Thu, Aug 21, 2008 | 12:41 BST
Hollenshead: Piracy is “hidden benefit” when you buy a PC
Speaking with GI, id Software CEO, Todd Hollenshead, said that piracy is a “hidden benefit” when you buy a PC.
When asked about what PC manufacturers could do to help prevent piracy, Hollenshead replied: “There’s lots of things that they could do but typically just they just line up on the wrong side of the argument in my opinion.”
“They have lots of reasons as to why they do that, but I think that there’s been this dirty little secret among hardware manufacturers, which is that the perception of free content – even if you’re supposed to pay for it on PCs – is some sort hidden benefit that you get when you buy a PC, like a right to download music for free or a right to download pirated movies and games.”
Full interview through the link.
By Mike Bowden
7 
Posted in: Development, PC
Tags: id software, Piracy, todd hollenshead
7 comments
#1
TJ
21/08/08, 12:56 pm
I never thought about it that way. He’s dead right.
#2
Blerk
21/08/08, 1:22 pm
Why do you think people buy PSPs?
#3
No_PUDding
21/08/08, 1:27 pm
People buy PSPs!?
#4
Blerk
21/08/08, 1:34 pm
Yes. Lots of people. But nobody buys PSP games. What could be the cause of this?
/Twilight Zone music
#5
deanimate
21/08/08, 3:20 pm
same for the DS i guess.
id like to see games come down in price. say £20 at the most for a new game. if its crap a bit less again.
#6
No_PUDding
21/08/08, 3:23 pm
DS isn’t as openly ‘hacked’ as the PSP, as far as my limited knowledge goes. Anyone want to confirm or deny this? I think that’s why Blerk said it’s sellign well.
The DS is just in Nintendo’s ring of sales.
#7
Blerk
21/08/08, 3:27 pm
If anything, the DS is more hacked than the PSP. But there are so many non-gamer users that there are still sufficient numbers of DS owners to generate lots of game sales. PSP only sells to techies, who are much more likely to know about these things, so the piracy ratio is much higher.