This isn’t the first time we’ve heard a negative story about piracy on Android, but it seems that the developers of zombie shooter Dead Trigger have submitted to the fact that their game was getting pirated like crazy, and have made their game free anyway.
“Regarding price drop,” said the statement released by MadFinger Games. “The main reason: piracy rate on Android devices, that was unbelievably high. At first we intend to make this game available for as many people as possible – that’s why it was for as little as [a] buck.”
“However, even for one buck, the piracy rate is soooo giant, that we finally decided to provide DEAD TRIGGER for free.”
It’s worth noting that, like pretty much everything these days on smart phones, Dead Trigger offers in app purchases. The developers stand firm on the fact that you can play the game without them, but they do make the game easier if you want to dip into your pocket.
The game’s really good looking, especially on Tegra 3 devices (see the video above).
Now that it’s free, of course, some of those that did pay for it are kicking up a real fuss. “Seriously?!?! I Pay For This, And Some Time Later, They Just Give This Game Away For Free, Which It Should Have Been In The First Place!!! Last MadFinger Game I’ll Ever Purchase!!! FU MadFinger!!!” said one disgruntled customer.
Apparently the latest version of the Android OS offers much better piracy prevention via application encryption, although the number of devices currently running on 4.1 is rather slim.
The iOS version of Dead Trigger is still 69p.
nemesisND1derboy
Wow, people are complaining that they lost out on one whole dollar? Euch.
hazelam
it’s not like this is unique to this game either.
i’ve seen plenty of games on iOS do, start out for sale then become free, sometimes for a limited period, sometimes permanently.
Awayze
That customer is a moron anyway, capitilising every word. It does look good on Tegra 3 devices.
tonycawley
It looks good on my desire HD but FPS don’t work on touch screen, gameplay is horrible.
Sympozium
Looks dull however its really sad about the piracy, like its 1$ that isn’t much of a loss now is it?
KeRaSh
@article: The new app encryption works on devices running Gingerbread (2.3) and anything above that. It has been backported or at least is currently on its way.
While it is bad that so many people pirate the game, I don’t really understand their move to make the game available for free. Surely it’s still better to sell the game to the honest paying customers than not selling it at all. It seems they were focusing on the in app purchases anyways and I’ve heard that it’s almost impossible to get the better weapons without mindless grinding or paying for them, which I think is a pretty dick move on the dev side in a game that you originally had to pay for.
hazelam
but having the game in more people’s hands means more potential customers for the in app purchases.
i don’t know if hacked phones can still access the store to buy stuff in game.
and lots of games launch as free to play with IAPs,.
and they rarely sell stuff you can’t earn in game, if you’re patient enough.
for those who don’t have the time and don’t mind spending some money it’s just a way of speeding things up usually.
KeRaSh
To be honest, I have a feeling that they are putting themselves in the victim role as a way to get some media attention after the initial sales slowed down.
They haven’t released any numbers about the claims they made and I’m quite interested in the way they track these kinds of things. Do they count the number of devices that connect to their servers and compare it to sales numbers? Can they tell if someone is accessing the game through the same Google account on multiple devices? I own three Android devices and often download paid apps on all of my devices. Would they track that as two pirated copies?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m very much against piracy, but I’m way past the point of blindly believing whatever devs/publishers claim on the internet. Just look at the back and forth between Microsoft and the developers of Fez.
Yersal
You mean I’ve still got to pay the full 69p on iOS??? This is such bollocks etc etc…*
So I’m assuming iOS is harder to pirate for then. It’s a shame for the devs of games like this who are making some wonderfully playable and great looking games and charging next to nothing for them only for this to happen.
*Obviously a joke
KeRaSh
It’s very easy to pirate games on iOS once your device has been jailbroken. There was also a hack that made it possible to get in app purchases for free for any game available that has just been shut down. No system is 100% secure.
bunimomike
Thing is, I don’t know one person who’s jail-broken the iPhone. Ah, sorry. One. I know one person. I think the percentages are pretty low as the buyer of an iPhone often has a different mindset towards app costs, etc.
In relation to the article, I mentioned World of Goo not so long ago. Piracy was at around 90% and that was a cheap game too. The PC piracy was so disheartening it was shocking. Although… there’s a lot to be said for people who simply weren’t going to buy the app in the first place but I can’t help but feel for them.
KeRaSh
See, the thing about people’s personal circles is that they are not representative. I personally know more than 10 people who have jailbroken iPhones (or used to have one before they got an Android phone) while I’m the only one who has a rooted Android device (three devices, to be exact).
While it is not necessary to root the device in order to sideload apps, one-click jailbreaking an iDevice is hardly a bigger hurdle for people who want to pirate apps.
Yersal
Ah that’ll be it then, I’ve not had a jailbroken device since the 2nd firmware revision, pirating must not have been so rife back then.
scavenga
“it should have been free in the first place”
The world is raising a pack of entitled douchebags. I want out.
colmshan1990
Comment of the week?
colmshan1990
This story, and the story that was here a few months back on the 9:1 piracy rate of Football Manager Handheld on Android, are the main reasons why I think a fully open hackable Android console just won’t work.
Ouya being open is just too much of a risk. They need to lock it down more, but that’ll mean removing their key differentiating feature.
Gamoc
In-app purchases in a game that already costs money? No, that’s why people weren’t buying it, I would imagine. After reading it had in-app purchases to “make the game easier”, I didn’t bother trying it out despite it now being free.
Plus, it’s an FPS on a touch screen.