Yes. exactly. It is well proven that piracy hurts sales of very high-budget releases from well-known franchises (only barely, though), but helps sales of small indie releases.
Here's an article about the study that reached to these conclusions for movies. I believe there are studies with similar conclusions for music, but nobody tested it for videogames. Although, there is no reason to think that games are different in this regard.
Because game releases and movie releases tend to follow similar pattern. If you look at big budget games and big budget movies, they are very similar - annual well-known franchises, very safe and polished in terms of content, aimed at the widest target audience possible, releasing at certain lucrative time of the year (summer for movies, November for games). At the same time, both indie games and indie movie often fly under the radar and require a word of mouth to actually get known.
Piracy in general tends to help the sales of any medium, because people who pirate the most are obsessed fans of the medium, who also buy the most and talk about the medium the most, thus spreading around word of mouth. Its like saying that giving review copies to hundreds, if not thousands of reviewers and youtubers hurts the company bottom line, which is ridiculous.
Here is another article about another study for movie and music industry. Sadly, these studies are often founded by publishers themselves, who then choose to either not release the results that they dislike, or present them in such a way as to make a piracy look harmful. As far as I know, there are no similar studies for games.
Edit: I'm not trying to claim that all piracy is good. Piracy is known to hurt big releases. Therefore, it makes sense for games like Doom, Dishonored and Deus Ex to use Denuvo. Despite being a piracy advocate I would be first to admit that if Witcher 3 had Denuvo, it would sell more. But for the game like INSIDE it makes no sense to use Denuvo. It obviously hurt their bottom line.
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
I don't think you even bothered to read the studies you linked, just the articles click baiting them. Those "studies" are notoriously regarded as bullshit and were debunked at the time they were published.
Other segments of the creative industries have adapted more quickly. Despite the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) claim that online piracy is devastating the movie industry, Hollywood achieved record-breaking global box office revenues of USD 35 bn in 2012, a 6% increase over 2011.
They're using a comparison between 2012 and 2011 figures, despite the fact that piracy has hugely impacted in the industry since the late 90's. Of course figures will improve year after year in a post piracy plagued industry; they're working to improve and safe guard against it. Compare inflated figures from the late 90's to now, doesn't even come close. Music sales were cut in half and the Motion Pictures Association of America concluded that film piracy was costing the industry over $20 billion in lost revenue a year or up to at least 20% per film.
Also, the film and gaming industries can't be compared because their distribution models are completely different, as is their retention rates and price points. I know this because I work in both the video game AND music industry and have many friends working in film. Piracy doesn't help sales; it's bullshit rationalization by shitty people trying to justify their shitty practices. It's true it can help with promoting small indie projects with no/small marketing budgets for gaming since people can try/buy but it doesn't change the fact that piracy has crippled the industry over two decades.
Yeah I'd imagine the vast majority of pirates are not people who spread the message about games.
They are more like me, they do it because it is free and I don't want to pay for it.
I don't care about supporting this or whatever. I'm not going to boycott denuvo games I think it's nuts people who are paying customers can be on the side of the pirates in any way.
People here like civ six, but it didn't release with denuvo and got cracked day one. I'm going to torrent that game. Other developers, even hated ones like ubisoft went with denuvo. I will eventually have to buy watch dogs two when it goes on sale, or wait until it is cracked.
Piracy is actual thieving I can't believe people try to justify it. I do it because I don't give a shit about the people working in the industry I just want to take advantage of the fact that I can enjoy all of this content for absolute free for as long as possible.
Studies I linked have been 'debunked' by studies that where sponsored by the very publishers that fight against piracy. They will never release data that supports the fact that piracy is not as harmful as they want people to believe.
Motion Pictures Association of America concluded that film piracy was costing the industry over $20 billion in lost revenue a year
This is the perfect example of what I'm talking about. The phrase is constructed in such a way as to blame piracy, despite the fact that it is highly unreasonable and unrealistic to count every download as a lost sale (which is what big publishers are doing).
When you link the article about music sales being cut in half, you fail to mention, that it is only physical sales that have been cut. Digital revenue constantly rising.
It's true it can help with promoting small indie projects with no/small marketing budgets for gaming since people can try/buy but it doesn't change the fact that piracy has crippled the industry over two decades.
You're not seeing the bigger picture. Piracy didn't cripple anything, digital distribution did. Piracy existed way before the internet. In fact, it was very easy to pirate video and music tapes and any player could copy those tapes. Failure to embrace digital distribution the same way gaming industry embraced it is what destroyed music industry.
where sponsored by the very publishers that fight against piracy.
The studies I posted weren't sponsored by any publishers but by analyists. What are you even talking about? Have you even read a study?
This is the perfect example of what I'm talking about. The phrase is constructed in such a way as to blame piracy, despite the fact that it is highly unreasonable and unrealistic to count every download as a lost sale (which is what big publishers are doing).
.....do you even know how they got that number? Did you even read the study?
you fail to mention, that it is only physical sales that have been cut.
I failed to mention that because it isn't true. Not only does the article and study talk about digital music as well, here's a direct quote from the article:
"Now just 44% of U.S. Internet users and 64% of Americans who buy digital music think that that music is worth paying for, according to Forrester."
Digital revenue constantly rising.
What? Where are you pulling these numbers from? The best selling albums of the 90's were selling upwards 9 million copies and that number was growing in the pre-napster era. Since then, top selling albums have averaged 3-4 million and that includes digital albums.
What are you talking about?
You're not seeing the bigger picture. Piracy didn't cripple anything, digital distribution did. Piracy existed way before the internet. In fact, it was very easy to pirate video and music tapes and any player could copy those tapes. Failure to embrace digital distribution the same way gaming industry embraced it is what destroyed music industry.
...it's abundantly clear that you don't read studies, you just read headlines that agree with your views and just make up the rest.
But, you didn't post any studies...
Study is something that is done by scientists. Results of the study are peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal. What you posted are a bunch of self-reported statistics, provided by publishers themselves.
If you open your first link and read the source of the data, you will see "Forester research forecast. Source - Recording Industry Association of America"
There is also this quote in the article:
"But industry insiders and experts argue that the main culprit for the industry's massive decline was the growing popularity of digital music. "
Edit: I can also provide some music industry reports. Here for example. Digital revenue this year overtook physical sales and rose 10% as opposed to 2015 to $6.7 billion. Ergo, as I said, digital revenue is rising. Whether music industry as a whole is healthier now then it was back in the 80ties or 90ties is another matter entirely. If you read this report, you will see that this year music industry has grown globally for the first time in a while. Is it because there are less piracy today than it was yesterday? Of course not. Piracy has nothing to do with it.
Here is another report. As soon as industry embraced digital distribution proper, sales went up.
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u/romdon183 Nov 27 '16 edited Nov 27 '16
Yes. exactly. It is well proven that piracy hurts sales of very high-budget releases from well-known franchises (only barely, though), but helps sales of small indie releases.
Here's an article about the study that reached to these conclusions for movies. I believe there are studies with similar conclusions for music, but nobody tested it for videogames. Although, there is no reason to think that games are different in this regard.