An Interview With Gabe Newell: "We Don´t Really Worry About Piracy".
By Gooutsideforawalk
Summary
## Key takeaways - **Piracy not a top concern**: Piracy is almost never on Valve's top 10 issues list. They don't really worry about it. [00:00], [00:23] - **Piracy misconception: unwillingness to pay**: Industry assumes piracy means people want to steal without paying, but pirates have $2,000 PCs and spend $50+ monthly on internet, showing they're willing to spend money. [00:21], [00:52] - **Piracy stems from bad service**: Piracy results from bad service by game companies. Improving service reduces piracy. [00:42], [01:13] - **Russia pirates outperform companies**: In Russia, pirates localized games and made them available faster than companies; when Valve offered simultaneous localized release, piracy disappeared. [00:51], [01:59] - **Copy protection worsens piracy**: Copy protection schemes reduce service by creating uncertainty about playing on new PCs or friends' houses, making piracy more likely. High service platforms like Steam build confidence and reduce piracy. [01:56], [03:17] - **Focus on customer service over pricing**: Pricing is less important than providing great product on customers' terms; people happily pay for that. [01:47], [02:19]
Topics Covered
- Piracy stems from bad service
- Copy protection worsens piracy
Full Transcript
piracy to us so we don't really worry about piracy you know when we think you know when you look at the top 10 issues on our list at any given point in time piracy is almost never you know
something that's that's on that list and the reason that we that we think that we don't have issues with piracy is that there's misconceptions in the industry
about what piracy is right you know there's assumption that what is piracy piracy is about people want to steal stuff from you right that they don't want to pay any money and they want to get your content but when you look at
the fact that these people have you know $2,000 PCS and you know they're they're spending $50 a month us more or more on
their internet connections clearly they're willing to spend money so from our point of view what we saw more and more is that piracy is a result of bad
service on the part of of game companies so an example where that was really clear is Russia right everybody in the United States knows that Russians are pirates right so
there's no point in localizing your game there's no point in making your product available in Russia cuz all they'll do is pirate it you know when the reality is is that
the Pirates in Russia were actually doing a much better job than the games companies themselves in localizing the product and in making it available so if I wanted the product and I didn't want
to wait 6 months to get the product and if I wanted it in Russian I was going to have to go to a pirate simply because I couldn't get get it any other way and as soon as the product became available at the same time that it was available in
Australia or the UK or United States and it was localized in Russia all of a sudden our privacy problems in Russia disappeared so it really is a question of offering a viewing yourself as how
can you provide the best possible service to your customers and pricing really is one of the less important aspects of that whole equation people
are happy to pay uh money if they're getting what they perceive as as a great product delivered on their terms this is an example where a lot of the copy protection schemes go in exactly the
wrong direction they actually make they're actually negative service right suddenly I don't know if this product so from as a customer what I want is I want my content on any device at any point in
time uh with with a lot of security right I don't want to have to worry when I buy a new pc that I won't be able to play a game that I've paid for and then with copy protection you're suddenly
like okay if I reinstall my operating system will I be able to play this game if I buy a new pc will I be able to if I go over to my friend's house will I be able to do it so if you solve the real problem which is hey I can go over to my
friend's house and play the game I can be in a cyber cafe on vacation and on holiday and I can play my game and I can buy new PCS and never have to worry about backing this up or restoring
backups or anything like that oh that's great then I'm much less likely to get a pirated version Cy protection makes it less likely that that's going to be the case and high service platforms like
steam or other ones that are coming out make you more confident so when you so attack the problem that way by improving the service component of the experience rather than through copy protection
which reduces the service component you know copy protection is actually going to increase I mean there's anecdotal evidence this is the case that copy protection actually increases rather than decreases the piracy of games so
like I say by focusing on the customer and doing useful things for the customer
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