile graphics, and copy and shrinkwrap copies of Ultima in his basement for distribution. The Ultima series had over ten games, and made several appearances on consoles too. That is the dream of the indie game publisher, to make a game in your basement and end up being knighted by the queen of England.
Nowadays, people tell stories of being 'beaten to the shelves' by the pirates. It is sad. But that's not the end of the story by any means. The story is changing, that's all. The "SHELVES" aren't the place to do business anymore.
Who rents movies? Who buys cd's? I don't. I buy mp3's. In modern times, a cd is just a useless hunk of plastic. If i were to buy one, what would I do with it? Immediately, I would rip it, convert it to mp3, and file it away in my file cabinet, never to be taken out of its case again.
Do we really want to let corporations charge us for useless plastic? Of course not. Cd's are done. Gone. The past.
The same with movie rentals. They are a thing of the past. What's happened, though, is that without a physical object to define the properties of 'Object for sale' we've lost our mental image of what the object is. Instead of objects, the internet is a constant stream of entertainment, with no beginning or end to the objects.
Its not just piracy.
The cassette tape destroyed the record and the 8-track. The cd then destroyed the cassette tape. And now the mp3 has destroyed the cd. And something else will destroy the mp3. Everything changes.
Cd destroying the cassette.
Even if piracy hadn't destroyed Paint Shop Pro, the open source projects, such as the GIMP, would have. Why pay 99$ for PaintShopPro when you can download the GIMP, which can do all the same things, for FREE?
But free isn't everything.
A World of Warcraft user, buying by the month, could easily spend 180$ a year on that one single game!
Adobe photoshop still sells for 600$ a copy.
Autocad is $3000 per copy.
You can't pirate WOW without hacking the servers, which is very difficult, and as with any crime, if you keep doing it, you will eventually get caught, and lose everything you worked for. The servers, the online service, IS the physical object i spoke of earlier. It has definite boundaries and a definite price.
Photoshop and Autocad appeal to the industrial market, where you cannot publish a 50 million dollar project (such as a space shuttle launch, or GTA 4) while using pirated photoshop/autocad, because you've set yourself up for a huge lawsuit which can take all the profit you've made. Rockstar does not pirate photoshop. NASA does not pirate autocad. In this case, the LAWS surrounding profit are the object. Since piracy, 99% of the time, does not involve profit, there is no object in piracy.
So what does this mean? It means you have to create an OBJECT of some sort. Something which has definite boundaries.
With consoles, that object has usually been a cartridge or a disc. But of course, that doesn't apply to any device which can connect to the internet.
Even if you could develop a game for one of the few remaining 'internetless' devices, that still wouldn't guarantee success. Because even if your game is grand, there are so many online arcades, online games, free to play.
Do a google search for "last chaos" and tell me that that game does not look as good as WOW? And Last Chaos is free to play!
World Of Warcraft
Last Chaos
Yet last chaos is making money. With millions of visitors a day, AeriaGames has a traffic equal to a television network in 1985 (i use that comparison because in 1985 you could sell your game and make a lot of money, yet not have millions of viewers, like a TV network would in those days).
And think about it....how can a free game like LC look so good? Cause they have money. Lots of it. Because that's what traffic brings. Do you think they made those great graphics, those long quests, and maintain those multiplayer servers for free?
The point is....a good idea is still worth a lot of money. In fact, a good idea is worth even more money than it was 20 years ago.
Piracy didn't bring us here. Technology and Innovation brought us here. If you want to make it, for real, you gotta do something good. No, you gotta do something GREAT!
1990 wasn't the best time to make and sell a game, TODAY IS!
I'm willing to bet a singer who is nominated for a Grammy doesn't sleep in an alley, no matter how many people pirate their music.
If you make a game that people like, people will take notice. There is profit to be made, whether by ads, online services, or in selling your game to a bigger company. But it starts with a good game. A good idea. Making a great game is the first step. Your profit will just be made in different ways than it would have been in the past.
Quit trying to be a Lone Gunman and become part of a TEAM!
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