Just ask yoursefl WHY people do it (obtain illegal material/software) from internet. I can tell you its because of two things:

1) Its much easier to obtain.
2) Costs virtually nothing.

Now think why Napster was “forced” to change their site to release legal material which you have to pay for by say monthy fees…because companies got scared that their yearly profit would be less and thus filed a legal suit with Napster. IMO this deal fits well with the above two points which I outlined in terms of consumers following them.

Wow some more brilliance. People like free things? What a revelation.

As for me selling merhcandise…I would do it at a reasonable cost that would not force other to try and sell it at lower costs than mine.

Unfortunately if you were CEO of Nintendo this would put you in breach of the company policy to maximise shareholder earnings. Just about every company has this policy in different wording. If you actually think Nintendo would make more money by adopting this tactic then you would no doubt be contradicting a team of market researchers hired by Nintendo to look into this.

I dont want to pay $100 for a new game and alot of other people would agree with me…its just too much IMO and the price CAN be lowered but it wont because companies will never consider lowering their bench mark $$$ gain.

As nelots pointed out there evidently are enough people willing to pay $100 to make it a worthwhile exercise.

Good business means customers are happy and I would not be happy with a $100 tag on a new game so obviously some people (not talking about myself; i just dont buy it or wait till the price goes down) might consider “other method(s)” obtaining an item at a lower price….I bet some of you have in the past.

Having happy customers is just a part of good business and would probably be outweighed by making sh*tloads of money. I certainly have used “other methods” to get media but not every consumer has the know-how.

Death you seem to think that Nintendo would make more money by increasing the price of their games. Not always. I can guarantee if they charged $300 a game they would lose a lot of money (and im not talking about piracy!)

There is a reason why piracy is on the increase and its basically due to the two points which I pointed out previously. Companies will have to restructure the way they sell their products to meet the requirements of consumers…but they will do it in such a way that they will NOT lose on it and hopefully the consumer will also benefit from the lowered docet price.

Seriously preety much every person who has access to internet and decent knowledge of computers has illegaly downloaded software and honestly people are getting fed up with the high docet price and lack of availability of items they want. I still remember when EBgames first opened up..hardly any games would sell at discounted prices… and now there is always some special on games which are few months to nearly a year old, or older. i myself have snapped up good deals on some major games:

– C&C: TB& KW for $30 each after 6months
– Crysis and Crysis:Warhead both for $50 after nearly a year
– New 007 game for $20 after few months
– Bioshock for $20 after a year
– and alot more for prices around $20-40 in general.

Just shows that EBgames is restructuring their sales so that it brings back customers. Just look at the t***t websites and when new games come out and see how many people are actually downloading it…people prefer to get it via net than pay the prices…so dont you think people prefer to obtain the items from home and at virtually zero cost THAN having to drive to the shop and buy them? I dont mind driving but I will definetly NOT buy games for those kind of prices…and they have gone up from last year(on average game price).

There is a reason why piracy is on the increase and its basically due to the two points which I pointed out previously.

Sure it has nothing to do with the availability of broadband?

Companies will have to restructure the way they sell their products to meet the requirements of consumers…but they will do it in such a way that they will NOT lose on it and hopefully the consumer will also benefit from the lowered docet price.

So you haven’t heard about this new craze thats sweeping across the globe, I think its called e-commerce. You know, like selling things over the internet!!!

Seriously preety much every person who has access to internet and decent knowledge of computers has illegaly downloaded software and honestly people are getting fed up with the high docet price and lack of availability of items they want. I still remember when EBgames first opened up..hardly any games would sell at discounted prices… and now there is always some special on games which are few months to nearly a year old, or older.

How do you expect a relatively new business to start by off-loading their new release stocks at discounted prices???
Theres a time line which all products follow where by they start off at its optimal price and slowly decrease as it ages as new models or titles are released.
I thought that would be common sense to people……

Just shows that EBgames is restructuring their sales so that it brings back customers. Just look at the t***t websites and when new games come out and see how many people are actually downloading it…people prefer to get it via net than pay the prices…so dont you think people prefer to obtain the items from home and at virtually zero cost THAN having to drive to the shop and buy them? I dont mind driving but I will definetly NOT buy games for those kind of prices…and they have gone up from last year(on average game price).

Restructuring??? No, thats just business which I’m guessing you have no idea of so I’ll put it simply by saying business’s will heavily discount outdated old stock to make room in storage to store new stuff.
Finally, prices go fluctuate depending on various factors. For now its the norm to blame every single price hike on the dreaded GFC.

The bottom line is that people prefer to obtain software/information via the net and at literally at zero cost EVEN doing it illegaly. Broadband has only allowed for larger items to be obtained at a faster pace due to increase in size of information/software.Companies are slowly restructuring to use internet to sell their product, which suprisingly reduces cost.

Simple example is Steam selling their keys for the orange box for like $20 over the net (all you need to is download the software). So if you think about it it costs $20 to make the game and another $40 to create it physically and send it to the shop. Just think about it; $10 profit (per game from the $20 it costs to make it) for the company so obviously at most half that price went into making the game (from selling the key for $20)…im sure you can add the numbers up. NOW take into the account that this is AFTER quite some time after the game launch. Like I said the docet prices are TOO HIGH and companies invovled from product creation to shop shelf arrival WILL always increase the price unfairly and the consumer will be the one who is treated UNFAIRLY.

I know how companies work and all they care about is PROFIT…regardless of how its obtained…well majority of them anyways.

The bottom line is that people prefer to obtain software/information via the net and at literally at zero cost EVEN doing it illegaly.

EVEN doing it illegally? you can do it legally too ya know?

Like I said the docet prices are TOO HIGH and companies invovled from product creation to shop shelf arrival WILL always increase the price unfairly and the consumer will be the one who is treated UNFAIRLY.

I know how companies work and all they care about is PROFIT…regardless of how its obtained…well majority of them anyways.

What the hell is a fair price? how high is too high? companies care about profit? No sh!t.

Death, when you run a business and it is successful, we will believe you.
Listen to butz, he was a businessman and is now retired at a young age. He clearly knows his shit. You work at csiro, you are paid to think of random theories to problems, they don’t always work in real life and your current business theory is one of those instances where it just wouldn’t work nor does it make any real sense.

Cheers

This is a bit of a circular argument. 🙄

If your a member of the RIAA or a Nintendo share holder or Licensee ,your argument is “we sell what the market wants & will charge what the market will bear accordingly”.
We have the right to make a reasonable living from our work speech!

If your an average consumer,you’ll probably say
Region coding restrictions is anti-competitive & if I can order something from OS,who are they to say otherwise?
http://www.ps3focus.com/archives/132

If your on the net,your probably thinking I’ll d/l that bobbla & give it a go,but online distribution (payed or otherwise) through game clients like steam or directly to your Wii console at a discounted rate (no physical media)
would limit the pirates hurting your market with something as simple as an online license validation not using a generic key.
After all,it’s only bandwidth!

Would I rather own a legit copy in terms of perception of quality or not having to re d/l the entire thing if I have recently formatted? Definitely!

Would I like to be able to run a trial before going,is that worth $100? & would I buy it?
Sure.

And I have not heard anyone mention the tax rates imposed by Australia on these items which I think is charged as a luxury item? Which would have a impact on retail pricing.

But this kid broke the cardinal rule, d/l is one issue but being the source of the upload is intentionally propagating a form of piracy that probably exceeds the capabilities of your regular pirates at markets etc.
He didn’t do it for profit but for net cred which a court might consider in a verdict,I don’t know,but he should have just posted the MD5 checksum.

If they have any brains they won’t put him in prison or make him pay-off the 1.5 million because it’s a PR disaster,put him on TV which I think is what they’re doing,saying “kids don’t do what I did,it will ruin the rest of your life paying it back” then making him sign a non-disclosure agreement stating your financial obligation will be re-instated & vigorously pursued if you ever reveal the contents of this agreement. It’s that simple FOLK’S!

Death, when you run a business and it is successful, we will believe you.
Listen to butz, he was a businessman and is now retired at a young age. He clearly knows his bobbla. You work at csiro, you are paid to think of random theories to problems, they don’t always work in real life and your current business theory is one of those instances where it just wouldn’t work nor does it make any real sense.

Cheers

Lo nice call 🙂 but honestly being the consumer I know when I am getting ripped off and I am not the only one who thinks $100 is too high. Banks are the best example of companies being greedy. Butts may be a businesman but being a consumer is a totally different perspective than what butts is used to..and like they say ‘The customer is ALWAYS right’.

Very insightful ion, spot on.
@death, the difference is, you are only one consumer. The customer is always right is BS, the NOISIEST customers are always right. The ones that actually go out and do things to actively get their POV across are the ones a business try and impress. Take for instance the blog Engadget. This is the gadget industries’ consumer as what Engadget says, a lot of people follow. Little ole death getting annoyed at a price is offset by the early adopters that pay any price to be first. These are the guys businesses try and score and then from this they try and get more people in to getting their product. So then how does the average joe feel that the product is worth his while on the internet? From places like Engadget that get things in advance or who get it on release day and find out their reviews, they also get opinions from other early adopters. Going back to games, a lot of people will download them for sure. But lots of consoles need a mod chip or some sort of tinkering which can put people off, maybe not everyone but it still puts off enough people. Anyway as I said, it is a stupid argument since there is really so many different sides to it and it will just end up in flames.
Everyone just agree to disagree already and stop creating so much drama over Baker’s news posts 😛

Cheers

Lo nice call 🙂 but honestly being the consumer I know when I am getting ripped off and I am not the only one who thinks $100 is too high. Banks are the best example of companies being greedy. Butts may be a businesman but being a consumer is a totally different perspective than what butts is used to..and like they say ‘The customer is ALWAYS right’.

Everyones a consumer so I can say I have a fair greater understanding on how things work from the backend of manufacturing right to the shelves ready for consumers.
You know when you’re getting ripped off??? I doubt that, you seem hell bent on thinking $100 for new release games is massively extravagant but you’ve failed to realize how many hands the product has to pass through before ending up on the stores shelves. A general break down would go something like $40 to developers, $20 to retailers and the rest is swallowed up by logistics, storage and taxes.
When broken up like that its hard to see how they’re able to rip consumers off especially when you take into account the vast amounts of money thrown into producing one title.
“The customer is ALWAYS right,” bahahahahha, what ever floats your boat mate. Thats just a phrase retailers invented to make consumers feel special.
In the real world the customer only have limited rights which is disclosed in the disclaimer, TOS, etc.
Finally, I love how everyone cries about Banks being greedy. Maybe research about their activities and how mortgage rates work before crying about the fees being charged to your account.