14 DAY TRIAL // It seems a majority of videogame developers in the United Kingdom are worried that piracy is one of the biggest threats to their business and also believe that in the future, the problem will only get worse. The results are part of a survey commissioned by TIGA, the trade association representing the United Kingdom game industry in its dealings with the government and with other trade bodies.
The so-called Piracy Survey has taken into account the views of member companies and is designed to provide a snapshot of how the videogames industry in the country views piracy and what can be done to limit its impact.
60% of those surveyed see piracy as a problem but most of them classify its impact on the survival of their business as low, with only 10% labeling the threat as high. It's impressive that 90% of the developers are saying that in the future, piracy will have more of an impact, despite a variety of initiatives designed to stem the tide.
When asked about plans being developed in Europe and in the United Kingdom to cut the Internet access for those who are proven to pirate copyrighted material, the developers were slip, with 50% of them saying that the idea was good and could have an impact, the other half stating that it is not a legitimate way of dealing with the problem.
Developers are turning to digital distribution in order to combat the threat of piracy. 50% of them admit to thinking about changing their business model in the long term, and services like Steam, Impulse and GamersGate, which provide content and authenticate the videogame players are using, seem to attract about 75% of them. Others are thinking about free-to-play models doubled by micro transactions as a possible solution.