Piracy Killed the Eastside Hockey Manager

One of the running debates among gamers right now is if piracy really does have the potential to kill a video game (well, you know the stance publishers and developers will definitely take…). But there is now one confirmed casualty of teh haxxor of the game code, and that is Sports Interactive‘s Eastside Hockey Manager series.

East-what? Yes, admittedly it’s a lesser-known title – essentially Football Manager, except hockey – but beloved by those who’ve chosen to play the game. The latest in the series, EHM ’07, was in fact distributed exclusively online, partly to cut out the middle retailer and thus recoup more per online sale of the title. And partly to avoid getting the game hacked on release and then pirated, explains Miles Jacobson in an SI forum post.

Didn’t work. They didn’t see sales go up, either. But they did see torrent downloads go up and up. What sucked for them was that sales weren’t enough to cover dev costs, and yet the torrents went up. Somehow their reaction isn’t too hard to imagine. Alright, that’s it. **** it. If they really want to be that ungrateful, then they’re going to see what paying nothing will really cost them.

Sports Interactive decided to stop development on the series.

The way we see it, big-title games can survive being pirated because their sales over a given period are enough to cover dev costs, or at least keep the developer going, even as pirated copies are available to other less scrupulous buyers. But lesser-known titles like EHM depend on bringing in the money to continue justifying their worth as an IP to a publisher or developer. Long story short: games development is still a business. It’s probably easier for the bigger boys on the block than for smaller studios, niche titles, independent developers, and so on.

The point is, if you really do love a game, at least support it by paying up for what its worth (back it up all you want, but make sure you’ve paid for the game first, or at least are doing your bit to put food on a dev’s table, like donating money or something). Give, and you shall receive, remember?

One of the running debates among gamers right now is if piracy really does have the potential to kill a video game (well, you know the stance publishers and developers will definitely take…). But there is now one confirmed casualty of teh haxxor of the game code, and that is Sports Interactive‘s Eastside Hockey Manager series.

East-what? Yes, admittedly it’s a lesser-known title – essentially Football Manager, except hockey – but beloved by those who’ve chosen to play the game. The latest in the series, EHM ’07, was in fact distributed exclusively online, partly to cut out the middle retailer and thus recoup more per online sale of the title. And partly to avoid getting the game hacked on release and then pirated, explains Miles Jacobson in an SI forum post.

Didn’t work. They didn’t see sales go up, either. But they did see torrent downloads go up and up. What sucked for them was that sales weren’t enough to cover dev costs, and yet the torrents went up. Somehow their reaction isn’t too hard to imagine. Alright, that’s it. **** it. If they really want to be that ungrateful, then they’re going to see what paying nothing will really cost them.

Sports Interactive decided to stop development on the series.

The way we see it, big-title games can survive being pirated because their sales over a given period are enough to cover dev costs, or at least keep the developer going, even as pirated copies are available to other less scrupulous buyers. But lesser-known titles like EHM depend on bringing in the money to continue justifying their worth as an IP to a publisher or developer. Long story short: games development is still a business. It’s probably easier for the bigger boys on the block than for smaller studios, niche titles, independent developers, and so on.

The point is, if you really do love a game, at least support it by paying up for what its worth (back it up all you want, but make sure you’ve paid for the game first, or at least are doing your bit to put food on a dev’s table, like donating money or something). Give, and you shall receive, remember?