Think Call of Duty and GTA V made some solid sales this year? Well so did soccer simulator Football Manager 2013, as it notched up over ten million new players since it was released. A pity that most of them were from piracy.
At the London Games Conference 2013 via MCV, Football Manager producer Miles Jacobson explained that the game had been pirated over 10 million times since a crack for the football simulator was released back in May. The crack itself had a feature built in, that allowed developer Sports Interactive to compile a number of IPs that had gone down the dirty path to play the game.
China had the biggest number of nautical ne’er-do-wells, clocking in at 3.2 million illegal downloads, followed by Turkey at 1.05 million, Portugal at 781 785 and at least one person inside Vatican City decided to skip absolution for a pirated version of the game. Outside the pediatrician sanctuary, Italy had made over 547 000 downloads.
Despite all that, Sports Interactive happen to be good sports about the horrible numbers. Jacobson explained that it would have been “ridiculous” to equate that piracy with lost sales, feeling that because they could have it for free, that’s why the game was downloaded so many times.
Jacobson also believes that the developer didn’t lose revenue based on a one game per activation of the crack, as the current figures show that only 176 000 of those 10 million pirated versions of the game were still active. Jacobson explained that only 1.74% of those pirates would have bothered to buy the legit version of the game anyway had no crack been available and earned Sports Interactive $3.7 million in sales.
“Crackers are going to crack and people will download”, Jacobson said at the conference, admitting that there was little that could be done right now about game piracy, but hoping that his data could help developers and publishers get a better understanding to how this side of gaming works.
Last Updated: November 14, 2013
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 14, 2013 at 10:40
Did they release the crack for their own game?
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:09
Actvision did that a couple years ago with Ass creed one. Only thing was the game was programmed to die after the first 4 missions.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 14, 2013 at 11:13
I actually like that they do that. Serves the pirates right.
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:14
I personally preferred the Mirror’s Edge piracy troll. There’s a jump that you have to make, but if you pirated the game, it would slow you down just a bit before the jump, so that you could never make it. If you bought the game, the jump was easy. 😛
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:16
See, I’m all for stuff like that. Put in something small that’ll piss off pirates to no end.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 14, 2013 at 11:18
Exactly, it’s great for the lulz, especially when they complain about it. If they’re “trying before buying” then they’ve played enough to decide, and if they’re not – fuck ’em.
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:19
They should put shit like that throughout the game. Make the soldiers expert marksman with 1 shot kill skills
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:19
Serious Sam had the uber red scorpion. It was invulnerable, and pwned you in like 2 or 3 hits. It was right at the start of the game. Man I love devs who do this stuff.
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:20
HAHA thats wild. You probably had people streaming onto forums and the internet complaining how hard it was!
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:22
That’s exactly what happened. 😀 Devs prolly just sat their laughing. They be all like: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ZyNHTA5-8Kg/UnVzMCH833I/AAAAAAAAAA8/opFlG3sgA1Q/Troll_Face_Trollface.jpg
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:23
I wonder how long before devs will be legally allowed to damage your hardware through pirated games.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:24
Software damage should be allowed, but limited.
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:25
I agree, forces you to format that is punishment enough.
Scruff304
November 14, 2013 at 12:02
But you told me last night you were busy downloading Ghosts because all you wanted to do was play the SP once???
HvR
November 14, 2013 at 11:26
Never, sometimes the pirate detection triggers falsely and the dev can be held liable for malicious damage.
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:27
true true.
HvR
November 14, 2013 at 11:24
Another for FPS randomly reverse damage, any damage you do to enemies is done to yourself.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:31
My first game on BF3 had a hacker dude on it, each time I came within a few meters of him I died from a headshot, regardless of which direction he was facing. Put me off the game for a year.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:20
Exactly. For racing games put in something that makes your car brake to standstill a meter before the finish line. For sandbox games, put in ridiculously random events that kill you and strip you of all your loot, then saves. And so on.
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:21
Earthquake event, that destroys the whole city.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:22
But it has to save afterwards, so you lose your progress.
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:22
Ahhh brutal
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:23
Or make the crack give you an hour of gameplay where after it starts Facebook liking porn sites and re-tweeting dodgy pics with your personal accounts.
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:24
Sadly that’d be illegal.
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:25
Just put it in the T’s and C’s. Then its legal!
Mark Treloar
November 15, 2013 at 10:27
So piracy should equal possibly ruining someone life completely? Prisoners get off better than that.
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:18
That is awesome!
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 14, 2013 at 11:20
LG also had an article about Batman: Arkham Asylum
http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/pirates-beware-batman-is-after-you-seriously/
EDIT: I love the reply the pirate got from Eidos…
“The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, to catch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free.
It’s not a bug in the game’s code, it’s a bug in your moral code”
Tarisma
November 14, 2013 at 11:22
that is such win
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 10:41
This reminded me of Rince. Sorry dude, I had to.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AtzSEsYCzr4/TZsQTUYioBI/AAAAAAAAARY/CBJG0cGVGMw/s1600/The-Gingerbread-Pirates-Kladstrup-Kristin-9780763632236-1.jpg
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 14, 2013 at 10:43
It doesn’t have the hipster stubble that Rince does.
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 10:44
I’m not intimate with him, I wouldn’t know. 😛
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 14, 2013 at 10:48
Oh you don’t know the pleasures that you’re missing.
(He did say yesterday he was going to read & respond to comments right?)
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 10:49
He did yes. And I’d rather not know anything about his “pleasures”. I’d rather have a date inside Ice Cream Man’s head.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 14, 2013 at 10:52
Oh come now, he’s not tha… hmm…. yes.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 10:58
Who wouldn’t have a date inside Ice Cream Man’s head?
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 10:59
Man you are asking for trouble. Don’t go there. Please. For everyone else’s sake. Just please? I’m begging you.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:02
I’m not afraid. He’s scarred me enough for me to be at peace with the fact that I’ll never be the same again.
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:05
You do realise that he’ll see that as a challenge? We’re screwed. I blame you. Its your fault.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:06
hahaha
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 14, 2013 at 11:09
…
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:10
Safe to refresh?
Wait a second, why am I asking you?
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 14, 2013 at 11:12
I could send you a link to the image, but you would most likely not click it anyway… It’s just one of the rage faces that says “Challenge Considered”
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:13
Yeah so for now, it’s safe. @johnambitious:disqus
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 14, 2013 at 11:14
For now… I might not get you today, or tomorrow… But I will get you 😀
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:15
I know. xD
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:15
I’m not afraid of you!!
*tries to put on bravest face I can muster*
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 14, 2013 at 11:17
Take that mascara off dammit… Just because Mel Gibson wore makeup in Braveheart, it doesn’t mean it would work for you… 😛
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:18
I hate you all.
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:18
I’m in conflict. The ice cream man just gave someone a burn. Is that even possible?
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:21
He does it in his sleep. He’s like a reverse Freddy Kruger.
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 14, 2013 at 11:25
Yes, ice can actually “burn” red hot with induction heating…
This is not a trap, its an actual video of this 😀
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:28
That was metal inside the ice, dumbass. Read the comments. It was a test to see how fast they could heat the metal before the ice melted. Its a fantastic showcase of their heating, but it’s not the ice on fire.
DEBUNKED 😀
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 14, 2013 at 11:29
Lol, I only read the comments after I posted the video and noticed the same 😛
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:29
Calling IceCreamMan dumbass. Are you mad man? Do you want to wake the demon?
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:29
Look who’s talking. I just called him names, you challenged his dark side.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:29
Not challenged, just acknowledged
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:30
SAME THING! Have you learned NOTHING?! 😛
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 14, 2013 at 11:29
NAh, I admit that I was a dumbass 😛 should have done proper research before just posting it
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 14, 2013 at 11:18
hahahahaha you beat me to it.
TiMsTeR1033
November 14, 2013 at 10:42
What a kak game, why the heck pirate it like that….sheesh idiots!
HvR
November 14, 2013 at 11:05
My first response. Football Manager? WHHHYYYY?!?!??
I thought the guys who liked Football Manager goes on riot in the streets of London each year and steal it directly from the shops.
Admiral Chief Wang
November 14, 2013 at 10:53
http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/a3YEGGv_460s_v1.jpg
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:01
…
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:06
Did you just make that?
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:07
Sadly I did not. I just put Jacobson in there.
Hammersteyn
November 14, 2013 at 11:11
That’s a relief, I would have asked how you broke your fingers.
ToshZA
November 14, 2013 at 11:12
PMSL!!!!
Hammersteyn
November 14, 2013 at 11:25
Hehe I had to look that up!
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 14, 2013 at 11:14
Hahaha
Hammersteyn
November 14, 2013 at 11:11
MORE DRM!