Piracy Rampant for World of Goo

November 17th, 2008 · 57 Comments · Blather, Games

2DBoy has been scrutinizing their numbers and has come to the conclusion that the rate of piracy of their award-winning indie game World of Goo is somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-90%.

While their stat-gathering might not be entirely sound, even a 60 or 70% piracy rate is pretty disappointing. We hear all sorts of reasons (or excuses, perhaps) for people pirating games. Piracy as a stand against invasive and pointless DRM, as in the case of Spore or Bioshock. Piracy because the companies that make them are making untold millions anyway, as in the case of Fallout 3 or Far Cry 2. Piracy because games are way too expensive in general. Or, because people like to “try” before they buy.

But World of Goo shipped without any DRM whatsoever. It was made by a couple guys on their own, not some huge behemoth of an entertainment corporation. The game was only $20. And, there was even (eventually) a free demo of the entire first chapter.

So, I guess all those “reasons” for pirating games are bogus, when you get right down to it. The truth is really a combination of two factors: pirating games is really, really easy, and many people feel simply entitled to have things for free. Music, movies, games, software, what have you — some people just don’t feel like they should have to pay for any of it. Bottom line. And I don’t even have a major problem with that, I just wish more people would be honest about it.

I also don’t think 2DBoy is going to be missing the money. Chances are, most people who pirate a game would not have bought the game anyway. I don’t think a 80-90% piracy rate translates to them losing 80-90% of sales, not by a longshot, just like it doesn’t for the music industry. Despite the ads, stealing a game is not like stealing a car. That’s not what this post is about.

Goo was just a really great opportunity to show the games industry that DRM is a terrible idea. It’s a bad idea, because it winds up hurting the people who buy the game — they’re the ones who will be punished by the DRM, not the pirates. And, maybe DRM would eventually go away if it could be shown that DRM actually leads to more piracy rather than less. What better advertisement would there have been than a game that shipped without any DRM whatsoever and showed considerably less piracy?

Alas, World of Goo, the inexpensive, DRM-free gem that it is, is showing a comparable rate of piracy as any other expensive, DRM-soaked game out there. Take away the classic reasons for pirating a game, and you still get plenty of piracy, I guess. And, I assume, we’ll still get plenty of DRM in our games in the future, too.

Tags: you wouldn't steal a tag

57 responses so far ↓

1 francisco // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:08 pm

The whole point of checking the piracy levels for them was to make a point that DRM games have the same amount of piracy and that DRM only punishes good users.
2 Arctem // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:09 pm

This comes as no real surprise (though I expected more like 50-75%), as I lost my faith in people a long time ago. (about the time McDonald’s was sued because someone spilled coffee on herself)
3 greeneggsnsam // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:10 pm

Left 4 Dead, I predict, will have a low piracy rate. I think that the availability of the game on Steam will encourage purchases, not to mention the fact that it’s guarunteed to be good- it’s a Valve game. People know they’re spending their money right.
4 The Pants Were Dead // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:10 pm

You wouldn’t steal a handbag…you wouldn’t steal a car….you wouldn’t steal a baby….you wouldn’t shoot a policeman…and then steal his helmet…you wouldn’t go to the toilet in his helmet….and then send it to the policeman’s grieving widow…and then steal it again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTR-c2q_dhE
5 Wowbagger2004 // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:10 pm

Everyone sucks. I bought the game from their site and was overjoyed that it was just an .exe. I thought it was brave and awesome.
That people still stole the hell out of it is disappointing.
I guess it’s DRM buttrape all the way from here.
6 Robert64 // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:12 pm

Damn you #4, I was going to quote that.
7 gork // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:13 pm

i pirate game but no play for more than five minutes not my tipe of game

shud uv downloadd demo :(
8 Jimbimanim // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:14 pm

World of Goo doesn’t come out in Europe till some time next year on Steam and retail. You can still buy it on the 2DBoy website… If you have a PayPal account or have a friend with a PayPal account. A lot (but definitely not all) of the pirates are probably from Europe and have no way of getting it other than pirating.
9 gork // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:16 pm

also n e 1 wo refuzes 2 buy game cuz uv drm just tryin 2 justify them stealn ther game
10 The Pants Were Dead // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:21 pm

Sorry man, it just works out like that.
11 SyrusRAyne // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:25 pm

FUCKING pirates. Goddamn it.
12 The Pants Were Dead // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:28 pm

And I would steal a tag, actually.
13 dudekazoo // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:45 pm

I stole Spore for the aforementioned reason, the heinous DRM. I did not steal World Of Goo. I’m biting my nails waiting until I can buy it. In the mean time I convinced a friend to buy it sight unseen. 2DBoy are my new heroes and I respect them too much to steal their product. I think it’s unfair to say all pirates are liars without considering that not every pirate steals everything they can. I pay for lots of games, especially those that I have pirated or the sequels to those I have pirated. Hell, I burned a copy of Half-life ten years ago, three weeks ago I pre-ordered Left 4 Dead, you can’t judge the personal motives of millions of individuals. I think internet pirates are probably one of the least homogeneous groups you will find. So please, don’t pigeon hole someone you don’t understand.
14 Josh // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:48 pm

Hell, I already stole the tag.
15 An Unconcerned Citizen // Nov 17, 2008 at 3:59 pm

The demo showed me that I didn’t like the game anyway, and thus I wouldn’t buy the full version. Most other games (usually the behemoths of gaming, say, Far Cry 2) don’t even HAVE them demos. It’s then plausible to pirate the game, since you have no evidence that you will actually like the game. This leads me to believe that a 90% piracy rate would have been good news for aforementioned behemoths of gaming, since no one CAN ‘try before they buy’ — and if they like it, “hey, I already have it, why should I pay for something that’s already on my PC?”.

This is also why I like VALVe so much — they both (usually) release enough media as well as (in the case of L4D) one or multiple playable demos, plus one can’t play online without Steam. As a bonus on top of that, there’s no way in any afterlife plane of existance that you can go wrong with a VALVe game.
16 Suraj // Nov 17, 2008 at 4:18 pm

In many parts of word $20 is still a large amount of money when you convert it into local currency. This gives one more incentive for piracy. Check the percentage of Windows piracy in Asia you will be surprised.
17 Mike // Nov 17, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Gee, maybe cuz it’s way overpriced. I tried the demo, and its a really good game. But not for $20. Sorry. I suspect many others (unlike me) will pirate the game because of the price alone.
18 n00bie51 // Nov 17, 2008 at 4:30 pm

I pirated Fall Out 3; I enjoy the game, so eventually I will purchase a copy to support the developer because I’m a guilty bastard.
19 Putzy // Nov 17, 2008 at 4:58 pm

oh TWENTY dollars! dear god! because nobody can spare a measly twenty bucks! does anyone actually have a job here?!?
20 Sam // Nov 17, 2008 at 5:03 pm

I was thinking about pirating the game (I know bad me… I almost never do it seriously… would have been maybe the 5th game ever I would have) but then I figured I’d wait til its either on sale or I come into an influx of cash simply because I liked the guys and wanted to support their indy and anti-DRM spirit.

Its a shame that that % is so high though. My guess the underlying reason is its one of those games you beat and then move on. I’m not saying its a good justification, but you can get away with that more for those kind of games, and less for games like CoD4 and TF2.
21 Alexander // Nov 17, 2008 at 5:24 pm

Even $20 is a lot of money when it adds to the $170 you’ve already spent on games in a month that people have been worrying about you for…
22 Alexander // Nov 17, 2008 at 5:25 pm

Also, I refuse to take an article to heart unless it has a pun for a name. Even “World of Piracy” would have been sufficient…
23 Crimson Binome // Nov 17, 2008 at 5:32 pm

I don’t think anyone would ever you that piracy of a game is a good thing, even the pirates themselves. Unless they say they’re doing it for the boycott of the DRM, but in that case, I suspect they’re just deluding themselves, and looking for a means to justify to end. Anyway, I tangent myself.

Rampant piracy and lack of DRMs isn’t the be-all and end-all of a game. One example I can think of, and one often stated, is Stardock’s excellent Sins of a Solar Empire. It was also a game you would purchase and download online, and was easily pirated. But the sales for it were still far beyond what was expected. I sometimes feel that companies blame piracy for their games not selling well, while another reason they might want to look at is the content themselves. I personally enjoyed World of Goo, so I don’t think it’s the case here, but it’s something that has been eating at me for a while.

Piracy is a damn shame, and I don’t wish it on any game, but I also wish that they would take responsibility for the games short comings, and not just blame p2p sites.

(Likewise, Fallout 3 simply shipped with a CDkey, and they’ve made like, a jillion dollars.)
24 AR // Nov 17, 2008 at 5:45 pm

You wouldn’t steal a car… but you’d probably make a perfect duplicate of a car if you had the technology to do so. Yeah.

For me, the purchase decision was so much easier, knowing that there was no DRM. Thanks 2D Boy!
25 An Ashamed Admission... // Nov 17, 2008 at 6:03 pm

I -did- pirate World of Goo.

BUT: I only did so after I discovered that they’d suddenly FUCKED US OVER by dropping the European release date back by several months. (Yeah, I know that was the publishers, not 2DBoym but eh.)
AND: I’m planning on buying a proper boxed copy once it’s actually released over here.
OTHERWISE: I’d never pirate an indy game like that.
26 a westie // Nov 17, 2008 at 6:09 pm

I’m not going to pirate it, but I really can’t afford it. I already pre-ordered Left 4 Dead, and I’m waiting to get back in a job during the winter break before I buy more games. I’m a college student. I’ve thought about pirating 2DBoy’s game, but I won’t, because I really don’t want to make the developer/publishers think the game and his future games deserve DRM. Further, I’d feel guilty enough to want to buy it later.
27 The MAZZTer // Nov 17, 2008 at 6:14 pm

Actually I read an article somewhere which said Goo had less piracy (at 80-90%) than some other super popular DRM’d game which had 92% piracy rate.

a westie: high piracy rate doesn’t mean DRM will prevent that, and they understand that, otherwise they would have used DRM from the start just like everyone else.
28 francisco // Nov 17, 2008 at 7:07 pm

#4

The difference is that pirating a game is a copy, the original is left intact. ;)
29 Archagon // Nov 17, 2008 at 7:16 pm

Arctem:

“(about the time McDonald’s was sued because someone spilled coffee on herself)”

There are many misconceptions about this case. McDonald’s was almost certainly guilty to a large extent.

Some info: http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm
30 James // Nov 17, 2008 at 7:47 pm

Even if Goo isn’t pirated less than any other large game with DRM, it shows that the expense of DRM doesn’t give any benefits either.
31 Blaze // Nov 17, 2008 at 8:08 pm

I’d say those reasons for piracy are sound, it’s just poor World of Goo was a casualty of war. When you teach people to rely on piracy to play games, eventually a poor soul is going to get caught in the crossfire.

World of Goo is a victim of circumstance.
32 Crazy Dan // Nov 17, 2008 at 9:18 pm

@29:
Holy shit. I suddenly don’t like coffee anymore.

On topic:
I think piracy just because you don’t want to pay for something is bad, millionaire developer or not.
33 Blaze // Nov 17, 2008 at 9:41 pm

The simple fact of the matter is that today, it is actually easier to pirate a game than it is to buy a game. Piracy generally means no copy protection, faster delivery, and the ultimate in convenience - no going to stores, no having to worry about services like EA’s “pay us an extra $5 so you have the privilege to re-install this game in 12 months”. Not having to pay for these games is practically like icing on the cake with a list of benefits like that.

When high profile game developers teach so many people to pirate (lest they contend with crippling DRM), it’s no surprise that it hurts the little guys - and, if anything, what high profile game developers are doing with DRM and anti-piracy measures undoubtedly do more damage to the little guys like 2DBoy than they do to pirates.

It’s the whole “teach a man to fish” metaphor turned on its head. There are people out there who know gaming exclusively through piracy and nothing else. People who have never paid a single dime for any game in their entire life. Does that make them right? No, of course not. Piracy is everybody’s fault - both the developers who insist on increasingly draconian DRM and the people who pirate everything at the drop of the hat.

It’s just World of Goo was an unintended casualty in all of it.
34 Lack_26 // Nov 17, 2008 at 10:13 pm

It’s a real shame, I’m going to buy World of Goo and wouldn’t dream of pirating it.

I was offered a pirated version of Fallout 3 (I cant justify it as a purchase at the moment) but refused and I am instead waiting till Christmas.
35 Dorian Cornelius Jasper // Nov 17, 2008 at 10:17 pm

Yes, I used to think the coffee lawsuit was ludicrous, but when the facts are actually on the table it really was a case of corporate neglect–despite of the typical knee-jerk reactions that have saved the incident in public memory would have one believe.
36 Iconia // Nov 18, 2008 at 12:06 am

$ 20 is like one hour of work, after taxes…
37 wolferey // Nov 18, 2008 at 12:24 am

Most of the piracy is due to the game not being released in Europe yet, I’d guess. Paypal isn’t really that known over here so buying it off the website, specially since 2DBoy isn’t a big corporation, makes people not trust buying stuff online thus waiting for the game… Thus pirating it since it won’t be released here until next year, if ever :S

I’ve lived in one of those small places in Norway where you can get internet connection (one of norways goals is internet connection to everyone) yet the cinema shows movies that are 2+ years old as if they were new titles. No wonder we download? O,o
38 Tiler // Nov 18, 2008 at 12:44 am

People who pirate are way too damn full of themselves. They remind me of shoplifters, in that they like using a whole lot of justifications for their crime, and even try to paint themselves as the noble thief, fighting against various evil faceless entities. But in the end, all they care about is getting things for free. That’s it.

At least ADMIT you’re a common thief, and you’re screwing over the people that made the game. I’d actually have more respect for someone that was honest about it than someone who tried to play off their selfishness as selflessness.
39 Kollega // Nov 18, 2008 at 5:05 am

@38: I wish there were an opportunity to screw over large greedy corporations by pirating a game,and then sending my $20/30 directly to developers.
And also,for some people,”why should i pay,when i can have it free?” is a fucking MINDSET.Sadly,there’s no easy way of beating that one.
40 flatluigi // Nov 18, 2008 at 8:09 am

@28

Piracy may not be stealing, but they’re still both illegal.
41 Nonomu198 // Nov 18, 2008 at 8:25 am

90% of the game is still only like a 1000 people. Seriously, with all the awards, the game has NO publicity, and for a small 6 hour long game 20$ is a lot, the company is unknown (people won’t buy it online), it’s not on the shelves (I don’t know about the USA, but the people I know buy mostly games from stores).

People buy games like TF2 because it’s easy, buying it online at the very least SEEMS safe, it was preety fucking famus before it gut out, and it has 500 hours of gameplay promised. Not to mention that you probably need a leagel version to enjoy the serverlist and servers.

It’s just as easy to pirate a DRM game as it is to pirate WoG, it’s just that a game like WoG is less attractive for your avarege buyers, while it’s just as attractive for your average pirate.

Example: I’ve pirated WoG (fuck you guys :[), but I didn’t pirate Spore (also, I’m sorry I didn’t).

Spore seemed like a good investment, I get online services, good gameplay, lots of game hours (my ass), and it had the EA symbol (I didn’t fucking hate them then). I”ve seen commercials for it for 3 years. It effects a guy. WoG on the other hand, a tiny pricy game I have to buy online, a puzzle game (I don’t usually do puzzles), I would have never bought it. I’ve pirated it easly, and hi, I didn’t even play it a lot. I don’t think I WOULD.

I’m not buying AND won’t pirate L4D. I like Valve games, I think it’s worth it, and I need a leagel version to truly enjoy it the way it’s supposed to be. I’l probably buy it once the massive price drops down.
42 Smurfy // Nov 18, 2008 at 9:12 am

If you read the article, they add that this is actually the same piracy rate as a DRM’d game from another company.
43 Lee // Nov 18, 2008 at 9:38 am

#1, #42:
Just what I was thinking. The point to take away from this exercise isn’t that piracy is prevalent, or that illicit copies do not directly translate to sales one might have obtained otherwise. The point is that DRM has virtually no impact on the availability of illicit copies, and has a significant impact on the quality of your product vs. the quality of the illicit copy.
44 Pete10 // Nov 18, 2008 at 12:53 pm

Well, I guess it at least goes to prove that DRM doesnt help, either.
45 Crazy Dan // Nov 18, 2008 at 2:43 pm

Is it harder to pirate console games, or just as easy?
46 Steve // Nov 18, 2008 at 7:16 pm

It’s not any particular way more difficult to pirate console games - the most usual way is to edit your console to accept CD-Rs and then just download the image file from the internet and burn it online.

I personally deeply hate some of the methods that people use to defend their games from piracy. The only system that I have found I like is Steam so far.

Personally, I think World of Goo would set -records- should it be released for the iPhone etc, and that system would probably help them get more installed base. People pay crazy money for weird stuff on their phone and the iPhone’s a much better platform for playing that kind of puzzle game - World of Goo is a little too much like a browser flash game which makes people wonder why they’re being charged for it.
47 Phil // Nov 19, 2008 at 2:10 pm

>World of Goo is a little too much like a browser flash game which makes people wonder why they’re being charged for it.

Spoken like someone who hasn’t actually played the game.
48 Evan // Nov 20, 2008 at 1:13 pm

Tf2 is $20 for god’s sake…
49 Katana // Nov 20, 2008 at 6:37 pm

I seriously want to STAB everyone who pirated that game. I guess all that anti-DRM freedom advocacy hippy stuff was all for nought, if even something like THAT gets pirated.
50 Al // Nov 20, 2008 at 10:54 pm

I didn’t pirate the game, I played the demo, enjoyed it, spent an hour trying to get steam to accept my credit card and finally purchased it, the game is $30 here in Aus because of the bad conversion rate of late (yeah I’m looking at you, American trading practices that got the world into this mess :P ) but it was still worth it. Do you wanna know what sealed the deal for me? The fact that they don’t really care if someone pirates it and that they know that most people who pirate something are never gonna actually buy the game should the option to pirate it not be available.
The simple fact of the matter is that people pirate games, nobody can really stop it and they (publishers) should stop alienating their customers with the folly that is DRM. I bought fallout3, and although it was only a disc check, since it’s a securom made disc check it still required me to fiddle around for a few hours to get it to run. The funny thing is that there is a simple method of circumventing the disc check without actually downloading or modifying anything.

I support publishers and developers who support me; 2D boy offered a unique product and simply asked that people pay for it and hence I bought it, companies like EA (aka “People who don’t like DRM are either pirates or misinformed”) are doing nothing but push more people away and I don’t shed a tear when one of their games is pirated. (Also, fyi, although it is illegal to profit from pirated works down in Aus, it isn’t illegal to actually download and store a pirated work for personal use here).
51 Spliter // Nov 23, 2008 at 6:08 am

I only download the games I wouldn’t buy anyways because of several reasons like:
-It has DRM (Spore, Bioshock)
-I don’t have money to buy expensive games (Practically any blockbuster game today)
-The pirated version works has better performance on my PC than non pirated version (Any Valve game so far I’ve bought like HL2, TF2 , Portal works faster as a pirate than it does bought on steam)

The reasons that lead me to buy certain games (even after DL-ing them):
-Has huge Modding community (any Valve game)
-Is online and is updated regularly (TF2)
-Has not let me down in it pirated version, And I think that the developers deserve my hard earned money(Psuchonauts, 2Dboy,Any Valve game I own, I still plan to buy L4D, but don’t have money now)
-Is fun, is addictive and is cheap (World of Goo, Psychonauts)
-I’ve been following the game development since it’s earliest projects (I’ve been there when the Tower of goo was released, I’ve been there when they decided to make a game from it, and I’m still there with them playing their game on Steam ;) )
52 Jonn // Nov 23, 2008 at 7:38 pm

#39: So instead of the devs getting their pittance, you’d rather they got nothing at all? You patriot, you.

#46: So you’re saying it is more difficult? Because once my box meets the requirements for a given PC game, all I have to do is download and install the pirated copy. Hypothetically. However, were I to pirate a console game, I’d have to mod my console first, and in some cases risk permabanning from online play.
53 CaptainDingo // Nov 27, 2008 at 7:21 pm

“$20 is like an hour of work after taxes”? Maybe if you’re Bill Gates. Okay, not Bill Gates, but someone in a very, very, very cushy job.

Where I used to work a year ago, $20 is more like 3 and 1/2 hours of grueling manual labor after taxes.

Let me tell you something, for all the BS that gets thrown around about people who pirate, let me say one thing about my own personal motivations: I live in a poor household in the middle of a forest. I’m not particularly happy with my life, I’m 22 years old and still don’t have a driver’s license because we just never got around to being able to do it, and even if I had one, the car that will soon be mine isn’t ready to be on the road.

So not only is $60 too much money, so is $50, so is $40, so is $20, so is $10, and so even is $5. In fact, if something costs money, period, that’s automatically more money than I have.

If I ever had enough money to get my car on the road, and to get a license so I can drive to and from a job, and was making a living even doing something insignificant like working at a gas station, I WOULD pay for games.

Just wanted to get that out of the way, and sorry for being a Bitter Bob, but when people say “pfft, lazy bums, just get a job and pay for the game” it’s not always that simple for everyone.

To anyone who draws a pay check and pirates games, yes, shame on them. But I’m poor, I’m bored, and I’m in dire need of entertainment. Give me the opportunity to get it for free and I will not be ashamed to do so.
54 Matt // Dec 1, 2008 at 1:27 pm

I’m Matt, and I’m a pirate. But my rules are these:

1. Never steal a new game
2. I may pirate a new game if I already own a legitimate copy
3. I may only steal a game between 3 and 9 years old if I intend to buy it, provided I like it and have money. If I do not have money to buy it, I will buy it when I do have money.
4. Games more than 9 years old may be pirated permanently if a copy cannot readily be found.
55 Mortal // Dec 7, 2008 at 8:43 am

I bought World of Goo the instant I read about it here. One of the most entertaining games I’ve ever played, worth every penny.

I learned it by watching you, Chris. I really did.
56 Gazok // Dec 9, 2008 at 4:25 pm

One massive issue with this is, pirates *don’t* count as lost customers, in regards to your expected sales. The reason people pirated World of Goo was, and I quote, “I’m not paying money for that piece of ****”. It was basically a flash game with worse graphics and a longer story line.

The people who pirate games are the people who wouldn’t buy the game anyway, even if they couldn’t get it for free, which is why WoG’s piracy statistics were so high. I’m also sure a reasonable amount of those people may have bought the game after finding that they liked it.

And to Phil, I’ve played the game. There *is* a similar flash game on the internet…
57 Scott R. // Jan 25, 2009 at 5:24 pm

I’m willing to bet that a large portion of pirates are in the 12 - 17 year old demographic. It’s kind of a bitch to buy online at that age.

It’s hard enough to get your parents to let you use their credit card for ANYTHING. But for a video game? From a no-name developer no less? Good luck. It’s easier just to get it from TPB.

I remember wishing I could buy stuff online as a teen. (Stuff you couldn’t get in a brick and mortar store). But it just wasn’t feasible. A lot of stuff I pirated I’ve purchased since then.

So yeah, what #13 said. Don’t try to categorize every single pirate as the type who tries to justify their greed with noble causes.

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