Saturday, November 26, 2011

Gabe Newell on Piracy:

"We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy," Newell said. "Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24/7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country three months after the U.S. release and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable.

Thanks IGN .

This is at least partially right.  It might be that piracy is also a pricing problem, but for things like television shows, movies, games, books....  Yes, living in Australia, it annoys me no end that various purchases are region locked, don't arrive, extortionately priced by local businesses, and so on.

Of course, the problem isn't limited to software.  I tried to buy the new kindle a couple days ago (not the Fire, the e-ink touchscreen).  They won't ship it to Australia, they will only ship the crappy ones.  This is stupid, Amazon.  But then, the piracy solution doesn't really exist for hardware...

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