File sharing arose because people could get movies quickly and for free using programs like Kazaa. Today it's BitTorrent. Tomorrow, it will be something else.
It's a futile battle for defenders of copyrighted material, like scraping sand off a beach. Going after the pirate headquarters is a good strategy. An even better strategy would be offering affordable content, free of stifling digital rights management software.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
Spiders: "We're going to cut straight to the chase so you're not left wondering: After a long period without clear answers, we have received confirmation that Spiders is being liquidated.
What does it mean? This means the company as a whole no longer exists. We'll cease our functions immediately. The planned DLC will release via Nacon, and then-- well, that's it.
We're sorry that it's come to this and would like to thank each and every one of you for your support over the years.
If you have any questions or run into issues with your games, please contact Nacon directly as we'll no longer be able to reply."
"An even better strategy would be offering affordable content, free of stifling digital rights management software."
People don't pirate stuff because it's too expensive, people pirate stuff because they don't want to pay for it. That really is the long and short of it.
... so people will buy the stuff they find worthy of buying, and they will download the stuff that's too expensive or that they just want to check out.
That said, the industry has to take a look in the mirror at how they're treating their customers.
Why should I be 'loyal' to developers when at the same time they're DLC-scamming us!? Why would I want to pay 50 euro for Street Fighter 4 while at the same time Capcom is selling content that usually would already be included in the retail-game!?
Why should I pay 15 bucks for a DVD of Ong-Bak, when it's cut to shreds by the american producers and ruined by a horrible new soundtrack!?
Why should I pay 15 euro for a CD when there are only 2-3 songs on there that I like, and where most of that 15 euro will NOT go to the artists, but to the businessmonkeys in suits so they can use that money to plug and hype some talentless young overpaid starlett!?
Why should I have to wait 5-10 years before a western company picks uo the rights for an anime I like, and pay them 20 euro for a DVD with only 5 episodes or something!?
The 'industry' has to take a look at how they are treating US. If something IS good and IS worth the money, it will sell very well (just look at the DVD-industry: it's easy-peasy to download/copy movies on your PC and watch it in great quality on your TV, but people are still very willing to go out and buy the actual product, cause it's usually worth the money (for good movies)).
Personally, I will pay money for the products that are worth that money, and where I don't feel like I'm being cheated by the developers. I spend alot of mony on 'entertainment', probably more than those people that don't download anything, and pretty much all of my movies and games are legally bought, but at times a download makes more sense, cause BUYING the product would be like rewarding bad behaviour.
edit: Also, the industry seems to think that every new game is worth 50-60 euro, regardless of the quality of that game. That's just ridiculous, and one of the reasons people resort to downloading it instead.
Take for example a game like NHL09. For Hockey-fans probably worth the 60 euros, but for most fans in Europe the game seems like a lot of fun, but not '60 euros worth of fun'. Why not release a game like that, with that very limited hockey-fanbase here in Europe, for 30 euros, so people are wayyy more willing to pick it up and try it out, or buying it for a friend as a Xmas-gift!?
Not every game is worth the price they're asking for it, and that makes people download it instead. A game like GTA4 or Call of Duty 4 or Mario Galaxy (games that are very well received by the press and fans), ARE worth 60 bucks. But many games aren't, and developers need to realise that and adjust their strategy.
I love my free movies, and I'm not afraid to say it.