From the outside it is probably difficult to see it, but the video game industry is huge, and not only in terms of users, which is also true, but rather the respect of the large number of teams that work in this sector. Many times people unrelated to videogames decide to speak without knowing (something that human beings seem to do by nature), to say, in a crude way and in the style of a good brother-in-law, that these “gamers”, as they call them, are made of for “four kill each other” and just to entertain fools. We all know that we can’t expect much from people like this, that’s clear, but it is curious that there are also many gamers who despise the work of these developers.
Of course, this is not something general by any means, being the least of them the ones that destroy the work of hundreds of developers, but to deny that they exist is to deny reality. Curiously, there are many people who, despite not having that intention, end up doing, in short, that the work of these developers is worthlessand we are talking about people who decide to resort to hacking and emulation.
Yes, there are certain cases where we can argue the value of emulation, but only in cases where the games can’t be played any other way, but we’re going to focus more on those people who decide to hack having all the facilities in the world to acquire the game. Of course, before beginning we will refute the most hackneyed phrase when we talk about these issues, and it is that no, that we talk about the fact that video games are culture doesn’t mean you have the right to play them even if you can’t afford it
A “red flag” from your same console
I think everyone will know how console hacking works, either because they have done it before (don’t worry, we were all young and unaware), or because they have simply heard someone explain how it works, but still we are going to explain it. Basically, a modification is made to the console in question with the aim of readingin addition to original records, any file with a certain extension which ends up being some video game. I suppose you already know the rest of the process, but basically once this is done, the user will be in charge of searching, in pages of dubious origin, and even more dubious morality, the so-called ROMs, which are pirated games, and then play them for free on your console.
There are many platforms that have suffered from piracy and emulation, possibly one of the most closely related to us is the case of the Nintendo DS, which was very easy to hack, and many people ended up taking advantage of it. Luckily, due to various factors, especially related to the large number of consoles that the Japanese company sold, this was not a failure at all, but We cannot say the same about other consoles such as the well-known Dreamcast.
Yes, there are many factors that contributed to the failure of this console, and that is that the competition from PlayStationa platform that aimed at the same audience as the aforementioned SEGA console, as well as the price, which was higher than that of its competitorsThey also had a lot to do with it, but piracy undoubtedly played a trick on this console.
You only have to do a little research to realize that piracy was one of the big reasons for SEGA’s debacle with its Dreamcast, which led to a complete debacle, announcing later that they would stop producing consoles, in order to dedicate themselves to develop third party video games. The people who hacked this console probably had their reasons for doing so, but it was their actions that, as a whole, helped send this company down such a deep hole that they have never come back from, which is that It is already impossible to think of SEGA launching a single console again
An industry from which you take away its livelihood
If by now we have not managed to remove your conscience, now we are going to enter fully into the most direct consequences of piracy in the industry.
Well, you can probably already imagine what the consequences of these practices are, and it is that the most direct may be the one we have already seen, a company having many losses to the point of having to close a division, or worse, until having to close the entire company because it is not economically viable to continue. We have already seen this many times, and although in many cases the real reason for the closure is not revealed (that is, that it is not revealed that it was due to the losses derived from piracy), we can come to understand what has been the reason for this.
Of course, if you decide to emulate a video game from two decades ago and which cannot be acquired in any way, it is clear that you are not going to harm the industry or the development team, but in this case we are focusing more on people who decide to hack or emulate current consoles, such as the Nintendo Switch. If you feel alluded to in the latter, let me tell you no, the excuse of “this only affects men in ties” does not work, and it is that not only do developers charge certain bonuses based on sales, but they also you are affecting a possible sequel or continuation of any kind
Emulation and piracy in indies: the pinnacle of immorality
We have already talked about how emulation and piracy can take down entire companies, and that is the case, and I don’t think it is news to anyone, but this it gets worse when we talk about independent studies.
It can affect a large company a lot, and you already have the example of SEGA, which we have mentioned before, but after all, they are enormous at an economic level, so they can survive in most cases ( something that does not justify hacking one of their games under any circumstances), but in the case of indie developers it is very different. These companies survive practically without financial aid (except in certain cases, of course), so the sales of their games are their main livelihood. For this reason, if you decide to hack their game you are directly taking the bread out of the mouth of the team behind this title.
It may sound abrupt that we talk about “immorality”, because it is clear that morality is something very subjective, everyone has their own, but We consider that in this case it is fair to use this word. This is not only the case that you can ruin the lives of many people because of your selfishness, but also that independent video games usually have a reduced price compared to the rest of the video games in the industry.
You probably won’t go broke buying just any game like that, but you can help the team behind the title go broke if you decide to pirate it. There are many indie video games that are very worthwhile, and many companies that will be very grateful if you buy their games.
With this article we have already reviewed the effects that piracy and emulation can have on the industry, having mentioned real cases such as SEGA’s, in addition to having touched on the issue of the differences between a large company and an indie studio in this regard. Piracy is always going to be there, and I think it would be crazy to say that it can ever be eliminated, but the key is to make users aware that these practices are good for your pockets in the short term, but what may end up being catastrophic for the industry over the years.
