Successful Streamer is Using a Pirated Copy of The Witness

Jonathan Blow is one of the most recognizable names in the indie development scene and best known for creating the hit puzzle game, Braid. In addition to Super Meat Boy, Braid showcased the kind of creativity and unique experiences players could expect from independent studios. Clearly, Braid’s wonderful aesthetic and captivating level design made it a huge success story. To build on the success of Braid, Jonathan Blow decided to work on a brand new title called, The Witness set in an open world enviroment with dozens of locations to explore. Furthermore, the game has over 500 extremely challenging puzzles and offers a lengthy single player experience.

Unfortunately, The Witness has fallen victim to extremely high piracy numbers and already become the most downloaded game on an unnamed pirate site, (most probably The Pirate Bay).

https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/692831051845083137

Arguably, the game’s $39.99/£29.99 price tag could be a root cause of this very high piracy rate as people feel it’s overpriced for an indie puzzler. Please remember piracy doesn’t always mean the individual in question simply wants the game for free. Perhaps, the price is a concern, and it’s downloaded as a form of testing. Although, it’s clear many pirates have this intention and never buy the game. On the other hand, much cheaper titles including Grey Goo suffered from similar piracy rate which discredits the idea of pricing being the single cause. It’s probably a contributing factor though.

https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/692831910179971074

Unbelievably, a very successful streamer with 3 million views has been broadcasting the game using a pirated copy. This is absolutely astonishing because the person in question is clearly going to make at least $40 back from donations, or other means. It’s extremely stupid for someone with a small channel, but when you’re so influential and making an impressive amount of money, it shows a complete lack of respect for game developers. Jonathan Blow didn’t name the streamer, but it’s certainly something which almost defies belief.

https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/693202768136253442