Forget draconian DRM or annoying online registrations, Paradox thinks that it can prevent piracy of its new game, the SimCity-inspired Cities: Skylines, by making it at good as it can possibly be.
Shams Jorjani, Vice President of Acquisition at Paradox, revealed on Twitter, after bemoaning the 16% piracy Cities: Skylines was subject to after two days of release, that the company plans to make legal purchase through Steam the more desirable option by offering free updates and DLC:
Here are a few small tidbits of info about Cities: Skylines – day 1 we had 0% piracy. pretty cool. Day 2 16%.
— Shams Jorjani (@ShamsJorjani) March 12, 2015
As usual our plan for pirates is to make a great game even better through free updates – making it more convenient to use Steam instead.
— Shams Jorjani (@ShamsJorjani) March 12, 2015
It's all about offering the superior service. That's how we bring down piracy. By making the paid experience a superior one.
— Shams Jorjani (@ShamsJorjani) March 12, 2015
Jorjani then took a swipe at DRM, reaffirming Paradox’s view that the more convenient you make game delivery and access, the more customers you will appeal to.
Here is Paradox Interactive's and Princess Leia's stance on PC piracy: pic.twitter.com/fDmDgfHHLp
— Shams Jorjani (@ShamsJorjani) March 12, 2015
It's all about offering a superior service. How come more and more use Netflix instead of pirating stuff? Ease of use and convenience.
— Shams Jorjani (@ShamsJorjani) March 12, 2015
We updated Magicka 14 times in 13 days. Even the pirates stopped posting new pirated versions after a while. Steams autoupdate was easier.
— Shams Jorjani (@ShamsJorjani) March 12, 2015
Also – best "DRM" ever? Steam workshop.
— Shams Jorjani (@ShamsJorjani) March 12, 2015
So, making the best game you can and making it easy to install and play is appealing to customers. Who knew?
Source: VG24/7
Now if only some other certain companies had the same thoughts.