SimonG: Well, what if the desired Profit is "as high as it gets"? Do you really thing companies just aim at a number an then call it quits? To what economic school did you go?
Yes, they certainly do. Businesses set a profit expectation on any project. There would be no willingness to invest an extensive amount of resources into a project without having a basic profit projection.
When profit exceeds projection, it is wise to drop the price point on similar projects if it is believed that doing so may, 1) expand the paying market for the product, 2) increase brand loyalty.
This increases the long term viability of the organization.
If you really thing that the games would even get one cent cheaper if the internet imploded,
If the internet imploded?
how do you explain cartridge based console games (which were pretty much unpirateable by your average consumer) never seeing a drop in pricing (even adjusting the higher production costs).
I have no access to such data and the complicated nature of international economics, inflation included, is not a subject that I can speak reliably about. (Can you?)
If it is true, they developed efficient price points.
Of course it would not be accurate to say that no one was "pirating" (in those days, simply "stealing".)
In my opinion piracy lowers pricess, because expanded the possible consumer base
I wouldn't exactly trust those who have already fully enjoyed my product to "donate" to my cause after the fact.
Note that this is a different process from, say, a street musician. In that case, the street musician 1) purposefully delivers the product, then 2) solicits for donations during/after performance.
In those situations, you have a "random" customer base.
The typical developer's pirate customer base, however, is one that is known to be deceitful and unscrupulous, because they have already violated the wishes of the developers in advance of the solicitation by pirating the material.
and creates a "cheating competitor". High prices cause piracy, but not the other way around.
Free is always "better" than a cost, even if that cost is 1 USD.
It is true that piracy will decrease as price decreases, naturally. Yet this is not to say that piracy would ever cease to exist, no matter the price point.
And I won't complain for games being to expensive after that massive sale(s), were I got two month-old releases for less than 15€ each (LA Noir, Batman). Gaming has never been cheaper than now.
It is pretty cheap now, depending on the circumstances. That's excluding the "subscription" games (another crappy thing that piracy helped to encourage), and your common overpriced junk like Dragon Age 2. (No offense, DA2 fans.) =)
