Pluralistic: “If buying isn’t owning, piracy isn’t stealing” (08 Dec 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.net

The ability to change features, prices, and availability of things you’ve already paid for is a powerful temptation to corporations.

  • schmidtster@lemmy.worldEnglish
    32·
    2 years ago

    You would be in the minority, piracy can increase sales because a lot of people see the value after the trial period and pay for it.

    Linky for source of one company.

    • Zoolander@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      2 years ago

      Did you even read your own article?

      "That’s really awesome for an indie dev; a few thousand bucks is nothing to shy away from and can get them going on their next project. I do believe it gave them a boost, but this is very much a PR headline rather than an exponential overnight success.”

      “While they successfully moved the needle and made a PR splash, this is not a sustainable approach,” Laborde said. “It reinforces a mentality that art ‘should be free’ and ultimately devalues their work over time. This works as a one-time attention grabber and audience-expander, but I can’t recommend it long term.”

      It did not increase sales. They couldn’t even attribute it to sales.

      Such a significant increase in sales certainly sounds impressive, but for Nicholas Laborde, founder and executive producer of Raconteur Games, the numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.

    • Patches@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      21·
      2 years ago

      That article you linked notes that this is one dev who made a dubious claim.

      “When you see a percent but not a number, it is because the number isn’t strong”. Aka going from 1 sales to 4 sales is a 400% increase and yet extremely unimpressive.

      • schmidtster@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        2 years ago

        Why are you sensationalizing the quote?

        Actual text below

        “With only 10 reviews on Steam, saying a 400% sales increase is an eye-catcher for sure but not necessarily as huge a financial payoff in context as that percent shouts at us,” he explained. “Others can correct me if I’m wrong, but Steam reviews usually hover around roughly 2% to 5% of copies sold, so if we go off of 5% and it has 10 reviews, that’s around 200 copies sold. If a 400% increase occurred, then they’ve now sold close to 1,000 copies. That’s really awesome for an indie dev; a few thousand bucks is nothing to shy away from and can get them going on their next project. I do believe it gave them a boost, but this is very much a PR headline rather than an exponential overnight success.”

        • Patches@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          21·
          2 years ago

          Actual text also below???

          “A mentor once told me that if you see the percent, it’s because the number isn’t strong. If you see the number, it’s because the percent isn’t strong. But if you see both, that’s when there’s something,” Laborde told GameDaily.

          • schmidtster@lemmy.worldEnglish
            12·
            2 years ago

            So where did the one sale to four come from?

            Another Linky

            How many do you want that corroborate that it increases sales and not cannibalize them?

            • Patches@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              21·
              2 years ago

              It’s just a demonstration that the number isn’t given. That is the weakest example that could show a 400% increase.

              The 2 to 5% Steam Review is also a wild guess.

              • schmidtster@lemmy.worldEnglish
                11·
                2 years ago

                There was no need for a demonstration, the article went into detail explaining their numbers. There was no need to sensationalize the information. Thats bordering on fallacious arguments, well not bordering, it IS.

                It’s based off of somewhat available statistics, some games release sales data and you can extrapolate and get a decent sample size. So not a wild guess in the slightest. Steam also has all that information internally, you can go verify the claim yourself if you want. But there’s no need since plenty of people have done it multiple times and found the averages based off tiers of sales.

                And it’s moot, I can provide dozen more similar claims, there’s even been studies done.