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Hooray for Gamers!

No copy protection = better sales?

from GalCiv2 Forums

This month's Computer Gaming World has a letter to the editor giving us kudos for not putting CD copy protection on Galactic Civilizations II.  In it, he says that not having copy protection helped make his decision to get the game.

As a gamer, I have a similar point of view. I lose my CDs. I scratch my CDs. My desk is a mess.  Nowadays, with games requring 3 or 4 CDs (I wish retailers would universally accept DVDs but that's a different issue), keeping CDs around to play is annoying.

I don't have exact worldwide sales numbers for Galactic Civilizations II, but we do know they're well over 100,000 units sold worldwide in the first 90 or so days.  That number is about as high as a game of our distribution level can sell in that time frame (units sold is a function of popularity X outlets available in the same way that a movie's first weekend take is a function of how well received it is X how many theaters it's showing in).

The question about copy protection is straight forward in our view: Does CD copy protection generate more sales due to less piracy than it costs in sales due to people on the fence deciding not to purchase.

CD copy protection to me is a lot like the issue I have with shareware. I don't mind registing shareware. But I know that I'm going to lose that serial # at some point. IF the site has a very very simple way of looking me up and sending me my info that is very apparent, then I'm inclined to buy it.  Similarly, not having CD copy protection helps protect my investment -- knowing I'll be able to play the game even if I lose those CDs. 

In GalCiv II's case, our upgrade system even has electronic registration. When someone upgrades to one of the new versions, they enter in their serial # that came with the game and it automatically registers them. So even if they lose the CDs AND their hard drive dies, they can re-download the entire game from us (not just updates the ENTIRE GAME) even yeras from now.

For these reasons, we are convinced that game developers/publishers can increase their sales by focusing on SERVING their customers rather than focusing on thwarting pirates. If someone is paying $40 for a game, they should be treated with respect, not with suspicion.

!FROGCARE!

96,639 views 70 replies
Reply #26 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Space Rangers 2 is a great game, and you can just destroy Starforce after install. I own Space Rangers 2, and nothing of Starforce remains on my system. I'm certainly not the only person who cracks all of their legal software, simply because I can't be assed getting the disk out or putting up with malware.
Reply #27 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thank you for not copy-protecting GalCiv2. The reason I say that is because my dvd drive recently broke, and for the time being, this is the only game I can play. Granted, it was the only game I was playing, but still. I can't play anything else, including *braces for groans* Sims2. I don't pirate software, or even music, and I appreciate being able to access the game I bought, despite a hardware failure.
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #28 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's this kind of thinking that made me fall in love with Galactic Civilizations II and Stardock. Treating your customers right should come above stopping thieves. Focus on your positive, not the negative.
Reply #29 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ok, here's my story about GalCiv2:
I read some threads about StarForce being used on X³: Reunion and someone pointed out, that GalCiv2 has no copy protection and the people buy it like insanes . Someone thought that this was especially the anti-copy-protection-people that bought it out of sympathy instead of real interest.
So I decided to give it a try and got the demo (which is quite a small download). Well, as you know it ends after round 144 and I didn't get a feeling for the game already. For another test drive I got a pirated copy (which I would have deleted, don't wanna waste disk space with a game that I don't like) and enjoyed the game. My purchased copy should arrive today or tomorrow

My conclusion is that it's a kick ass game AND the missing copy protection that lets people spend their hard earned money and not just the copy protection.

(Excuse me if I messed some sentences up, I'm from germany - and as you know the native language there is not english )
Reply #30 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Being able to download the hole game saved the last weekend for me when the power supply of my desktop died. As luck would have it I'd bought a notebook just the day before. The whole download from Stardock was much faster than me going through the chaos that occupies the room where I know my GalCiv2 CD was (I eventually fount it under some rather large stacks of paper on my desk yesterday). So a big thumbs-up to Stardock.
Reply #31 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ironically I still have my GC2 disk in my cd drive. Guess I'm just use to leaving a disk in there. As mentioned above, the copy protection craze is brought on by the cp devs preaching the "the end is near!" with companies having lost sales and the greed of said company making them feel that the need of stopping the few outweigh the need of taking care of the actual majority of paying customers. I'm only one person but I have vowed that I will not buy another game put out by the "big" greedy publishers. If they are more worried about loosing a sale to some group that will eventually crack their cp anyway instead of spending that development money on providing as bug free of a game as possible then this honest gamer will just not play their games. I may loose out on some "great" game(s) but those are few and far between nowadays anyway. I know I've spent more on games that actually suck than I have on games that are worth playing for more than a day. From now on when I get the craving for a new game, I'm going to search for some independant gaming company and see what they have to offer. From what I've seen from a couple indie producers, they still believe that it is the customer that pays thier bills so they tend to take care of them.

Just my 2 cents.
Reply #32 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I will be direct -
using copy protection doest NOT generate more sales for simple reason that the people that do not want to buy will find a crack anyway.

On the other hand (besides may be GalCiv 2 case where some users bought the game to prove that point) removing copy protection does not either hurt or generate more sales.
All it does is just more convinient and generates less anger towards the gamemaker so may be in future it does generates more sales for that company.
Reply #33 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
lol copy potection idea stupid now days when consider how people world there are compare to team created it. yea going stop being pirated but my feeling is most poeple piracte game were not going buy even if they had not be able get internet so why to get people never going buy in first place.
After galatic civiliation 1 witch terror star rocks, after screenshot of galciv 2 I deceided get it and love not has worry about have put cd in it to use it. and last civ game what version was gave me trouble using it, Galciv 2 no trouble with even though don't lastest graphics card in my machine.
Reply #34 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I rarely care about copy protection, mainly because I know there are cracks out there to bypass it. There is one exception, if a game has Starforce on it, and I know about it, I will not buy it. Recently a game offered me a beta test and I didn't install it due to starforce.

I do appreciate the ones that I don't have to use the disc to play. I prefer games like that.
Reply #36 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You´re so damn right! Spread the word among the other companies

Greetz,
Dani
Reply #37 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The copy protection systems mostly just harm the people who actually bought the game.


I agree... there's probably hundreds of thousands of game pirates all across the world and I have yet to see any game which has not been cracked. In fact I've heard the more difficult / complex the copy protection the more the pirates see it as a challenge to race with who will crack it first.
Reply #38 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I wish other companies would wake up and take a similar stance on CD requirements and protection. It'd be nice if they did distribution similarly too (the option to buy the game retail AND be able to register to download the full version is the best - I pre-ordered the game on CD and I've yet to crack the seal since I just install via SDC at my leisure (had a HD die recently then built a whole new machine so I've been reinstalling everything repeatedly).

The losers who pirate and obtain cracked software are going to do it whether CDs/DVDs are protected/required or not. I've read some accounts of players, who would normally buy software, declare that they will use cracks and pirated copies due to the invasive nature of some copy protection schemes (the Starforce virus, for example).

All the protection and requiring CD in the drive does is punish those of us who pay for our software.

I've been sick of needing a CD in the drive to play games I've paid for since it started happening. It's completely inconvenient and poor customer service.

As someone who pays for software and gets sick of being treated like a criminal, I completely appreciate how Stardock protects, distributes, and supports their software. Other companies need to stop thinking they're bigger than their customers and change the way they do business.
Reply #39 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I got back into gaming again recently and bought Spellforce 2 whilst on a buisness trip OS. On installation it asked if I wanted to install Starforce and I kicked myself as it all came flooding back to me why I gave up on games in the first place. Well since my interest for games returned I started to read game reviews again as well and came across another blast from the past GalCiv2 (although admittedly I never played GalCiv because I was way into MOO), the reviewer mentioned that there was no copy protection so it was really a no brainer, a MOO like game + no copy protection = purchase asap.

Spellforce 2 looks like a really good game as well, but i just look at it with distaste. I've had bad experiences with Starforce in the past and I'm surprised my anti-starfoce feelings lingers so strongly still .

Thanks for a great decision and I hope the sales numbers prove that those copy protection developers are nothing but parasites trying to tax somebody else's hard work.
Reply #40 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Nowadays, with games requring 3 or 4 CDs (I wish retailers would universally accept DVDs but that's a different issue), keeping CDs around to play is annoying.

I agree, especially since DVD players have been cheaper than new games for a long time. So why did you put GC2 on 2 CDs instead of 1 DVD?
Reply #42 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The obvious benefits of your support policy and the significance of the updates serve you well.

I think you probably get as many conversions from pirated copies as you so from the online demos.

The obvious upgrades to the game you get as a registered Stardock user, give a clear incentive to buy a legit copy. its obviously worth the money, once you start playing the game as see how much time you arewasting enjoying yourself.
Reply #43 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stardock has an advantage over other companies becaue it actually supports it games after release.

Maybe the other companies that insist on copy protection are assuming that they can't depend on THEIR level of support to provide an incentive for legitimate registration.
Reply #44 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I agree, especially since DVD players have been cheaper than new games for a long time. So why did you put GC2 on 2 CDs instead of 1 DVD?


Because people who buy computers out of the box and did not get a DVD player couldn't play the game, whereas if you put them on CDs, your target audience springs up.
Reply #46 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i dislike Captialim in extreme... Copy-protection is one of this "Issues" with american corperatism today, Corperation leaders don't care that they loose sales, they only care about the Bottom Line, and to them, copy-protection helps keep that balance... but infact they Actually Loose money, they probably are establishing monoplies over their products, not to make true profits... (Statement end)

main point is, Stardock is one of the greatest develpers in history, a company that cares in a evil corrupt soceity (Money-wise...) so i hope stardock can survive being smacked down by EA Games or i dunno... becausei think they would wine to thier friends at exxon and then have them buy you guys out... so good luck fighting the war agansit corperate idiocy. and i really hope you guys will stay alive even after frogboy (wardell) leaves SD.
Reply #47 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Exactly!!! I've never played a 4x game before and didn't have much interest in that type of gaming. I read about Stardock's philosophy on emphasizing customer service and it so inspired me that I want down to my local Walmart and bought a copy. That's something I never do. I usually buy my games used. I'm pleased I bought this game. I'm thouroghly enjoying it and it's a great change of pace from the popular titles I've been playing. Thanks Stardock!

- Craig
Reply #49 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oh, BTW, I also have had my share of woes with StarForce copy protection. I do not purchase StarForce protected games anymore. I also have a problem with Valve/Steam (HL2, Counterstrike). Turns out Steam requires you to connect and authorize everytime you launch the game. That's a problem for me so I no longer purchase Steam protected games either. I tolerate SecuROM and SafeDisk, they're not so bad, but I do use no-CD cracks on those. Basicly, I won't buy a game if I *have* to insert a disc or connect to the internet everytime I want to play.

- Craig
Reply #50 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If someone is paying $40 for a game, they should be treated with respect, not with suspicion.


I HEART YOU !!!!1!!!111!1one!1!!

Actually, for me the biggest annoyance over having to use a CD is that the game checks the CD for a second, but the damn disc sits there, spinning and making noise, for like ten minutes.

I'm old school, so I don't mind having to pop a disc in so much, I typically have the games I play lying in front of my PC anyways, but it's definitely nice to not have to bother.

I also VERY VERY VERY much appreciate being allowed to have the game installed at home AND at work, and being allowed to play the game in both locations, without being seen as some "Dirty pirate who's trying to steal some poor developer's livelihood."
(I've never understood how that works after you've paid them fifty bucks.)

You guys are darlings of the industry right now. Compare that to Egosoft, who were kings of the world after X2, but because of their publisher's decision to use Starforce, are now being viewed as a really big nasty turd with X3. To the point where their most idiotic dev feels the need to go on message boards all over and bitch about gamers who "Boycott games with Starforce" and how they are "killing the little guy."

Stardock - No Copy Protection - Yay.
Egosoft - Copy Protection + Insane Dev - Not So Yay.

It's not that hard to figure out, is it? Maybe the rest of the industry will catch on at SOME point.