My App was pirated - what should i do?

Unfortunately, that is the world we live in - a world filled with a-holes that would prefer to pirate an app than pay a dollar to support the dev. The only method to essentially stop pirates is to make a free app and have all the features as DLC for a dollar.

 

There have been many, many threads here discussing piracy and the general consensus is that it happens to everyone and there is really very little that can be done to stop it and it's best to try and ignore it. However if you're game requires data stored in a server in order to be playable then you can easily check if devices requesting that data are running a legitimate copy of the game.

 

RipDev used to have some code to put in your game but you had to pay for it. Also now that the ripdev closed it's gone. Just live with it it's not too bad.

 

"It happens to everyone, deal with it"

Is it just me or does that kind of sentiment bother anyone else? You're essentially saying, "Let them steal from you. Ignore it."

Well, I have to say if a stranger walked into any one of our homes and grabbed even just a single dollar bill off a table and walked out again, I sincerely doubt any of us would just say, "Oh well" and ignore it. If a thousand strangers did it, we surely wouldn't.

App piracy is the exact same thing only easier. No matter how little it appears can be done about it, I for one don't believe that means we should all just roll over an accept it.

Q

 

Beat their mothers

 

So what do you propose we do about it then? The reason people say to forget about it and move on is that a lot of time can be spent fighting and losing the piracy battle that could otherwise have been spent getting legitimate customers to notice the app. The pirates have all the time in the world and they enjoy the challenge of cracking apps so they will always be able to find new ways to counter any anti-piracy measures we put in place.

Of course no developer is happy about losing income to piracy but currently it is rampant on the iDevices and most of the developers are only very small players.

 

I'll admit I don't have a solution. I wish I did. I'm just not willing to simply accept it. I prefer to do what can be done about it. Using DLC at the moment seems to be the best approach to help combat it. Release a free version with the paid version available as downloadable content. So far, there doesn't seem to be a way around that without resorting to relatively elaborate and fraudulent methods.

On a related note, in another thread there was a discussion about downloadable vs. unlockable content. If the paid content is merely unlocked (and therefore built into the free version download) that doesn't get around the problem. If the pirated have the content, they can crack it open, if they have to pay to get the content, they're out of luck.

 

Exactly, server based solutions are definately our best weapon at the moment

 

I believe the dev from meteor blitz was mentioning that he did something with his app....Maybe if he reads this he can tell you and help you

 

Don't do the mistake and think of a pirated copy as a lost sale, cause it's not. They were never going to buy the game in the first place.

 

Except that software and music piracy ISN'T like that. How many copies of your game do you have? What are your costs associated with selling 1 copy vs 10,000?

Furthermore, what is the fundamental difference between making your game FREE for a couple days and a pirated version? Having official downloads and numbers through Apple are nice to have, but is there any inherent value in them? If those numbers are important to you, then make the game free for a couple days.

 

I am not a developer, but I would like to say that Steam as a concept seems to be a great idea. Yes people still pirate Steam apps, but for the most part they have greatly reduced piracy of their games and sell constantly, even with making people jump through hoops. I love the entire idea of Steam (being able to redownload my games onced purchased, the community, the sales, etc) People in this thread have mentioned that a server-side solution is the most effective. Steam seems to be a great example of this and I believe it to be a better answer than just DLC as a means to plug the piracy hole.

 

I know it's hard to stomach, and both my games were pirated in 24 hours of being released. I was (sort of) upset the first time, now I don't mind.

a) it's not a lost sale in most cases
b) it's free advertising

If I could get 100k pirates to download my app (99% of which who would never buy it) and then recommend it to their friends who DO buy apps, of course I would do that in a heartbeat. Don't look at it as lost sales, but as a marketing cost (and a rather cheap one)

Do not attempt to disable, break or otherwise provide a bad experience for pirates on purpose. Yeah -- you managed to stop them from playing your game. Guess what They're not going to buy it, and they're going to tell all their friends how much it sucks.

Another way to think about it is let's say you have access to literally every app on the app store, for free. You have all the Gameloft, all the EA games, etc... all for free. What are the odds that you would actually pay for a relatively no-name developer's app on the app store? Almost zero. As a developer, the type of apps I write are cheap, quick fun. No, they're not as deep as the AAA titles, but they compare favorably in price. When you knock all the prices down to the same level, all of a sudden your small game is competing with every AAA on the market. If you want to DRM your game, fine. I won't miss it, and I certainly won't pay for it (this is not directed at you, but spoken as a pirate would speak it)

In other words, don't stress over it.

 

Agreed.

 

DRM is definitely NOT the answer. As a consumer I abhor DRM and agree that it does nothing but treat legit consumers like criminals.

I hadn't considered the marketing angle on piracy before I made my last couple of posts, so thanks for the food for thought!

Q

 

Actually .... I have purchased many apps after trying out on a friends jailbroken iPhone with pirated apps. I certainly don't condone what my friend is doing but on the other hand it has given me and others the chance to try out and purchase a lot of games and apps that we would not have otherwise considered. So .... I'm not sure just how much a developer is really losing in sales and it may even be possible that sales are actually generated.

 

I think for now, the only thing you can do is believe the "advertising" you get from pirate copies could have some benefit of sales.

But the unfortunate truth is that I have come across many, many pirates who easily have the money to pay for the apps and would if they were forced to, so just believing you haven't lost any sales to piracy is kidding yourself. It's still a problem that needs fixing somewhere in the near future.

 

My app was pirated too, it's just $0.99.
The price tag confirms that is easier and cheap to buy it from the App Store, but they prefer to jail break the iphone, install cydia etc. This tell you that they have time. This guys aren't going to buy it your app under any condition.
I mean this is a small percentage of the whole iphone users, and there is no much you can do without bothering the real customers/users (DRM, passwords, etc)

 

Please support this claim. When and where did you meet these "many, many pirates"? And how do you know such intimate details about them?