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“Don’t sue your potential customers” - Article at PCGMedia

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Many publishers are blind and too ignorant to realize that not all pirates are 13-year olds, who can't afford the game. Many pirates download a game via torrent simply because they want to check it out before wasting money on some crap. And if they see that the game is worth it, they will support developers anyway.
For example, I don't know the current state of Rome2:TW, but we all know what a disaster it was at its realase. I'm glad I haven't bought, I would be frustrated as hell. And after that many gamers will tend to download the games before wasting money on them.
 
I pirated a lot when I was a kid and had no money, Paradox titles included. Some of my fondest memories were ditching class to rule a giant empire .. it was a very fun way to learn about history. Now that I can afford to buy software I've gone back and purchased my favorite old games, without any intention to play them again, just out of gratitude to the developers. I've even tried to make up for the lost income over time by buying multiple copies of various titles and giving them to friends.
 
ahuitzotl said:
I pirated a lot when I was a kid and had no money, Paradox titles included. Some of my fondest memories were ditching class to rule a giant empire .. it was a very fun way to learn about history. Now that I can afford to buy software I've gone back and purchased my favorite old games, without any intention to play them again, just out of gratitude to the developers. I've even tried to make up for the lost income over time by buying multiple copies of various titles and giving them to friends.
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Ah, yes. The joys of learning about the French Revolution, then going home to crush it.
 
Great article. Love Johan's philosophy on the financial aspects. His attitude and the culture he has created alone, have made me purchase Paradox games that I don't even play and never planned on playing.
 
I got into Paradox games by suggestion from a friend who played EU3 so I decided to look it up, at that time I didn't find that time period interesting and I found HoI3, bought it and I really liked it and it got so much better with 1.4 patch. So thanks to HoI3 I became a real fan and supporter of Paradox games.
 
I have to tell you guys that if it weren't for piracy I would have never played any of your games. The mechanics are frightening at first and the only way to get people hooked is by making the person understand the game. Which to be fair is quite hard to do with a 30-60 min demo. The "demo" type presentation of a game has never sat right with me, simply because you limit the imagination of the player. Atleast in paradox games, where imagination is one of the main driving forces. Imagination grows on you as a player, and you have to be in the right mood and mind to play in a certain way (atleast in my experience). Some people will never be able to enjoy the game, and some haven't yet gotten it through their heads that this is their favorite type of game. It takes time.

It took me tens if not hundreds of hours before I could play a session of crusader kings 2/europa universalis 3 game without cheating. Which today I find ridiculous, but was nevertheless the situation I was in. I eventually bought the games I had pirated and I really haven't regretted a single purchase.

tl;dr Demos are not the best way of conveying an experience, piracy will help this company way more then it hurts it.
 
All I will say is that I think more games should have more demos so people can see if their computers can run them before buying them.

For example EU4 was really nice with its pre-release demo. I had not preordered the game in fear that it wouldn't run on my laptop, so I tried the demo and when it worked I pre-ordered the game then. No need for illegal stuff to see if I'm wasting my money.
 
Ok all of you guys have convinced me. From now on I'll pirate all my games. If after 6 months or so I'm still playing it then maybe I'll buy it.
 
I feel like an old fuddy-duddy here. I never pirate games, but love demos. Maybe it's because I run a software dev shop (non-gaming). More likely because I have some disposable income to spend on games and I like supporting artists - whether music or games. But way back in my student days I would have probably pirated if the internet had been invented...
 
I loved the read. ^^ And honestly it makes good business sense too. You have other companies that will ship games and hide gigs of content behind a paywall and then hold out their hand.

That's the equivalent of letting kids into a playground and telling them they can use the swing-set and the money bars, but they won't be able to use the slide.

It's only natural that people will get mad and want to revolt. But Paradox does it differently. Here's the game. The full game. Oh and by the way here's a bunch of free updates and new content every month or so you're not going to get if you torrent it. Oh by the way here's a lot of cool expansions that make the game even better. Oh by the way here's even more free patches and even more free updates. Oh by the way since you've been hanging around the forums a while we're going to give you EU3 for free just because we're nice guys.

It's the same kind of business model that guys like Sony are starting to figure out and bring for the PS4. You sign up for Sony subscription for the PS Network, you get 16 games for free in the PS Library. New games get cycled in and out every month you can download for free. Quite a lot of former PS3 games and some games for the PS Vita. Such a model will reward them, just as it has rewarded Paradox and its growth.

People like being treated decently and they like free stuff. Paradox has figured this out and it's going to work out well for them long term! Good for them!
 
LACKADAISICAL said:
I got into Paradox games by... well, playing the CK2 demo. You don't need to pirate stuff to try it out when a company cheerfully makes demos available, everyone.
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AFAIK, not all pdx games have had demos, and releasing demos for newer games is part of the same thinking that says pirates might turn into customers if they like the game enough.
 
I originally tried a free sample of EU III (hadn't heard much of Paradox at that point). Since then, I have bought EUIII and all of it's expansions, and a bunch of other Paradox games (full list in the icon section!) as well as almost all the DLCs for CKII. If I hadn't done a free sample I would have never been introduced to Paradox games, nor would I have bought any of them later on.

mac2636 said:
Great article. Love Johan's philosophy on the financial aspects. His attitude and the culture he has created alone, have made me purchase Paradox games that I don't even play and never planned on playing.
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Indeed... I own March of the Eagles and Senguko for the better part of last 6-8 months, which I bought just because they were made by Paradox. I haven't even got round to downloading them from Steam servers yet.
 
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Hinforta said:
For example, I don't know the current state of Rome2:TW, but we all know what a disaster it was at its realase. I'm glad I haven't bought, I would be frustrated as hell. And after that many gamers will tend to download the games before wasting money on them.
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I agree. I think the problem is the gaming Industry and their policies itself. Most products, if they are faulty are usually taken back by the manufacturer, or fixed immediately. But, for some reason, no one in the game industry does that. It's a very rare (or almost non existent) occurance where the developer will refund and take back bugged games. Some of them promise to offer free copies of their next game, but you are in effect hoisting up unwanted product on the consumer if you do that.

If the industry changes the way they handle releases and after-release customer care services, I am sure a lot of piracy will reduce. And, with platforms like Steam, it is actually possible to take back games (delete it from steam library) and offer refunds...
 
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