Mark Darrah has spent more than twenty years at BioWare (leading Dragon Age, for instance), and he says both the pirates and the publishers are wrong.

In this video, he says that the publishers who claim massive losses to justify their DRM efforts (Denuvo…) assume that every pirated copy of a game is a lost full-price sale, but Darrah claims the calculations used to determine lost sales figures „exaggerates and expands the number well beyond what is realistic.” (Even though there are publishers who after years still keep the DRM in their games, even if it’s an annual sports/racing game!)

He added that pirates who claim their activities have no real impact on the business „are equally coming from a completely ludicrous place,” as game development costs money. Not all pirated copies lead to lost sales, but some do: he believes that those who claim they are pirating due to boycott could lead to high rates that the publishers claim, which then could lead to implementing stronger DRM measures.

„If you’re sitting there right now saying, ‘Well, it’s okay that I pirated this game because I never would’ve bought it,’ then why don’t you ask yourself this question: If you never would have purchased this game, why was it so important that you pirate it? Why did you need to play it at all?”, Darrah says.

Imports can be impractical (for games that never got on Steam due to age or quality, or not having a digital version anymore). However, Darrah warned that it can be a „double-edged sword” in the long run for potentially big markets, such as Russia, where publishers tend to not be focusing due to rampant piracy (which is also why the game prices are lower in the region).

Darrah doesn’t have an issue with those who pirate game that just isn’t available in any other format: „It’s hard for me to argue against that. You’re not taking money out of someone’s hand because they were choosing no longer to even sell it to you.” (Games that got pulled from stores can be such an example). „I know you have a justification as to why your particularly piracy is okay. I’m asking you to stop for a moment, double-check that that’s not just an excuse and that your real reason for piracy isn’t something else,” he added.

But if we talk about publishers that don’t remove DRM even years after the game’s launch, even though this game doesn’t sell AT ALL (The Quiet Man from Square Enix, regardless of what you think), then that’s just bad business practice, as it’s a waste of money on copy protection!

Source: PCGamer