General  »   Are we hurting the entertainment industry today?

Another discussion id like to make is whether or not we are hurting the entertainment industry? Gaming Developers,Movie Producers, Software Developers and so on with our constant day to day pirating. I admit ive pirated over 1000s of so software programs,movies,tv series,and games, and haven't gave anything back besides on the occasion of buying a good movie or a game that i really liked for its content, if i could afford it.

For example in the gaming industry we see most game developers producing crappy console ports onto the pc and then complaining about how PC gamers are all pirates and that they are lossing lost revenue, however still making millions from the games they are selling they threaten to stop producing games for the PC and move towards consoles because they simply can make more money behind it.

However with the movie industry i hear its a different story and that movie makers are making millions of dollars and that the movie industry is booming. But they still complain how piracy hurts them?

So will we see end to entertainment one day? where any industry could just say " Okay we have had enough time to quit " . Some articles state that Piracy is hurting employers,employees and such who lose out on their jobs and money? So are we?

I don't think pirating will stop i suspect over 1/2 the population pirates today, i know co workers,friends, even my own family pirates to a day and day basis.

I personally can't afford to buy every single game and movie that comes out cause i simply can't afford the money, a game over here would cost $100-120 NZD Brand New and a dvd or bluray movie would around $40-60. I simply believe if publishers and developer would lower prices to a standard of $20-30 more people would buy their products.

So are we?

Well, seeing how the Activision boss has just made another many several million despite claims that piracy is hurting his pocket, I really don't see it as hurting the entertainment industry at all to be honest. The same goes for the equivalent people in the film, tv and music industry - they're all making shedloads of cash regardless. I think the only difference is that without piracy, people like that would be able to afford 10 mansions rather than 8. My heart bleeds.

I know what you mean, I live in NZ and the prices are horrendous for games, even when they drop they are still like $50 at EB Games and everywhere else is terrible for games because they dont allow returns.

What I used to do was go down to EB Games, but a game, use the serial and crack it and then return the game and say I dont like it and get my money back. Now I use BigTime from Telecom so unlimited space and speed (I managed to uncap the speeds, my friend told me how).

Piracy doesnt hurt the industry, it just weeds out those crap games and movies, I still buy the ones I love like LOTR or Bourne Ultimatum etc, and I still but the games I love like Empire Total War because I see it as supporting the developers. 

Of course we are. What kind of question is this?

Yep, when we download something from the internet we actually not paying for that  So of course we are hurting entertainment industry