Piracy has harmed the gaming industry ever since its inception. Before, pirates used to clone games on disks, and now they’re creating illegal copies on the web. The only difference modern technology has made is to offer further convenience to fraudsters to counterfeit video games and earn a considerable profit while hiding in the shadows.

Although video game piracy doesn’t get as much attention as the music industry, it hurts developers and studios the same way. That’s why anti-piracy protection for game developers is as important as any other creators; keep reading to find out why.

How it Works

One of the most common ways of pirating video games is through torrents. It’s a peer-to-peer, decentralized network that allows users to share files without uploading them to a server.  

With torrenting, people share copies of video games with other users, and they can download them without paying. Torrenting works by breaking down the file into many pieces and moving them from seeders (uploaders) to leechers (downloaders). Therefore, it’s impossible to track down the thousands of people involved.

How Video Game Piracy Affects Developers

Gamers Get Greedy

Gamers want to play every game out there, but buying every single one of them can be expensive. Therefore, simply pirating video games is more tempting than paying for them. Once a user starts downloading free games, there’s no going back, causing damage to the game developers.

Less Profit for Developers

It’s one of the most significant drawbacks of piracy in the gaming industry and causes a series of problems for developers. When gamers download pirated versions, developers and studios earn less revenue, eventually leading to bankruptcy or the studio shutting down. When the developers don’t earn back their hard-earned money, they are less likely to develop more games in the future.

Smaller Budget for Games

As a developer, your budget for future games is also affected when you earn less revenue. Due to the smaller budget, the games developed are of lower quality and take much longer to release than usual. All of this creates a bad reputation for a studio, and it may lose many of its loyal customers who pay for its games.

Gaming Industry Doesn’t Get the Same Importance

Video game piracy doesn’t get as much media coverage as it deserves. The biggest news regarding piracy is mainly about the music industry and sometimes the film industry. Not many people talk about or even understand that piracy affects the gaming industry in many ways. This creates fewer opportunities for developers to protect their work.

How Anti-Piracy Protection Can Help Developers

Anti-piracy protection allows developers to have complete control over their content. They can monitor the web and hidden platforms to find and remove illegal copies of their video games. It also lets them maximize their revenue and continue developing high-quality games.

Onsist is one of the leading anti-piracy providers, protecting game and app developers for over a decade. We offer anti-counterfeit solutions, dark web monitoring, and DMCA takedown services to help people tackle piracy effectively. Request a free analysis today to find out what we can do for you.