225 Downloads + 750 Open Feint users = Our game pirated?

Sadly, it is probably piracy, as there aren't many people using multiple OF accounts.
Asking sites would probably be the best thing you can do, but it will only make it harder for them.

 

also if people share iTunes accounts then its not piracy

 

I really wouldn't worry about it. You sales numbers are simply too low to offset the piracy rate right now. It's not like this is a linear trend, the piracy quickly tapers off.

Focus on other things and remain positive. A couple hundred sales in a 2 days isn't bad, so continue pushing things upward in that direction.

 

Of course people will try out your game for free. They likely wouldn't buy it anyway, so at least be thankful you're getting exposure to more users. That builds word of mouth for your app/company.

Why do you think Windows became so popular? Because it was easy to share programs with others. Back in the day, when computers cost $2-$3000, average Joe wasn't about to spend hundreds more on software. But since friends could set them up for free, they continued to use/buy PCs, and thus the dominance of Microsoft grew.

We live in an age where magical machines can create exact duplicates of some things, like music movies applications and literature. It requires new thought on the idea of what is "stealing" and what is simply a want to absorb as much media as you can for what limited budget you have. Noone is taking anything from anyone, simply sharing copies. It has been legitimized for books (libraries), music (recording of radio), TV (taping) and soon the old hats will come around to the reality of modern information accessibility.

PS downloading the odd TV show I miss doesn't deter me from watching 50 films a year at the theatre.

 

This may not help but we have five openfeint accounts, leaving one on each system. If I dl a game that everyone wants to play, there may be five OF users but that rarely happens.

 

Yeah, I'd have to say that at least some of that is multiple devices on the same iTunes account. My wife and I both have an iPhone so any game I play that she likes will chalk up 1 download but two OF accounts, hers and mine. I imagine it's like that in a lot of household that have more than one iPhone/Touch in the house.

Not to say some of it isn't piracy, but I don't think it's as bad as you might fear.

 

Basically, the pirates seem to have a really good distribution system. Devs were posting stats here a year or so ago, from Pinch Media's analytics stuff, that implied piracy rates of 90% on their first few days sales.

It's possible that what is happening is:

A bunch of people, who never pay from anything anyway, download a zip of the latest new releases like they do every few days. Even if they like your game they are unlikely to play it as they aren't gamers, they're weirdos who get their kicks by trying 50+ new apps per week.

The figures should be very different after a few weeks.

 

Be careful, now you've just insulted the very kind of gamer who visits a site like this, one who is eager to snap up new titles with little restraint.

 

It is piracy. I just found your app on a fileshare site. I'd post here but it is probably against the rules.

 

Yeah, one of the best ways to see if your app is being pirated is to search "appname ipa" on google. If you search "Gravity Runner ipa" for example, you can see all the sites where people can download the game illegally. It's really unfortunate, and I'm sorry it happened to you so quickly. Must mean Gravity Runner is popular, though

 

Obviously, I'm a big fan of Gravity Runner and We Are Colin, Dave Now, my suggestion: don't worry too much about the piracy as others have said there's not much you can do to stop it. What you can do to offset it is continue to promote and update it so the game reaches all the interested honest buyers. It's a great game and I'm sure you'll continue to see increased sales/pirated numbers as the next few weeks go.

 

Piracy is inevitable and we can only make it harder to pirate an app but there's nothing to completely stop it. Not unless Apple get involved, it is not something we control.

 

Yeah, it sucks -- we get about 5-20 Google alerts per day listing new places to get a pirated ipa of N.Y.Zombies... honestly, as crappy as it sounds, I think the best thing to do is forget about piracy and focus on your actual sales. Heck, personally, at this point I'd almost rather not even know the true piracy rate of our game... I think it would just end up making me depressed and wondering what could've been.

Also I think the argument that people who pirate games wouldn't buy your game anyway are wrong, personally... Just my opinion, but I think most people pirate games simply bc its so freaking easy, not bc they can't afford them or wouldn't buy the games otherwise -- Currently piracy is so rampant that you've basically got a paid version (legit) and a free version (pirated) of the same game side by side... gee, I wonder which one most people are going to opt for.

 

I'm (almost) torn about this issue. We have very low sales, 4 months in, and yet we still are getting lots of people pirating the game (over a hundred a week on OF, on average). It's rough because our game is very low-priced, and we have a very competent free version available as well. But what can you do! In the meantime, I'm happy that people are playing my game and interested in it at all - hopefully that will help spread the word to the people who would actually pay a buck for the thing.

Down the road, I really hope it will be harder to pirate software on iPhone, though I have no idea if we are past a point of no return for the smaller devs..

 

I don't think people should think about the piracy issue so much nowadays as its a well researched subject. The fact is - there's little you can do about it. Secondly - I firmly believe people who download illegally do it simply because they can - any argument about "costs too much/wouldn't have played it anyway" are nice anecdotes, but my experience and data says "no, we pirate because we can - thanks".

Focus on the people who support you, and good luck. And yeah, life is a hard market - but then you knew that right?

 

In the first few days War3100 had 1,000 users and ~990 of them were using pirated versions. I think I made $30 the first week but had a few thousand people hitting my servers for leaderboard posts. There isn't anything you can do about it short of making ad-based games.

 

There was that game last year that if I remember correctly was downloaded 50 times yet there was 1000 people on the leaderboard, ie 95% piracy, so things could be worse! it's always going to happen unfortunately.

Must rack my brain to remember the name/thread.

EDIT, it was Fishlabs 3D Rally game

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=30850

 

The main problem is that jailbreaking is way too easy for even the most novice users, and from there, pirating software is even easier.

Our first game Synth Racing, released over 14 months ago, still routinely shows up on torrent and file sharing sites (2 more this morning!), but that's not even where the majority of people get their apps. I think Headcase Games has the prototypical story on this one, where a member of the media downloaded an illegal copy straight from his device, right infront of him.

For the guy on the first page talking about 'magic copying machines'. Just because you CAN do something doesn't make it right, or lawful. Anything that takes time and effort to create deserves to have a price put on it. You may not be stealing something tangible, but you are robbing talented individuals of their hard work, time, and effort.

As for what to do about piracy? Appealing to consumers like this only makes us look weak and unprofessional. I tested the waters by bringing up my own results some time ago, but have since given up waving that flag. It just channels our creative energy to places it shouldn't be, making a bad situation worse.

I personally think the system of buying games is broken. Asking someone to pay for software up front, when there are hundreds of thousands to choose from, is a daunting task. I would personally like to see something more of a subscription service where, much like cable TV, people pay a monthly rate to game. I was hoping OnLive would have been the first shots fired, but it looks like they're still maintaining the status quo.

I think the only thing left to do is get a coalition of developers together to gain an audience with the platform creator. Whether through civil, or legal means. Someone should be held accountable for the security of the platform. Or at the very least, taking steps to hold those accountable for obtaining software illegally. As there are methods for determining when software has been cracked, and these devices do access the World Wide Web.

It would be a landmark case, as this problem goes all over. There is no secure platform that I know of. Personally I think it's just a problem of our time (and methods). If the distribution methods don't change, piracy will either quell, or those enjoying the fruits of our indie loins will stop receiving the unique and innovative products we create. Since the only people left creating software will be the big studios, churning out 'safe' sequels.

In conclusion, and for the time being, the ball rests in the court of those enjoying software. If you like something, buy it. Simple and plain.