HOW THE CRACKERS SAVED CAPITALISM
This idea depends on the widely held belief that the success of any video game is due to word of mouth. In other words, the only way that a video game is ever a huge smash hit, is when people are positively talking about it. Advertising does less for sales than gamers talking about the games.
Lets take the following example as an illustration of how increasing sales from cracks is possible: Let us say that 1 person goes out and gets the crack to the latest video game hit Smash ‘em (a fictitious game title). The person then tells 6 people about how much fun they have playing the game Smash ‘em. Assuming that just 2 of those six people go out and but the game as a result of my positive review, then the gaming companies have made a profit of 1 customer 1 customer makes up for the original pirated “lost revenue” (lost revenue assumes that the pirate would have purchased the game if they did not have the means to bootleg it) and the other is a profit. If those 2 people then go tell 6 people and 4 out of those 12 purchases the game, the publishers have made a profit of 5 video games sold. Furthermore, if the title is good enough then 3 out of those 5 will buy the sequel Smash ‘em 2: the revenge. The possible profit off that one crack is almost endless assuming corporate research that “word of mouth” is the best way that video games are sold.
Furthermore, video game cracks can actually help to bolster hardware sales. While the software companies are losing money, it is interesting that no body ever hears about the millions that I am sure that the hardware companies are making out with as a result of video game cracking. Video games all require some kind of minimum hardware configuration. This includes video card, RAM, Processor speed, etc. The newer and more complex the game, the higher the system requirements are. So, in order for players to successfully play the newest video game, they must go out and get hardware upgrades. For example, the new game Grand Theft Auto III recommends that the user have at least a 32 Megabyte video card. However, unless you bought the highest end computer within the last year, then your system does not have such a card. Because cracks make games available to a wider number of people, more video cards are sold.
So, by distributing cracks, these game crackers are actually helping
another sector of corporate
The price of hardware, $300 for a middle-upper card, combined with the cost of the video game means that players are more likely to get a cracked game in order to afford the hardware. My dad recently purchased the new Return to Castle Wildenstein. He was more than dismayed when he got home and found out that his 2 year old Hewlett Packard in incapable of playing the game due to the old video card. When you consider, the cost of the game, the new card, and the service fee to have it installed (note: you cannot install it yourself. Opening the Hewlett-Packard computer voids your warranty!), the price is almost ridiculous.
Better games are made as a result of the increased hardware sales. This may seem like I am making a fallacious argument here, but this is not such a slippery slope. Consider the fact that video card sales are at an all time high. With an increase in profits and the realization of the increase in demand for the newest and the best cards, companies are spurred along to develop new cards that are capable of better graphics. It is important to note that the capability of the newest cards almost always surpass the most complex video games on the market at the time of the release of the card. So, with more tools to work with, more room to create visually impressive games, and with a greater customer base with the correct hardware, software companies can produce better games and more advanced games that the customers demand.
You can read about how ID software feels about cracking and pirating: http://www.gamegirlz.com/articles/catch22/idsoft.shtml. Surpirese! They hate it!
Here is another article against game cracking as it relates to Quake III (an ID software game) http://www.planetquake.com/editorials/cdkey_2.shtm