
I don't understand
Ripping a copy of Photoshop I understand, I don't agree with it, but I understand it.
A 69p app? I just don't see the point in pirating something that costs so little.
The US Department of Justice has taken a break from handing Amazon an ebook monopoly and instead indicted four operators of Android warez sites. The four charged with criminal copyright infringement operated the sites Snappzmarket and Appbucket, whose domains were seized by the FBI in August 2012. Authorities allege that the …
Bizarre as it sounds, extremely low prices can be more of a motivator for people to pirate. When a person sees a .99 app, they perceive it as having a very low value. They almost expect it to be garbage. If they pay for it and it turns out to be garbage, they'll feel like a sucker who got reeled in. To avoid any risk of feeling that way, they just go ahead and pirate it.
Conversely, very few people will be afraid to pay 19.99 for a game that's critically acclaimed, addicting, and played by millions around the world.
Amazon gives me free App Store bucks to spend in their app store when I buy Kindle books and stuff, so the developer gets paid from Amazon if I spend my store bucks. But I don't see this game on Amazon's App Store. If he wanted to make money in the Android market, why not put his app somewhere like Amazon where the company pays him when people download his game? Take the customer's wallet out of the equation.
I think the iTunes store works the same way - you get some bonus bucks to spend on apps when you buy music and books and stuff (am I right? I haven't been to iTunes in ages). I can't find anywhere on the Android App Store where you get bonus bucks like this.
I looked at the game website - it looks like a fun game. But certainly not worth $5 bucks cash - lot of better options available for cheaper. It's a lot easier to justify if you are just spending your app store bonus bucks.
Free bonus points are not there to make an economy. However, allowing side-loading of credit using direct bank transfer or offline coupons seem more logical and easier for me. I have seen this on Windows Store and guess that the Apple and Google stores might also have similar options already.
For a publicly traded company like Ubisoft, with only two things on their minds - make more money for their shareholders at any cost and how to shaft their paying customers - I can understand why you'd pirate their games/software. EA included. Adobe included. Microsoft included.. ad nauseum.
However, to shaft the individual devs of these indie titles (and lets not limit this to games!) for the sake of a fucking McDonalds cheeseburger? Cretins!
It's not even worth the effort, surely?
Oh do piss off already...
As for the app,
For China I expect most of the downloads are from people with no-name android devices without access to the app store who download from other stores. Checking the app store it lists it as 500-1000 installs. Even with good reviews it's a multi player gave without a single player option, and it costs money. It has to compete with thousands of free to play (pay to win) games.
I don't agree with it but I understand it - people in the UK/US/Western world, seem to assume everyone can purchase anything online at any time - well, it's not necessarily the case if you are in Russia, China, South America etc - a lot of people, worldwide, simply don't have the mean to do so - all purchases from Google store from most Eastern European countries require a credit card - most debit cards issued are not fit for online purchasing. In South America, obtaining a card that you can use for online payments is not easy - not even an option for many.
Remove the ridiculous region restrictions on various stores, allow one time purchases via a broad spectrum of payment gateways, and you just might find, that most people will pay - since they can.
Every time I travel between the UK and my country, I need to swap the details in my Apple store account to be able to pay for something - irritated me so much, I decided to stop using the iPhone altogether.
Along with the stupid regions for the stores, it would also help if Google made the Play Store cards good world wide. I live in Canada and you can find iTunes gift cards everywhere, but I have yet to see a Playstore card. I hear they exist but have yet to see one.
If people could buy a playstore card the same place they buy a top up for their phone, that would make things a lot easier for people to buy apps.
The average Reg commentard's attitude to piracy:
- Price your app low - you're indicating that it's rubbish so it's okay to pirate it.
- Price your app high - you're ripping off the customer and it's okay to pirate it
- Price your app a bit higher than low - you're not competitive because most apps are around $1 so it's okay to pirate it
- Give it away for free and charge for in app purchases. You're too greedy and it's okay to pirate the full cracked version.
In the long run the average Reg commentard can find more "valid excuses to pirate content" than Eskimos have words for snow.