MayDay!!! Russian Pirates took hostage of KissIsland !!! http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kissisland/id416247004?mt=8 Hi, TouchArcade society, On March 08, weve released update to our new game KissIsland 1.3, with joystick option being the major addition. Interestingly, with just a few sales in several hours, we witnessed an incredible surge in downloads (over 1,500)! At first glance, the statistics could please any developer. Is it introduction of joystick that worked well for the application popularity? Sadly, the optimistic data as well as an incredible increase is accounted for not with the Apple Store marketing or other top official apps review sites, but for pretty quick crack of official application as well as featuring of unlicensed copies at RUSSIAN PIRATE SITES!!! Its fantastically efficient activity, isnt it? Evidence # 1: Screenshot of Russian pirate site Evidence # 2: Screenshot of OpenFeint Analytics Data So, who has better intuition for a high quality product? Is it Apple Store or e-pirates who highly evaluated the new game within just an hour after the release cracked the application and caused a frenzy in gamers environment? Does such popularity testify to high quality of KissIsland? What's your opinion? http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kissisland/id416247004?mt=8 KissIsland 1.3: to be or not to be? Thats the question to Apple Store .
Its sad to hear about another dev who gets his game pirated. Its just sad that there is no way to stop pirates. Good luck Ostin Games. I think I'll go buy Kissisland right now just to support you.
It's not so much popularity, but more of polish. Because these illegal apps are free, anything that looks good people will try. Good luck though and it sucks man
that's sad and really hard to avoid... you publish a good game, then people crack it. it just reminded me an article about the pirate issue. the point there is really insightful and inspiring. it says: whatever version they use, pirate or legal, they are your user. they deserve the service and if you are really good, or excellent, finally the massive user base will turn out to be a great revenue. so, calm down and dedicate all you have to the game, don't let the things you cant control to bother you. i really like the point~~ so i share it here. cheer up! things will be ok~~
Thanks for your support! Hi all, Thank you very much for your support. Pirates are like naughty children whom we also love! Yet legitimate kids (KissIsland legal users) are more precious for us! Currenly we are developing further update that will enable both our legal and illegal users fix their high scores as well as achievements not only in OpenFeint but in GameCenter. And some other nice additions to KissIsland gameplay to be featured ... Queen of KissIsland
I think it's interesting how every time piracy comes into the question, the dev always cries as if their game is the greatest thing in the world and they somehow deserve 10,000,000 sales. Here's something to think about: if games were good enough, people (who had the money) would pay for them.
There are how many, hundreds of millions of iOS device owners? You have failed to reach them, sorry. Also, IIRC only 5% of all iOS devices are jailbroken, which puts it all in a bit of a perspective. Try to sell to the other 95%.
Pirate downloads go on ... PIRATE DOWNLOADS of KISSISLAND 1.3 GO ON!!! Since we are not able to get rid of pirates, there seems to be no other way but to invite them into our gameplay ... One of our further updates will feature new character (Boss)-Russian Pirate: one-eyed, one-legged, swearing and drunken, and looking like one of very recognizable Russian personalities, guess whom? http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kissisland/id416247004?mt=8 Queen of KissIsland
Honestly, please, please stop making threads for any little reason, then starting them with a huge macro from your game and with links to iTunes. It reflects poorly on you. But there's nothing you can do about piracy. It sucks, but it's a way of life for digital matters.
I suspect this thread was mostly just a clever way to get extra publicity for Kiss Island. As for the pirates - who cares? Most iOS users don't pirate, like me. Pirates download games cuz their free. They probably would never buy them if they couldn't get them free. So forget them. Concentrate on making great games for good prices and hope your game gets noticed. That's all you can do.
