PC Gaming Alliance: Piracy Has Been Good To Us

[wraggster]

While widespread PC game piracy is generally seen as a blight on the industry, PC Gaming Alliance president Randy Stude contends that the free exchange of games has definitely had a positive effect.

In an interview with Big Download, Stude, president of the non-profit organization formed last year to promote and improve the state of PC gaming, suggests that early piracy actually helped make the PC gaming industry what it is today.


The PC Gaming Industry's history is littered with examples of startups (including Stardock and Valve) that actually benefited from wide spread piracy to grow a market for their future titles. Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating piracy... However, how would Quake, Doom, Starcraft, Counter-Strike, or Half-Life have been able to grow widespread brand recognition without a widespread network of gamers openly sharing these games. These titles (and many more) defined the industry. Personally, my first experience with a first person shooter was with Doom (back in the day) and I did not pay for it. Id Software turned the corner and has a very successful business built on the back of the early free/open source exchange of their games...

http://kotaku.com/5152992/pc-gaming-...een-good-to-us

[kojiro7]

Thats right.At least these people have the guts to admit it.Piracy helps games,doesnt destroy them.Without piracy,videogames would be available only for very few people,not for the masses

[mrquiteaguy]

If you were to trace back the history of early video gaming you would see a lot of early Western software companies started off by making copies of Arcade games.
It was a bit like the wild west then.