Hotline Miami dev says even bugs in pirated copies of his game 'worse to me than losing money' - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Jonatan Söderström, the indie developer of Hotline Miami, isn't a fan of piracy, but that doesn't mean he's above helping pirates get the best experience possible. "I don't really want people to pirate Hotline Miami, but I understand if they do," Söderström wrote last week on Twitter. "I've been broke the last couple of months. It sucks." And yet, when the cash-strapped indie developer learned that his game was available as a torrent — and that some pirates were even complaining of bugs in the software they'd illegally downloaded — he did something unexpected. On Oct. 24, 2012, the day after Hotline Miami was released, he offered the pirates help in a post on The Pirate Bay. His post appeared in the torrent listing for Hotline Miami; in response to a user who complained that their Xbox 360 controller didn't work with the game, Söderström posted a link to a fix. As he was coding that patch, Polygon reached out to Söderström to find out why he'd reacted that way and how he feels about torrents. He's pretty sure that some of his other games have been torrented, but because they were freeware, he had no issue with it. Hotline Miami is different. This is a retail title, sales of which can stop him from being broke. So why did he offer his help? "Because I've worked very hard on making an interesting experience that I want people to enjoy," he told Polygon via email. "Bugs detract from that, and that's worse to me than losing money." He said that he doesn't "see anything positive" in determining the monetary impact of pirating Hotline Miami. Although he stops short of encouraging it, Söderström understands that there are potential benefits, too. "I wouldn't be the person I am without piracy," he said. "I've found some really obscure things that have given me so much inspiration through piracy, and I never would have had a chance to experience these things without it. If pirates support the things they like, piracy would probably stop being a big problem." With that, he echoes the sentiment of several posters on The Pirate Bay. "Cactus, thanks for making this game and supporting broke ass chumps like myself get their game on," The Pirate Bay user oogiboogi wrote on the Hotline Miami thread. "I may not actually buy this game, but I will definitely spread the good word because I appreciate the work that you've done and your damn decent attitude." Söderström can't stop the piracy, so his nuanced solution is to make the most of the situation by focusing on the potential good it may do for his game. "I hope it means whoever uploaded it enjoyed the game a lot and wanted others to play it as well," he said. "I'm not saying I fully condone it, I just think it helps looking at it in the most positive way you can. If piracy means more people get to experience the game, then it's not a total loss."[/QUOTE] By Dave Tach of [I]Polygon[/I] on October 30, 2012 [URL="http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/30/3577726/hotline-miami-developer-the-pirate-bay-torrent"][Source][/URL] ... Further reassuring us that Söderström, Dennaton Games, and Devolver Digital are awesome. Way to go. I'll be picking this up when I have the time; looks pretty neat.

This is really the best way to handle piracy. Big companies will never understand it, though.

[QUOTE=venn178;38255597]This is really the best way to handle piracy. Big companies will never understand it, though.[/QUOTE] But what will EA be without money?!?!?!?!

[QUOTE=YourFriendJoe;38255658]But what will EA be without money?!?!?!?![/QUOTE] EA has enough money to last them a good 4 years tbh

Seeing as the amount of indie games is huge and the amount of indie game piracy is also huge, it would be cool if there was some kind of netflix/steam crossover which allowed you to pay a monthly fee in order to be able to play these games. Would ensure that there was a constant revenue stream for the developers and would also discourage piracy, much like Netflix has.

that's awesome

[QUOTE=Noss;38255765]Seeing as the amount of indie games is huge and the amount of indie game piracy is also huge, it would be cool if there was some kind of netflix/steam crossover which allowed you to pay a monthly fee in order to be able to play these games. Would ensure that there was a constant revenue stream for the developers and would also discourage piracy, much like Netflix has.[/QUOTE] There's Gamefly, though the PC selection it has is fairly limited. Mostly old games. There's some good stuff on there, but it's [I]really[/I] unlikely that you'll find anything new.

[QUOTE=YourFriendJoe;38255658]But what will EA be without money?!?!?!?![/QUOTE] Yes because it is entirely feasible for an enormous publisher like EA to allow people to pirate their games and give them help when their illegal copies don't work. This kind of piracy support only works with 1-4 man indie teams, not huge devs/pubs.

[QUOTE=YourFriendJoe;38255658]But what will EA be without money?!?!?!?![/QUOTE] a company with employees who get paid even less

I've been playing this game for a few hours now and let me tell you it's WELL worth more than the price he's asking. This game is so insanely stylish and fun. It can be challenging as balls, and downright unfair but its still a really damn good game with a good mindfuck story. And the music is fucking amazing. The music alone is worth the game price. I just bought another copy of the game for a friend of mine after reading this. He had torrented the game already.

[QUOTE=milkandcooki;38256208]Yes because it is entirely feasible for an enormous publisher like EA to allow people to pirate their games and give them help when their illegal copies don't work. This kind of piracy support only works with 1-4 man indie teams, not huge devs/pubs.[/QUOTE] Devolver Digital did something [I]similar[/I] to this. They knew that Serious Sam 3 would be cracked, and fairly quickly, so they nodded at it with a giant pink scorpion. No other DRM. Just an invincible, optimistic as-all-hell scorpion. I'm sure they knew that would get patched out just as fast, so it's the "big company" alternative for piracy.

Hotline Miami is amazing by the way, I've played it at friends place just to try it. Will totally buy it, it's really fun to play and the soundtrack is great.

I don't think I would help people who pirated my game. Sure, there's people who do it because they don't have the money to buy it, but there's just as many people who do it because they don't want to pay for it.

[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;38256842]I don't think I would help people who pirated my game. Sure, there's people who do it because they don't have the money to buy it, but there's just as many people who do it because they don't want to pay for it.[/QUOTE] That's not the point. He just wants people to enjoy it, and get the word out if they liked it, so more people will play it.

[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;38256842]I don't think I would help people who pirated my game. Sure, there's people who do it because they don't have the money to buy it, but there's just as many people who do it because they don't want to pay for it.[/QUOTE] For the dev, it ain't about money. It's about getting the best possible experience.

[QUOTE=milkandcooki;38256208]Yes because it is entirely feasible for an enormous publisher like EA to allow people to pirate their games and give them help when their illegal copies don't work. This kind of piracy support only works with 1-4 man indie teams, not huge devs/pubs.[/QUOTE] Especially since he admitted to be being broke. There have been plenty of devs who've basically sank due to piracy, but its normally the smaller devs who don't have investor capital and such to keep them floating.

If he is broke why is he pretty much encouraging people to pirate his game

Thee dev is awesome, a guy at Gamespy gave a bad review on Hotline Miami, so this happens: [img]http://i.imgur.com/RE2dx.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=MaxOfS2D;38257470]If he is broke why is he pretty much encouraging people to pirate his game[/QUOTE] He's not encouraging people to pirate his game any more than if he did nothing.

[QUOTE=usaokay;38257862]Read the article[/QUOTE] I thought ACE Team's approach made more sense, oh well

[QUOTE=MaxOfS2D;38257876]I thought ACE Team's approach made more sense, oh well[/QUOTE] You pirated Zeno Clash?

[QUOTE=venn178;38255597]This is really the best way to handle piracy. Big companies will never understand it, though.[/QUOTE] let;'s be honest - big companies don't need word of mouth advertisement. or word of post.

I never really pirate to indie games, and I certainly would pirate to this guy, he seems like a bro, and he has the correct to do things in my opinion. If it at least doesn't stop pirates, it will at least make him out to be a decent guy, and it will certainly get him at least a bit more sales.

[QUOTE=McNab;38258269]You pirated Zeno Clash?[/QUOTE] No, but there was an article about it back when it got released which was also posted here.

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;38255670]EA has enough money to last them a good 40 years[/QUOTE] FTFY

[QUOTE=343N;38259255]FTFY[/QUOTE] The way EA is going will only last them 4 more years. Unless a better company starts getting ready for their fall, EA will down fuckshit avenue with their roller coaster stocks.

[QUOTE=Cl0cK;38256639]Hotline Miami is amazing by the way, I've played it at friends place just to try it. Will totally buy it, it's really fun to play and the soundtrack is great.[/QUOTE] Agreed. I'd claim it's one of the top indie titles of this year. If anyone's still on the fence about spending a few bucks on it, read the Rock Paper Shotgun articles.

You can actually benefit financially from piracy. More than one studies has shown for example that people who pirates music are more likely to buy it than people who don't. I am pretty sure this applies to games as well, if you had a good experience with a free product you'll want to support the maker. If I had made a game, I'd release two versions of it. One on tpb and other torrent sites, which is the full game completely free. And one payed version which would have multiplayer (if it fits the game of course) and updates, most likely through Steam. The free version would be everything you'd get when pirating the game anyways so I'd use it as marketing. Why fight the inevitable when you can use it instead? It would be free marketing.

I bought the game after pirating it (and completing it) for two reasons: 1) I really enjoyed it and 2) The Dev was so down-to-Earth and humble. Honestly, I'll admit I'm a cheap bastard, and a bit of a scumbag, and say that I may not have bought it purely based on the fact that I enjoyed it (granted it's a game from an indie developer, which makes this even worse). But honestly, seeing him posting in the piratebay link, it just made me feel so terrible and I realized he really does deserve the money. So I went and bought it, without a seconds hesitation.

The publicity he's gaining from this is likely to make him even more money anyway, I think he knows what he's doing.