While it’s a controversial idea, piracy can be a tool to help video game developers (and also comic writers) sell their product. Though understandably, not many big name devs or publishers are going that route. One indie dev, Ariel Jurkowski, has decided to take the plunge with his upcoming game, Please Fix The Road.
As per his own announcement on Twitter, Please Fix The Road will have official versions available on Steam and GOG. But it will also have an official torrent version. Despite its nature, this pirate version will still have all the launch levels, as well as a few pirate-specific changes like an extra theme song, an altered intro sequence, and a pirate face instead of a cogwheel options icon. Naturally, there will also be a request in the options menu that you buy the game.
So what is the drawback of getting a pirate version of Please Fix The Road? No updates. That’s it. As Jurkowski put it, “no strings attached”. Though this could be an issue if it happens to be a buggy release. But even if it ends up being a well-polished release, frequent content updates would likely be incentive enough to buy the game.
According to PC Gamer, Jurkowski got the idea for an official pirate version of Please Fix The Road from the infamous Game Dev Tycoon. For those who are unfamiliar, the pirated version of the game was rigged so that players will encounter a disproportionate number of pirates of their own. Which implies that every pirated copy is a lost sale, but that’s beside the point.
Pirate version will have all of the launch levels, but no updates. No strings attached. There's an extra pirate themed song at the start, altered intro sequence, a pirate face instead of the cogwheel options icon and a request in the options menu to buy the game. Cheers!
— ARIELEK | Please Fix The Road (@ArielJurkowski) May 5, 2022
Please Fix The Road is scheduled to release in June, though the exact date – and price for that matter – are unavailable yet. You can find its Steam, GOG and Itch.io pages linked below.
(Source: Ariel Jurkowski / Twitter, Steam, GOG, Itch.io, Greenheart Games via PC Gamer)
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