BitTorrent pirates of the videogame Zeno Clash are being asked nicely “purchase the game if you enjoy it”. Innovative approach, or just a bit naive?

Carlos Bordeu of the Chilean independent developers said ACE Team took the unusual step of on one hand not implementing unpopular “restrictive” digital rights management, and on the other, playing nice with the pirates.

Bordeu and the ACE Team have been uploading comments alongside pirate copies of the game, saying “Zeno Clash is an independently funded game by a very small group of people. The only way in which we can continue making games like this is to have good sales.” And the softly, softly approach may be working.

According to TorrentFreak, comments for pirates on sites such as The Pirate Bay have been generally very positive, including: “I have not bought a game in five years, but the attitude of the developers has made me want to purchase their game. If I like this game, I’m gonna buy it!” and “It was a touching comment (seriously). I will download it and see if I like it and then will see if I buy it or not.”

The fighting game set in a “punk fantasy world” was nominated as a finalist in this year’s Independent Games Festival ‘Excellence in Visual Art” category, and is on the Steam download service now. Go support the little guy… (or at least buy it if you like it).

Out now | £15 | Zeno Clash for PC

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  • http://www.honestgamers.com/ honestgamer

    The problem I see with this is that even when pirates say things like “If I like this game, I’ll buy it,” they tend not to buy games because they decide that they don’t like it… even if they play for hours upon hours. The level at which they decide a game is good enough to warrant their money has been set far too high for most games to attain, simply because they have the means to get games for free whenever they like. This kind of approach won’t work in the long term, though if the novelty of it somehow enchants pirates long enough to make Zeno Clash a success and maybe a few others, I guess that’s a start.

  • asdfgg

    “The problem I see with this is that even when pirates say things like “If I like this game, I’ll buy it,” they tend not to buy games because they decide that they don’t like it… even if they play for hours upon hours.”

    And where did you find this evidence?

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