Activision's Solution to Black Ops Piracy

Activision and Treyarch are poised with a problem right now. Call of Duty: Black Ops has leaked online and gamers will be downloading the title very shortly. Though leaks are nothing new to the industry, when a leak of a AAA title occurs, the publisher and developer quickly try to find the source of the leak and patch it before any harm can be done. Last year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was leaked early and the problem was taken care of with the cooperation of police and private instigators. Currently, Treyarch’s community manager, John Olin, is making an effort to stop the leak but through a means that is less than aggressive: negotiation.

Is this the best means of going about the problem?

[MightyMark427]

just release the game early.. thats it ><

[mrv321]

Charge the price of the game in DLC :D

[ShakeShakeShake]

a version for Xbox 360 or PC

[PotatoClock]

I don't think bobbys bank account could comprehend that

[GoldPS3]

Imagine if Black Ops was PS3 exclusive. Sales will jump over 50m in one day.

[Darkfocus]

they do that already :(

[XXXRATED]

I have a solution stop favoring the system that losses you money with piracy and start giving the system that protects your profits a benefit.

[DMason]

Only one problem with that solution: Even with piracy on the Xbox, it still manages to almost double the sales of the PS3. There is no way that Bobby Kotick would let that happen, there is way too much money to be lost. Especially with their DLC exclusive deal with Xbox.

[MGRogue2017]

... Josh Olin is basically saying that he is going to ask the robber for the game back..

lol, what do you think is going to happen?? :D

[jack_burt0n]

write a check made out to a random employee of treyarch for $60 send it with a note saying thanks. then pirate it.

[tdrules]

OOO just think Activision.
If you released games when they were ready (a la Blizzard) this wouldn't have happened :D

[jdktech2010]

To be fair, if we had too many Blizzard's running around, we would never get new games....it would be yearly game droughts and not month droughts at times

[tdrules]

no you wouldn't you clearly didn't think this through.
if everyone was like Blizzard people would release games throughout the year (mainly because not all games require same time to make, different studio abilities etc), and as publishers don't force developers to release at a time that suits them (sept-nov), no drought whatsoever.
you know Halo Reach was finished in July right?

[jdktech2010]

it was a friendly jab at Blizzard (who I love as a developer btw)....I realize it would be a good thing. It's why I enjoy games like Halo and God of War is the time and care put into them.

[CryWolf]

Developers need be Blu-ray only to stop piracy cause none of Sony games have pirated yet and they need to force the PC/360 market to join them or stop making games for those companies.

[BillOreilly]

You can rent games/borrow them and run it onto your hdd with the ps3. Ive even seen ps3 games on the net to download. Bluray wont stop piracy, drm wont stop it selling the game through live and ps store would put a big dent in it.

[Gam3s4lif3]

lol this guy needs to check his info

[truehunter]

Wait wait wait WAIT WAIT ... a AAA title ??? How did it become a Triple A title ?? Did this gen become a sucker for AAA titles ...

[badz149]

AAA is given to games that sells a lot of copies now. oh oh and games that get high scores regardless of quality. as you know it, as crap as MW2 was, it's still AAA because they sold millions of it!

[Beahmscream]

Free DLC for everyone!
oh wait it's Activision...

[Timesplitter14]

The best way to prevent piracy is to find those who upload torrents and mutilate their bodies

[lzim]

and to manage it legally somehow.. oh geez someone broke a few death row murderers out of prison, gave them an envelope with a few photos some cash and a it would be expected they are already armed with something sharp.

So that it is all nice and legal, or at least a fair fight, all uploaders are getting sniper kits mailed to them as we speak. Time enough to run and buy a flack vest if they hurry.

[LightSamus]

Perfect solution: Give those that buy the game a code in box like EA do and give them regular prices (in Activision terms anyway) for DLC, and for everyone else give uber ridiculous stupid prices so they can NEVER have the DLC. I know this kinda alienates those who buy pre-owned but it'd work.

[lzim]

only if the DLC is worth it in the first place. Point is the game is overpriced, the online service is overpriced for the service we get, and DLC is for longevity. Why sell a campaign and maps on the disc if there will be more crap ready for sale so soon after it ships? put it all as DLC. When pirates are able to really affect DLC revenue then there's an unsolvable problem.

But oh gosh we can't get money for the campaign we insist on selling on DVD which is so easy to pirate. Too freaking bad. DLC IS the only way to skirt around piracy and actually make a profit. Depricate the core of the game so bad that people require DLC which they'd have to go online and pay for, and they will go online and buy the DLC. The 19.99 more people wouldbe willing to spend on a shitty 4 hour campaign would have those same people ready to expand the experience with DLC and then they'd have much more choices for what to download for campaign and multiplayer (co-op and versus etc).

[lzim]

and downloading the game legitimately the same day it leaks is somehow bad.. for who exactly?

[theonlylolking]

I would say just release the beta for all that have gold and they wont have to hack.

[romancer]

Activision and Treyarch are "POISED with a problem"?

"Last year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was leaked early and the problem was taken care of with the cooperation of police and private instigators"

INSTIGATORS?

One gathers that such writers can't even bother reading their own material...
so why should we?