The potential damage of the GTA4 leak.

[rabbitc]

Checking the gamertag aggregates for GTA4 - at the time of my view, the system counted 643 profiles logged with GTA4 points and achievements.

Based on a RRP of £40, this puts the total potential revenue loss at £25,000 ($50,000 U.S.) in less than 24 hours.

Let's hope that the exposure of gamertags helps stem the bleed.

[Boost King]

Yes but the majority of these people playing had authentic copies. I emailed some 4 or 5 Aussie members who had GTA4 before the street date. All of them said they got it from DVD Crave in Australia. DVD Crave made a postal error and had a announcement on their page.

So how many of these people we legitimate? I'd say the percentage at that time of modded consoles playing downloaded illegal versions would have been not even 1/10th of that number.

Boost

[shane32Eire]

LMAO!!! are you ****ing serious?

$50,000??
Rockstar have made $600,000,000 already off GTA4 lol. Im sure R* are laughing all the way to the bank and buying lobster dinners and scottish whores every day for the next month. Cry me a ****ing river.

[axeman2008]

I don't think they'll worry about it too much.

[bevo1981]

Originally Posted by shane32Eire

Rockstar have made $600,000,000 already off GTA4 lol. Im sure R* are laughing all the way to the bank and buying lobster dinners and scottish whores every day for the next month.

with all that money, they can't afford whores who aren't Scottish?

[shane32Eire]

Originally Posted by bevo1981

with all that money, they can't afford whores who aren't Scottish?

You do realise Rockstar is in scotland yeah?

they could get english sluts up, but if they're not scouser birds they aint worth it.

[bevo1981]

Originally Posted by shane32Eire

You do realise Rockstar is in scotland yeah?

thanks for playing Captain Oblivious

[red123red]

Originally Posted by shane32Eire

LMAO!!! are you ****ing serious?

$50,000??
Rockstar have made $600,000,000 already off GTA4 lol. Im sure R* are laughing all the way to the bank and buying lobster dinners and scottish whores every day for the next month. Cry me a ****ing river.

Lmao i no i would be, i was like wtf when i read this post they aint gona be loseing coin that for sure

[Spartan1127]

Originally Posted by red123red

Lmao i no i would be, i was like wtf when i read this post they aint gona be loseing coin that for sure

Io non comprendo quello tu dici. Va fan culo!

[bevo1981]

what a dirty little mouth/keyboard you have

[rabbitc]

Man - some people here are so f***ing stupid.

The £25,000 loss was based on one day of exposure.
Imagine if that doesn't change and continues for less than half a year - say 150 days.

150 x 25,000 = £3,750,000
Not exactly chump change.

So does it make a dent? No, probably not for R* North because the game has done extremely well...but GTA is an anomaly in the general world of gaming.

I created this thread before the game's release to highlight the costs of piracy.

While this may not have affected GTA4 - loses such as these could have most certainly hurt up and coming studios - and without those new startups, the future of gaming would be very dismal.

For those who care - well done.
For those who don't - stick your head back up your ass and STFU.

[shane32Eire]

Originally Posted by rabbitc

Man - some people here are so f***ing stupid.
The £25,000 loss was based on one day of exposure.
Imagine if that doesn't change and continues for less than half a year - say 150 days.

150 x 25,000 = £3,750,000
Not exactly chump change.
................................................
For those who care - well done.
For those who don't - stick your head back up your ass and STFU.

The fact that when the pirate game was released, anyone who was planning on downloading it illegally would have in the first couple of days makes your logic void. The fact you think the traffic that downloaded it the first day would last for 150days makes me bring up a quote of yours Man - some people here are so f***ing stupid.

People here know what your getting at, but with console games and a hugly hyped one like GTA brings massive interest, and if people get a chance to play it early they will download. BUT once the game is realised anyone who wants to play online(which would be a majority) would buy the real game. And I dont think you brought into account the fact people who have cracked 360's for d/l'ed games would be aware of the game being up for download, and highly doubt any of that audience would wait 149days to download it.
Realistically your talking 7-10 days max that a high amount of traffic would be downloading the game. And then nowhere near the first 24hrs of traffic. Your logic for coming up with them money figures are way off and make no sense tbh.

And just because someone doesnt agree with your little 'poor big billionare companys losing pennys' boo hoo attitude doesnt mean we need to STFU.
Ignorant much?

[bevo1981]

wow Shane. possibly the most comprehensive post i've seen from you yet. you took the words right out of my mouth that i was gonna respond with to rab's post. but since i'm a retarded American, from Texas, don't take too much stock into that.

[shane32Eire]

Originally Posted by bevo1981

wow Shane. possibly the most comprehensive post i've seen from you yet.

I was drunk

[rabbitc]

Realistically your talking 7-10 days max that a high amount of traffic would be downloading the game. And then nowhere near the first 24hrs of traffic. Your logic for coming up with them money figures are way off and make no sense tbh.

Actually - they're probably short as piracy grows exponentially as source copies are replicated.

And just because someone doesnt agree with your little 'poor big billionare companys losing pennys' boo hoo attitude doesnt mean we need to STFU.

If you had read my reply properly in the first place - you might recall that I was highlighting the danger for emerging development companies who could not bear the loss easily absorbed by larger companies such as Take Two and EA. FACT: there are far less development companies around nowadays than there were in the late 90's - why? Because piracy killed quite a few of them off while others were absorbed into swollen pigs like EA to manage the risk. Emerging companies gave us games like Wing Commander, Fallout and Doom - critical industry-defining IP that is still used in content today. What have we seen in recent years that has really changed gaming apart from what R*N has delivered through GTA? Sure, games are more flashy, higher spec and bigger in every possible way - but the creative pool is still joined at the hip to the old ideas that are now over a decade old.

I have been a gamer for a very long time - and I've noticed far less diversity in the gaming market then there was years ago - and that's a real shame because the technology now has so much potential. Don't forget - GTA4 was hailed as one of the first and ONLY titles to really grab hold of the power of the X360 and PS3 - consoles that have already been on the market for years. Most publishers and studios are too swollen under their own bureacracy to provide the creative freedom and atmosphere developers need to explore their ideas, the technology and take a few risks. Piracy created this debacle which is why companies like Microsoft and Steam are trying to kickstart an indie gaming sector where up-and-comers can have that freedom yet still benefit from a robust distribution model that doesn't put them at financial risk.

BUT once the game is realised anyone who wants to play online(which would be a majority) would buy the real game.

Don't be so sure - in the case of GTA4, there is a signifigant offline value - the multiplayer is just a small aspect of the game. We also assuming that there's some sort of repurcussion for using a cracked version online - to date, I am unaware of any thus far.

And I dont think you brought into account the fact people who have cracked 360's for d/l'ed games would be aware of the game being up for download, and highly doubt any of that audience would wait 149days to download it.

There's two problems with that thinking - first, if people only bought games within the first two weeks then sales would be far less than what they are. In fact, the larger, greedy publishers (cough-EA-cough) are currently banging heads together to figure out how they can get a piece of the multi-Billion resale market. While that in itself is insanity, it is an affirmation of the longevity of game sales far beyond the release date - so the fact that it's 149 days later is irrelevant. It could be 3 years later and still have an impact.

Second - downloading is merely one option in this scenario - why download when you can score a copy from your local bootleg reseller/mate/cousin/whatever. The PS1 was a clear example of how dramatic this can be (and also secured Sony's marketshare for many years) - you look at any game that had weaker copy protection and you'll find that the game in question had a much farther reaching distribution than the legit or hard-to-hack games - even if they were crap games....all this when downloading wasn't even really an option back then. Fact: The easier it is to cheat - the more likely people will rip off said product and in greater quantities.

Ignorant much?

This coming from the guy who wanked on a bus???

If you've bothered to read my reply - I think you'll find that it is you who is ignorant.

but since i'm a retarded American, from Texas, don't take too much stock into that.

...at least you know your role..

[Pepper Jack]

wanking on the bus isn't ignorant...it's just ****ing pathetic

[rabbitc]

and disgusting - don't forget disgusting....