Gameloft IAP Discussion

[adamphetamine]

Originally Posted by Epox

that makes no sense, as long as you have an iTunes account IAP will work

A lot of the time in games with in app purchases, jailbroken devices cannot connect to buy the iap's, so it makes a lot of sense why people are pissed off and not just those who pirate games but legit buyers as well. It sucks.... And a lot of people think the same hence this thread and the reviews for said game.

[Eli]

Wait you mean there might be unintended consequences to making unsupported modifications to your device?

[iPhondTouch3G]

Originally Posted by killercow

Wow, interesting anti piracy method. Nice gameloft!

Won't work. People have been cracking in-app purchases for over a year. With this...someone will just remove the verification system and enable all the content beforehand and distribute the IPA that way.

[backtothis]

Thanks for your hard work IMNS, heh.

After some though, I think some of these fellow posters are correct. This new model will not be effective to a significant enough effect to balance out all the 'lost sales/damage to ratings' making this game free will cause. I guess we'll see how it turns out. Either way, I'm excited for this game along with many other excellent titles that'll be in the US store in under four a half hours.

[dumaz1000]

Once the actual system has been cracked and the hardware becomes accessible, then it's over. At that point, preventing piracy of the software becomes impossible. iOS piracy cannot be stopped. From this point forward, no measure will ever prevent it. PSP, DS, PC. Everyone tries to make alterations to the software to curtail further piracy. In the end, however, there's nothing that can be done. Pirates will overcome any attempt at the software level to prevent piracy. The only way to prevent piracy is to do whatever Sony did to make the Ps3's firmware essentially unhackable. The biggest reason for the NGP is because piracy killed the PSP and Sony had to create something new in replace of it, something that Sony obviously must believe is as unhackable as the Ps3. Whether it is or not, remains to be seen.

[iPhondTouch3G]

Originally Posted by dumaz1000

Once the actual system has been cracked and the hardware becomes accessible, then it's over. At that point, preventing piracy of the software becomes impossible. iOS piracy cannot be stopped. From this point forward, no measure will ever prevent it. PSP, DS, PC. Everyone tries to make alterations to the software to curtail further piracy. In the end, however, there's nothing that can be done. Pirates will overcome any attempt at the software level to prevent piracy. The only way to prevent piracy is to do whatever Sony did to make the Ps3's firmware essentially unhackable. The biggest reason for the NGP is because piracy killed the PSP and Sony had to create something new in replace of it, something that Sony obviously must believe is as unhackable as the Ps3. Whether it is or not, remains to be seen.

Well on PC, it is impossible to play online multiplayer on a cracked copy in most games. You can only play the campaign. The multiplayer servers are encrypted to only accept registered CD-keys, something keygens can't do.

[MrThreeCats]

Originally Posted by dumaz1000

The only way to prevent piracy is to do whatever Sony did to make the Ps3's firmware essentially unhackable. The biggest reason for the NGP is because piracy killed the PSP and Sony had to create something new in replace of it, something that Sony obviously must believe is as unhackable as the Ps3.

The PS3 was recently hacked. Nothing is unhackable unless it's infrastructure is completely restricted or something.

Anyway, I have a feeling a lot of people with no wifi access will be complaining about the necessary IAP, just like what happened with Angry Birds Seasons. People complained about needing wifi to download the levels, even though the levels themselves were free! I mean, people complain about IAP on a bunch of games even though it's optional, I can't imagine the outrage now that it's mandatory. It also makes for a lame temporary piracy fix and won't help with sales. Just because a pirate can't steal a game (which in this case they can), doesn't mean it's going to persuade them to buy it. They'll just shrug and wait until a cracked copy is made.

[red12355]

Well it's slightly inconvenient but if it stops pirates and leads to better game, I'm all for it!

[iPhondTouch3G]

Originally Posted by red12355

Well it's slightly inconvenient but if it stops pirates and leads to better game, I'm all for it!

1.) It doesn't stop pirates.
2.) Piracy is not in any way equal to lost sales. Think about it...Who pirates games? Mostly teenagers that don't have their own money to buy games or they feel that it isn't worth it. If you cut off their access to pirate the game...if the pirate had no money for games...they're not going to buy the game...and if he didn't think it was worth it (or both), he won't buy the game.
3.) You want proof? Go ask some people with jailbroken devices and cracked apps: why do you pirate apps? The most common response you'll get is "Wtf why would I pay $5/$10 for a F**king ipod game?" or "MY parents won't give me money to buy games."

4.) A small percentage of pirates probably would buy the game and those are the people that pirate to test the app. ~5% of iDevice owners have jailbroken devices. Let's say half of them use cracked apps, and then 1/5th of cracked app users would buy the game.

As you can see the profit benefit is minimal. At best, a developer would make ~3-4% more money.

[backtothis]

You have clearly did not paid attention in whatever economics course you took in high school or beyond..

Let's not even go as far as you did. Let's just consider what pirating a game is. It's stealing in every way. Do you think the local grocery store is going cut you any slack just because you're hungry and your family is dirt poor if you try and steal a rotisserie chicken? No.

If these teenagers aren't willing/allowed to spend money on apps, why the hell do they have a multi-hundred dollar device? Is the stealing of iOS devices also justified since their parents wouldn't but that for them either? Is it?

If you go and look at the numbers developers have posted of how many times their games have been pirated, you'll change your mind.

Your justification really doesn't raise the best thoughts about you for me. How can you even say that someone is entitled to steal just because they don't have a means of legally acquiring it? If teenagers aren't able to purchase games, then so be it. Let them download free games.

You're saying if someone wasn't going to buy something anyways, the developer isn't losing anything if his app gets pirated by the said person. Is that really your logic of how the free market works in the US? Or maybe you don't live in the US..hopefully that's the case.