Seven out of ten video gamers said they'd pirated at least one game in 2022, with 51% admitting that they pirated more in the last year than they did previously.
“One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It’s a service issue… The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.”
Though pricing is a big part of it, so fair regional pricing absolutely needs to be a part of the solution.
So either the service is poor in Russia (most likely with the sanctions) or the pricing is wrong (also likely) for piracy to be as prevalent as it is.
I think Newell’s quotation here is not really accurate. I’d say it’s 60% pricing and 40% service. You have little chance buying a 60-70 buck game in an economy like Russia or Brazil right now. Source: I know highly-educated Russians and Brazilians who pirate because they can’t afford the games.
Regional pricing is part of the service imo. Some stores have inconsistent pricing because they don’t consider international customers. So if a game sells for $60USD, it should still for about the same as other games that are listed for $60USD in other countries, but instead some games don’t get adjusted for different regions.
But yes, even if the service is phenomenal, people won’t buy if the price is unreasonable.
As Gabe Newell rightly said:
Though pricing is a big part of it, so fair regional pricing absolutely needs to be a part of the solution.
So either the service is poor in Russia (most likely with the sanctions) or the pricing is wrong (also likely) for piracy to be as prevalent as it is.
I think Newell’s quotation here is not really accurate. I’d say it’s 60% pricing and 40% service. You have little chance buying a 60-70 buck game in an economy like Russia or Brazil right now. Source: I know highly-educated Russians and Brazilians who pirate because they can’t afford the games.
Regional pricing is part of the service imo. Some stores have inconsistent pricing because they don’t consider international customers. So if a game sells for $60USD, it should still for about the same as other games that are listed for $60USD in other countries, but instead some games don’t get adjusted for different regions.
But yes, even if the service is phenomenal, people won’t buy if the price is unreasonable.