Internet Piracy Is Booming. Streaming Sites Are to Blame.
www.thedailybeast.com
Platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ were supposed to do away with pirated media. Instead, they may make them stronger than ever.

How Disney and Warner Bros. Are Causing Internet Piracy to Boom | Platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ were supposed to do away with pirated media. Instead, they may make them stronger than ever.::Platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ were supposed to do away with pirated media. Instead, they may make them stronger than ever.

  • AliasWyvernspur@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2651·
    10 months ago

    I know it gets quoted a lot, but Gabe was 100% right. It boggles my mind how people in power over these streaming services just don’t get it:

    One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It’s a service issue. The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.

      • ABCDE@lemmy.worldEnglish
        141·
        10 months ago

        I have, but that’s an access issue where I live, where there are no official stores to buy things from, and the places which do exist don’t have the games I want (on PS4). I download all Disney content as + is not available here either.

      • Cavemanfreak@lemm.eeEnglish
        7·
        10 months ago

        I have pirated a few games due to cost, since my SO is studying at the moment, and one of us has basically always been on parental leave the last 3.5 years. I bought both Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 when I could afford it though, since both of them brought me more than 100 hours of fun.

      • JJROKCZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        10 months ago

        I never have, I don’t see the point when steam is just so convenient and has sales all the time. Just be patient on pricing, the game isn’t going to go away because you didn’t buy on release.

        I also don’t trust downloading unverified, modified, software. An mp3 or mkv is probably going to be safe as you can’t load software through those really, but an exe can do anything

      • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.comEnglish
        4·
        10 months ago

        The list of games I’ve pirated in the past 15 years and steam publish games I’ve played are disparate/disjointed sets.

      • Kekin@lemy.lolEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        I hadn’t either until the Steam autumn sale 2023, I wanted Dirt Rally 2 GOTY edition because it includes all the DLC, but I couldn’t buy it because I already own the base game…

      • lepinkainen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        The last game I pirated was Skyrim, and that mostly because I was unemployed and poor at the time

    • CALIGVLA@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      461·
      10 months ago

      It boggles my mind how people in power over these streaming services just don’t get it:

      Oh they get it, you can be sure of that. It’s just they’re so, so greedy they don’t care that eventually in the future the well will dry up, they only care about more money NOW.

      • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        That’s how the system is set up. Even if the people in the corporation weren’t greedy, they need the line to go up every quarter. And when the higher leadership recognizes that, they hardly ever think about long term investments. So a corporation is not a money making machine, no, it’s a money maximizing machine. That’s why we call them greedy.

    • Deconceptualist@lemm.eeEnglish
      31·
      10 months ago

      Yep, came to post this. I think I’ve spent more and more on Steam every year because they have actually stuck to this principle.

      Don’t get me wrong I love GOG for the confirmed lack of DRM. But they just don’t do service like Valve.

      • Vlyn@lemmy.zipEnglish
        9·
        10 months ago

        I mean GOG Galaxy exists, which can even show you all games from GOG, Steam, Epic, … besides keeping your games updated.

        It’s still not as good as Steam, but at least a better solution than manually checking and installing updates.

        • Deconceptualist@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          I would definitely say GOG has good service overall. The one time I had to return a game they were pretty helpful and accommodating. It’s just not at the level of Steam with a continual push of innovative and player-friendly features.

          I’m on Linux where Heroic Launcher fills the app role, so GOG gets a smidge less credit there.

    • agamemnonymousEnglish
      25·
      10 months ago

      That’s a bingo. Used to pirate, then stopped because streaming was cheap and it wasn’t worth the hassle. It’s still not worth the hassle, but I’d rather just stop watching than deal with the bloated streaming market.

      • HelloHotel@lemm.eeEnglish
        7·
        10 months ago

        Usually populations do a few diffrent things under oppression:

        1. everything is fine, look at our source of pride,
        2. it sucks but what are you gonna do?
        3. lay flat defeatism
        4. WERE FUCKING BURNING SOMTHING

        Right now they want to think we live in a option 1 and 2 country. We will be an option 3 and/or 4 verry soon. They cant mask the minipulation in option 4 and cant continue to funtion with either 3 or 4.

      • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        10 months ago

        He was absolutely right.

        People generally are absolutely fine with paying, so long as it’s not absurd pricing and the service is convenient.

        I was happy paying for Netflix until the recent bullshit. I still pay for Spotify. I buy all my games outside of old ones that I need to emulate (again proving Gabe correct - if I could legally access them easily then I’d do that instead, but am I fuck jumping through hoops like spending thousands on old consoles I don’t have the space for nor the time to search for/import games)

        P.s. I’m from India. Not one of these “pasty-faced white people” that you seem to take issue with

    • krakenx@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      10 months ago

      Capcom just started adding game breaking DRM to their archive of old single player Steam games because an exec got butthurt over a nude mod for Street Fighter. Now Steam Deck support is broken and my mods don’t work with games I purchased years ago. The pirated version is now better once again.

      At almost the exact same time, Valve sent a DMCA notice to Portal64 because for some reason they care about people playing a homebrew port of a $2 15 year old game on 30 year old hardware.

      I used to think Capcom and Valve were two of the last good ones. Turns out there aren’t any good ones…