An Open Letter to Frank Gibeau

As cited on a gaming blog I sometimes read:

EA Games president and God of Mountebanks Frank Gibeau recently said:

"We assumed that consumers understand piracy is a huge problem - and that if games that take 1-4 years to develop are effectively stolen the day they launch, developers and publishers will simply stop investing in PC games."

Dear Frank Gibeau,

I hate to tell you this, but that's already happening, and yet, somehow, you're still selling hundreds of thousands of copies of your games. Switching to harsher, more intrusive, and now actually ridiculously paranoid DRM didn't stop piracy from happening... because what one computer programmer can do, another can undo.

And this isn't a new problem, either. Games for the C64 were pirated, quite often, and early anti-piracy methods were defeated, too. But... game companies kept making games, knowing that the number of people who pirated was smaller than the number of people who bought. Somewhere along the line, big distribution corporations like EA seem to have lost track of that fact.

See, the thing is, pirates are not your customers, and you can't force them to be. Even if someone invented a truly uncrackable DRM method (and that's really highly unlikely), those people would simply play another game. Your customers are those hundreds of thousands of people who did pay for the game. You want to keep them happy and continuing to buy your products? ur doin' it wrong.

You cannot force someone to pay money for your game, but you can entice them to. That's what businesses are supposed to do. They're supposed to provide a product or service that people genuinely want. By doing so, they gain customers, and profit. I feel this essential business fact is one that has eluded you and other EA execs. You make a profit by selling good games that people want to buy.

You know what's a good way to not make a profit? Angering your customers by treating them like criminals. Yes, there are real criminals. There are people who have no intention of paying for your game. No one is disputing that. But you are punishing your actual customers for the acts of people who are not your customers. That's not good business. What it is is a really good way to completely alienate your customers and actually drive them to consider the very thing you want to prevent.

What's more, I find it laughable you're implying that somehow EA's profit is so marginal that piracy is making it possible you'll have to stop producing games. A million copies of the Sims sold is, what, 20 million or more in actual dollars to you, figuring you reap about a third the retail price? What'd it cost you to make the game? 2 million? Maybe 3 million? Counting real estate and electricity and computer equipment as well as salaries? Seriously, I really have a hard time believing that your profits are not sufficient to induce you to continue to produce games.

Beyond that, the quality of your games has really gone downhill over the years, in terms of how buggy your releases have been, and how long we have to wait for patches (sometimes needing to buy additional products to get bug fixes). From the perspective of this customer, it seems like you've wasted a lot of money irritating the heck out of people with completely over-the-top DRM investment that could've been far better spent on some longer and more complete testing cycles. Does the phrase "adding insult to injury" hold any meaning for you?

I'm glad there are still companies like Stardock out there who understand that they sell games based on putting out a quality product, no ifs, ands, or buts. They can have the money I once would've spent on EA games.

Sincerely,

A Lost Customer