[lionhearted]

They're probably trying a lot of things... that message there, blaming piracy, it's not meant for you.

It's also not meant for people who play console games but don't use the internet much and don't know how to use a torrent site.

It's meant for the marginal person who could go either way - who might grudgingly torrent a movie or music album that can't be bought in his home country, but feels guilty about it and wants to support content creators.

There's people who are going to buy, no matter what - this message doesn't affect them. There's people who aren't going to buy, no matter what - this message doesn't affect them. There's also a marginal group of people who might buy or might not - they're trying to appeal to them.

Or who knows, maybe they really are just blaming piracy while letting the ship sink. I'd buy that explanation too.

[psykotic]

> There's people who are going to buy, no matter what

Most of those people do it out of convenience. They want to play on their console, in the living room with the big screen, and they don't want to fuck around with torrenting ISOs and hacking their machine so it can play copied games. Next to convenience, morality takes a distant second place; they probably pirate music and movies without hesitation. But fans of Crysis 2 have long been awaiting its release, and being able to play it months before its street date, even if it means playing on PC and hitting the torrents, might tip the convenience equation.

That is why this is so dangerous for Crytek.

[Derbasti]

I, for one, will certainly buy it. I am a programmer myself and I want other people to pay money for my work--hence, I can't justify not paying for other people's work.

I also believe that polishing up a game is just about the most agonizing--and important--work there is (in the games industry). Polish makes all the difference in games. Downoading a pirated pre-release, under-polished version of a game is getting you a sub-par, less fun version of the game and thus undermines the very reason to play the game: to have fun.

[psykotic]

I am a programmer in the game industry. Games I have worked on have sold millions of copies. That said, I've pirated plenty of things when the convenience made up for the dubious morality of it. I'm not proud of it or justifying it but that's how it goes.

Since Steam took off, I haven't pirated a single PC game. In fact, I've only played a third of the games in my Steam library because the sales have made it so easy and enticing to buy on a whim. Close the convenience gap and offer extra benefits and you can easily turn most normal middle-class adults like myself into happy paying customers.

> Downoading a pirated pre-release, under-polished version of a game is getting you a sub-par, less fun version of the game and thus undermines the very reason to play the game: to have fun.

That is correct. But if you think this will prevent most fans who have been eagerly waiting for the game then you are mistaken. It's the short-sightedness of human nature.