Crytek on piracy: people “want to play our games, they just don’t want to buy them”

When I saw Crysis 3 recently, I asked senior creative director Rasmus Højengaard about the notoriously high piracy figures for Crysis 2, and whether they planned to do anything differently this time.

[NYC_Gamer]

I don't want to play any of Crytek latest casual software....

These will prob be the my last games brought from Crytek...

Farcry
Crysis/expansion

[caseh]

I don't want to play their games or buy them, guess I just p*ssed on their generic parade.

[jony_dols]

Piracy is part of the industry. Crytek shouldn't be complaining about it & just learn to accept it (like most other companies).

They have made a lot of money from us gamers over the years, and I wouldn't be surprised if their majority shareholders & CEO's are rolling in cash and living the life of Riley. So boo hoo.

[wallis]

Fair play to crytek they really are a clever lot. I mean what an ingenius way to over come the issue of piracy they faced with crysis - just make the sequel so generic that it's not worth pirating.

Seriously though they need to grow up because they're just subscribing to the same old logical fallacy. There's no way of knowing that people who pirate don't buy at a later date and there's no way of knowing that those who pirate would have ever bought in the first place - equating piracy to lost sales is illogical. It's like saying that every person who ever went missing must be immortal because we never found their body. We don't know a damn thing about how piracy affects sales yet we've based policy after policy on assumed systems and processes with no evidence and strong argument to swing it either way. Any law that states EA is entitled to sweet fuck all other than a stamp in the face is an unjust law to me. They benefit from their work as it is - how can any one claim morality in their campaign for ten billion dollars instead of a measly seven?

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

The problem is not that people don't want to buy but want to play, the problem is that their games are no longer worth the money. Coupled with that, some people think they are entitled to play it anyway, hence the high piracy (not that I agree with that).

That said, I don't think Crytek is the only one complaining, and even if they were, they have the right to do so, afterall piracy is illegal. If people don't think it's worth the money, they should just look elsewhere, specially on PC when you guys have so many better option at lower price thanks to Steam.

But I also think they should stop talking and act, step up their games or step down their prices, Crysis 2 was hardly worth bargain bin...

[neoandrew]

But the truth is, everyone that pirate their games, don't pay for them.

[Kurylo3d]

Yea i agree, i bought farcry, crysis, and crysis expansion.... i dont even want to bother with crysis 2... after i played the demo i was tired of it. They destroyed what made crysis original good. They have no one to blame but themselves and need to stop looking for a scapegoat. No one wants to buy games that suck... though they may actually play them for a little bit even if they do suck.

[versusALL]

Well I can apply that concept to almost anything. Who in their right mind WANTS to buy stuff.

[Tachyon_Nova]

Depends I guess. I WANT to buy games, music and movies that I think deserve my money because if I and people like me don't then more stuff like it won't ever exist and I also WANT to reward those who put the effort in to making some good entertainment. So in a sense I definitely WANT to buy stuff.

If you postulate a universe where thee content happens regardless of whether people buy it or not, then I may or not want to buy it, but the world doesn't work like that so for now I still WANT to buy stuff.

[C_Menz]

Well with the recent crackdown on many torrent sites I think we will see much less pirating than in recent years going forward. Sure they are still out there, but they are becoming less and less as they are shutdown through court or voluntarily.

Those who will always pirate will still do it, but those "casual" people who can simply Google a torrent and download will start to shift away from that if the global crackdown continues.

[IaMs12]

Crack down on torrents all they want and then something else will popup to replace it.

[C_Menz]

Im not saying they will go away completely, but for the more average/casual person who pirates it will become more difficult and eventually they will not do it anymore.

[SnakeCQC]

lol cryteks crysis games have been crazily badly made and extremely unoptimised code which is something their own devs have stated ps i downloaded their game........of origin which i regret very much the online for crysis is just a hack fest and the story was okay but i have no idea where the hype for the game game came from there are so many better games

[Magic_Spatula]

All the hype for this game were about the visual aspects of the game. Yes, the original Crysis is one of the prettiest shooters I've ever seen, but the other aspects of the game are pretty sub par IMO.

[Tachyon_Nova]

I disagree, I think it is the best game from a game play perspective that I've ever played. There are many people who agree with me that the game play is great.

I don't understand why people are so convinced Crysis games are bad. No, they just don't appeal to your play style. I think Killzone, Metal Gear Solid, Gears of War, Final Fantasy, Uncharted and any number of other games are boring as anything but I don't try and claim they are bad games, they just aren't the sort of games that I like to play and I don't enjoy them.

People love to complain about Call of Duty and how it tries to appeal to everyone, but when Crysis comes along and deliberately avoids trying to be a game for the simpleminded it gets slammed, even though its target audience actually loves it.

[Magic_Spatula]

@ Tachyon_Nova

I never said that Crysis was a bad game, and yes I know everyone has their own taste in games as do I. I'm just saying that after playing so many shooters and getting bored of them, then playing Crysis for the first time (which was about a year or so after it was released). It just didn't do anything for me. Maybe it was because I got burnt out on shooters. Still, I didn't think that the game was great.

[Kran]

It's not like gamers are penalizing Crytek for a reason.

It's just all games are just too expensive these days. Gamers don't "want" to pirate games, but they don't want to buy games they believe may (I say may) let them down.

[Reborn]

There are a lot of reasons why many don't want to 'buy' things. It usually comes down to price. These days, a lot of things are becoming too expensive for the average person. Without a significant increase in wages etc. People usually need a strong reason to purchase.

[1nsomniac]

...But yet some how there games always hit the top spot in the sales charts. Where has Cryteks outspoken obsessive greed streak come from?

[Tachyon_Nova]

Hmm, how dare they not want people to pirate their games, outrageous. For Christs sake, game developers aren't charities.

[Hufandpuf]

They should do whatever Blizzard does with their games. I tried to pirate star craft 2 and couldnt find a single torrent. (I don't buy many PC games, they are far too easy to pirate)

[Dark_Overlord]

There are torrents for it, its just most people buy it for the online which isn't possible without a valid CD Key (They removed the option for lan games, not sure if it got patched in later though)

[catfrog]

i pirated sc2 before i bought it, never had any problems with it.

single player gave a good impression, enough for me to buy it. wish i could have tried battle.net 2.0 out before buying though, they ruined battle.net with that update, seems like theyre actively trying to stop people from chatting, and their custom game system is crazy broken

[Hufandpuf]

Maybe I've been looking in the wrong place. Do they have skirmish modes for offline play?

[catfrog]

you can do eveything that doesnt involve multiplayer (so yes i guess) but recently they released a free version, so you can just go play that instead of pirating

it doesnt have some of the single player stuff, but theres multiplayer stuff, so thats cool i guess

[Hufandpuf]

Cool thanks

[GamingPerson]

Yes don't buy pc games & support the fact that more games will be console ports. Your pc's power is a waste then.. You are not a pc gamer because you don't support it.

[chrispen9]

If you lowered the price by at least $10, you'd see more sales....

[TheGameFoxJTV]

More like if you focused more on gameplay, and less on graphics, people would have more interest in your games.

[Tachyon_Nova]

Your logic of drop the price and increase sales simply doesn't work. If you look at Apples data from its app store sales, they have sold 25billion pieces of software which has generated about 5 billion in revenue. The Call of Duty games over the last 4 years alone have generated that much revenue by themselves at a much higher price, selling to a smaller user base.

[jetlian]

that too lacks logic. 25 billion over how much time ? also not many hardcore gamers looking at apple!

Alot of it is cost. Some of it is competition

[koehler83]

Consider experimenting with your sticker price.

I got Crysis on PS3 because it was 10 bucks. Crysis is definitely worth more than 10 bucks, but not to me because I'll never finish it.

You've already sold every full price copy you're ever going to. Now try lowering the bar for the next tier down.

[SKUD]

With the exception of the first crysis it doesn't make sense charging PC gamers full price for a console port.

[kevnb]

they should just stop worrying about it, and worry about the people who have bought their games and what they want.

[pucpop]

I love Crysis2, 3 will be a dream!! Predator.

[noxeven]

put crysis 2 back on steam and ensure crysis 3 is on steam then we can talk

[Sidewinder-]

All that matters to me is that I bought both games.

I gave them money. I liked the first game and didn't like the second. Only they don't wanna listen to me when I say, "Crysis 2 was crap cus..."

No, they're jus, "Yeah sound whatever, got yo money, gonna make another crappy game, oh yeah. PC Pirates are ruining my pot of gold."

I'm not dick enough to pirate C3. But i'm dick enough to give them one less sale, unless they're not bullshitting me about C3 being more like C1. (yeh...)

[Urbz7870]

Crysis 2 was shockingly the most pirated game of 2011 and you still made a shit ton of money on game that was garbage.

[Wintersun616]

If I wanted to play your games, I'd buy them. I'm just not that into military FPS shooters.

[mep69]

They just need a new game. Far Cry was awesome, Crysis was just a playable benchmark.
They have the engine now, all they have to do is focus on Gameplay and Story.

[KMCROC54]

Do what you must to protect your IP , even if that means doing the unthinkable. the one who will be mad are those that are stealing it.FK em.

[Bladesfist]

Not really, I bought borderlands 1 on STEAM (DRM) and what did I get securom that halted the loading screens to the dlcs and gave no indication of you needing to enter anything. When I alt tabbed and saw it i entered my code and restarted the game, again it blocked my loading. If i had pirated the game i would not have had this problem and would be able to play the DLC i bought.

[KMCROC54]

your issue had to do with a tech aspect , what am stating is they should do what needs to be done to protect thier IP from those stealing it .

[Tyre]

I bought all Crysis games and they are more than worth it. If Crysis 2 is the most pirated than there is a reason for it. It is a very good game and most people want it. Crytek's games deserves to be on the list of most played and bought games. If it was pirated so much then the figures should be corrected...it means Crysis 2 was the nr. 1 seller of 2011. This proves that all the haters and PC Snobs minority on N4G are talking out of their @$$e$. The majority of gamers like it.

[GraveLord]

Maybe if you guys focused more on gameplay and less on graphics.....

[BitbyDeath]

If they make something other than FPS then i'll look at them.
Til then i am not interested.

[NeoTribe]

Piraters are only hurting the pc gaming industry. Then wondering why so many pc games are console ports. Consoles is where the money is. Nobody wants to spend crazy time and money to make something that's easy to steal.

[TheGameFoxJTV]

People only pirate, which is stupid, when games are bad ports. Look at the games that all were well made. They don't get nearly as many copies pirated. Put time into your game; Gamers will put money into your pocket.

[Muffins1223]

If they count the thing where it leaked early,then yea i pirated.But i bought it on day one.....i just pirated it before so i could play it early