That's a lie from people who don't want to pay for content. I'm a patron of certain artists because I can't find their content elsewhere. But if the content was pirated, I wouldn't pay them. The "piracy brings traffic" lie falls apart when the dev offers a demo or free version. If the game is good and I can't find it pirated, I'll buy it. And a lot of people would do the same. It's just the way it is.
You are referring to completed products in where the consumer doesn't have the chance to test it before buying it. With patron games, you have that possibility, it's called free version or demo.
But we'll see what happens. To me, DS's move will bring him more patrons.
Actually what you say is a lie that has been disproven now for over 30 years again and again and again yet still ppl claim it has to be otherwise with 0 evidence provided in 30 years.
Where is your proof? I got plenty sit back and enjoy.
1. In the 80s and 90s it was illegal to record your TV series or shows with a VHS yet most ppl did which made the series back then such a sucess in sales when the seasons where released on VHS most ppl buyed them despite the fact they already pirated them.
The sales on VHS recorders almost exploded the same on VHS casettes and all because pirating was so easy that basically everyone from the series to the VHS sellers made a fortune of it.
They sold so much stuff back then despite the fact it cost a fortune that even repair stations on the countryside had to be made so even those ppl could cash in. Where i grew up you had to drive almost an hour to a shop to get a VHS recorder but we had 3 repair stations in between them. I could walk out the door and go to a guy who repaired stuff like that right across my street.
So the industry grew even faster WITH the pirates then without them.
2. People started to pirate Playstation and Nintendo and even Xbox Games later on. Whole lists of games, Movies etc where produced which you could buy from your pirate who would make money off it.
Console Sales and Movie Sales especially DVDs skyrocketed that high that the DVD despite jumping into an established market of VHS and the fact that most DVS only sold the exact same stuff VHS did. They kicked the VHS out of work faster then you could watch.
But pirates needed still the equipment to use pirated stuff.
DVD Player = Money.
Console = Money.
Pirated Game = Money.
bought Game = Money.
Regardless the point of view. They made Money and millions of it. And the Pirates ensured they made even more money buy providing free games but still you needed the console so you bought one. And they where so shitty flashed they broke most of the time which lead that you bought a second console. Didnt flash it and bought the games in a store.
Same with DVD! Certain DVD Players didnt replay your pirated movies. So you needed another one or a bought DVD which lead to most ppl buy either another DVD player and then another one to quit and buy DVDs regular or people bought Regular DVDs after they found out not all pirated movies would work.
Again the Industry grew even faster and made even more money WITH the pirates.
3. With the Internet for everyone pirating of games and movies became possible. The quality was worse then back in the VHS time and yet they sold so many copies that entire shops where sold out on stuff simply because they underestimated gaming as a new market that started to grow faster then everyone could have dreamed of.
They sold bigger harddrives. Faster Internet connections and the first flatrates so you could download unlimited amounts of GB which back then was expensive af.
Better Graphic cards that despite if pirated or not you would need in order to play your games.
Better Consoles regardless of being opened to play pirated copies or not you needed to buy them in the first place.
Everyone was making Millions of Dollars regardless of the customers doing.
Pirating = Money. No Pirating = Money.
It doesnt matter what the customer does. They make Money either way.
If your industry is pirated it means you make more and more money of it then you could do without them.
Another example is the porn industry. Back in the Day Porn Actors where paid shit. They could not choose what to do or where to go but either VHS or DVD was made and you got branded for life you had no say in it.
Now look at the porn industry today with FREE WEBSITES to watch it? THey make more money then they ever made before. They got their own websites, Camshows, Patreon like sites where you as a customer can even pay them to do some special shows or vids to your liking.
The point is while Sites we all know for free porn where hated the moment they started they made work for those actors way easier. Money income way bigger and the industry way richer then without it.
So the fact of the matter is. Pirating makes the Industry grow bigger and faster. It provides every industry involved more income and establish the produced goods to a bigger audience for free which is like a commercial you dont have to pay for as dev.
Also back in the day most devs released their own game or movie into the WWW to actually save costs on commercials and marketing. And it payed off every single time.
How you think ppl downloaded or shared demo versions on the school yard in the 90s? How you think Pokemon became that sucess worldwide? Cause everyone bought tha game on the offchance it was shit?
No cause people shared 1 fucking copy of the game to multiple people and if you never had a gameboy with pirated games in the 80s/90s you had no gameboy at all. My Gameboy is 31 years old and works to this day.
I was on my 3rd Xbox 360 when i gave up with that piece of junk.
Demos, Entire Games and sometimes Movies where made popular by pirates. Some Games to this day get played because of pirates. Even entire patches that fix broken games where made by pirates which leads to some of old games being rebooted today which would have never happend without them.
Hell if someone of the guys working on the trailer "to get producers on board" didnt leak the scripts for deadpool that movie would have never been made.
It baffles my mind to this day how people can still claim that pirating ruins the industry when music, Gaming and movies make more money today then they ever made in the past exactly because they get pirated. If what they say would be true in any way they would make less and less money but the opposite is happening for over 30 years now.
You would think people would have learned by now with experience but nope. Same old Song and same old story.