Jon Blow on how they were able to tell if The Witness copy was pirated

[@chrisc7265]

I love how the based Chinese pirates take the extra step to hardcode the game in Chinese 😂

[@treypoling]

My favorite genre of video is devs roasting the people who cracked/pirated their game

[@deadvirgin428]

It's actually so shameful that a STREAMER, who is MAKING MONEY FROM PLAYING THE GAME ON STREAM, decides to pirate it lol.

[@mycollegeshirt]

I mean how much money do you really make streaming, if you're not an extreme outlier. youtubers with millions of views make like 500 bucks a month. 2 games is about 120 bucks.. yeah I would be suprised if they didn't.

[@9hoot789]

@@mycollegeshirt The Witness is $40 regular price, currently $10 on sale, it's not $60. That $20 difference would be enough to buy a whole other game, or even multiple (through sales or bundles). Twitch streamers (and likely the same for KZbin Live and other platforms) with moderately sized audiences who stream daily or semi-daily will make far more than $500 a month, especially if they have a strong community. There are channels I watch with less than 5k subscribers on KZbin who make hundreds in donations in just one or two livestreams, because their content is engaging and entertaining. If you're only making $500 or less a month from streaming or making videos about games, it's obviously not your full time job anyway, so you can probably afford it regardless of the fact that it would pay for itself. In no scenario is it a problem of affordability. And even regardless of that, they have an ethical DUTY to pay the creators of a game if they are actively using it to make money from playing.

[@SioxerNikita]

​@@9hoot789 Okay, let's do the math... There are approximately 7.23 million active streamers on Twitch... Not viewers.. streamers... in April 2024... This is down from 9.89 million in January 2021. So, according to Twitch, Twitch has about 240 million active viewers. If we spread that equally over all 7.23 million active streamers on Twitch, that is well, I guess on average 0.1-0.25 subs per viewer (Notice how many unsubbed in every major channel)... Considering there is literally ZERO, zilch, NADA data on this (Twitch doesn't really wanna share), the 0.1-0.25 is pretty darn generous. This would be 10-25% of viewers. Considering when you watch a major channel, easily 95 to 99% of the viewers would be subless, and there doesn't seem to be a major trend of subscribing to literally every channel you watch (even when you do sub), I still personally believe 10-25% of viewers is generous. On the lower end that would be between 723 000 to 1 807 500 subs to go around. You know what, let me extra generous, let's double it and say 1 446 000 to 3 615 000 subs. Let's even be so generous to say that everyone who subs, subs at tier 2. 10$ per person. That would be somewhere between 7 million and 18 million dollars worth of subscriptions... Now it is a 50/50 (An announced 60/40, doesn't make it better, not going to look further into that frankly) subscriber share of the money with the creator. This would be about a dollar to two dollar per active streamer. Obviously it is not just a dollar to two dollars SOME streamers earn, and the VAST VAST majority will earn literally nothing. Even if we go SUPER generous, and double and triple these estimates, we still only end up with millions, vs. millions of streamers, and we know that there are streamers who literally became millionaires through streaming... obviously some had outside help (like sponsors), but overall.... it isn't much. Your "moderately sized" audience based on anecdotal evidence (Twitch ain't gonna release the stats), is seemingly around 200 followers... or very dedicated followers... that is like 500$ a month... If someone doesn't really have the money to buy a game before, they likely wont really be super likely to afford it after spending their (if lucky) "salary" on other expenses, and chance are that they don't have the time to actually earn the expenses if they are attempting full time streaminer. Anyway, it might seem simple at first, but we don't have the numbers, and the only numbers that makes sense, still puts the amount of people capable of earning, to a RIDICULOUS small amount.

[@orcishh]

@@mycollegeshirt You are extremely mistaken lol

[@jace_albers]

​@@mycollegeshirtThe witness is currently on steam for 9 dollars

[@nerdError0XF]

Oh, interesting! Thank you for clipping that!

[@KANJICODER]

TODO : Make a pirated version of my own game and have a download link to it. But mention that it is a pirated version and they don't have permission to use it. I am just putting it here.

[@0ia]

lol. "sue ya later!"

[@KANJICODER]

​@@0ia I would never sue for something like that . But what I will do is .... . . . . . . Figure out where they live and send them photos in the mail of me giving them very dis-approving looks . Then , I'll go figure out where their mom lives and... Send them photos of... . . . . . . . > > Both of us giving them very dis-approving looks . -KanjiCoder

[@0ia]

@@KANJICODER ;)

[@Soul-Burn]

Game Dev Tycoon did that. They put a version on pirate sites, and changed the code that the games you make in the game get pirated a lot and you lose money. Was fun to see comments on the forums "pirating is too much in this game!", not seeing the great irony in it.

[@julian1000]

Repella fella did this, there's an official pirated edition

[@defytones]

how he was like "wtf is that shi" when he first witnessed it and then realized what really was going on lol. I admire Jon Blow now this was funny

[@mohapimatle7734]

He truly ended up being "The Witness". Sorry, I saw the opportunity for a pun and I took it.

[@Zuranthus]

after 5 years of no posting...so random

[@annusingh4694]

But a quality post

[@MrTomyCJ]

Why wouldn't he call out those streamers? No need to even judge them, just point out they pirated the game, and let the people judge for themselves.

[@ThePlayerOfGames]

Sounds like you want to judge people for pirating…

[@CrAzYpotpie]

​@@ThePlayerOfGamesYou think it stops there? Bet they judge every little thing the same way from their nasty room they never leave.

[@tpd1864blake]

This is the type of person that goes full vigilante mode on the internet doxxing someone’s address because they were rude and insulted your favorite game, and then someone else uses that address to swat them which gets them inadvertently killed in the raid

[@jonessii]

lmao pirates try not to be hyperbolic drama queens about their cheapness challenge level impossible

[@ThePlayerOfGames]

@@jonessii I have to admit I was anti piracy until ten to fifteen years later with every prediction the pirates made having come true, it was time to admit they were right It is counter-initiative but when we remember to keep in mind both that piracy isn't theft and that corporations conduct piracy all the time (recently Microsoft had to pull a planned Call Of Duty DLC because it had someone else's content in it, the very definition of piracy) then we realise that the main voices pushing the anti-piracy narrative are the ones simply seeking to have a *monopoly* on piracy 😅

[@salvosuper]

Yet another confirmation that most streamers are cancer

[@stefanalecu9532]

If that's your confirmation, idk what to say about your biases, just saying

[@youtubehandlesux]

Nah, I'd pirate his game.

[@m1n3craftPCtut0r1al]

Okay? You want a trophy you weirdo?

[@hundvd_7]

I wish I did, because The Witness is an absolute mess It is simultaneously really good and _extremely_ bad. I cannot understand how people like it so much

[@Chemieklo]

the term "pirated" is wrong and propaganda.

[@fun_gussy]

why

[@chikkin.salad.sandwich]

I'm a proud pirate. stop being a little weiner

[@mangocane8977]

How

[@Chemieklo]

@@mangocane8977 There is an implication of violence in this term. You can use "theft", but "pirated" is just music industry propaganda.

[@frost54311]

@@Chemieklo Most people do not think of violent criminals when you say pirate. They instead think of swash buckling adventures with treasure chests. The music industry failed horribly, if they indeed coined it as propaganda, to make to sound bad. There's a reason why pirating is often advertised with "sail the seven seas", "arrr", and not to mention one of the most famous pirating sites being named Pirate Bay. Because it all sounds cool, fun, and good.