Nobody in this forum will download Crysis 2 or Crytek will cry

[Bells]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107731-Crysis-2-Dev-Urges-Fans-Not-to-Pirate-the-Game

Totally serious guys. Do not download this leaked eagerly awaited game that was leaked in such a state to actually allow updates and multiplayer. Crytek will be mad at you and veeeeeery disapointed.

All kidding aside though... not really advocating Pirating Crysis 2 (never played the first one...) But this must be a huge bummer for the developers and pc gamers in general. I mean, if i had a Triple A title in the works for the PC i would honestly revise my points on doing so right now.

I mean, people beat FPS's in like a Week tops now. 2 months ahead? Sheesh... there goes a ton of appeal.

So, any of you following this one around? Still planning on getting the game or was planning on it?

Cause now you can check it on Youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktCGnK27JJY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BzO4COahRo

So, really, anybody following this?

[The Argent Lord]

I'm not following the news on this, but frankly I don't much see how it changes anything. The pirates who don't buy games will still pirate it and not buy it. The people who don't pirate will wait 'til it comes out and buy it. And the try-before-buy people will just have a little longer on the try period.

[Bells]

Not really... you see, there is so far no Crysis 2 Demo for the PC, and now the game is out nearly 2 months before it should be out. This is quite a push for people who want to pirate games, and the game will pretty much be opened up and fully explored by the time of release, so this could actually swing a ton of sell to Yes or No... and actually... cosndiering the midset of today gamers and specially the FPS crew ... it's not abusrd for the game to lost it's novelty before it's own launch day.

It's pretty damaging...

[The Argent Lord]

I understand what you're saying, but I don't see where it has much merit. If I'm a pirate who doesn't buy games, cool, game came out two months early for me. No change in sales. If I don't pirate games, I don't pirate this one. No change in sales. The only people this affects are the ones who pirate a game to see if they like it, and then if they do like it they buy it to support the developers. And if I'm one of those I don't NOT support the developers just because it got leaked.

I suppose there are some people who would normally buy the game but will instead be drawn to pirate it because of this. I expect that this number is miniscule. Gamers, for the most part, have already made their decision whether to pirate or not and won't change it over this.

[krogothwolf]

Yeah, I think your overstating the early leak actually does to a game. Almost all of the people who are planning on buying the game aren't going to pirate it just because it was leaked, they still will wait to buy it. The people who were planning on pirating will just pirate it earlier. It's not as big as a blow as you think it'll be, maybe effect 2-5% of the total sales probably.

[Sifright]

no guys you don't understand the sky is falling and THIS This is why we can't have nice things, err pc games

[Pip Boy]

It also depends on the condition of the leaked material. It sounds like if its 2 months ahead of release, the leak probably isn't a completed version of the game and will lack many things the final version will have. I bet a lot of people who pirated the leak also pirate/buy the finished product when it becomes available.

[Azisien]

It also depends on the condition of the leaked material. It sounds like if its 2 months ahead of release, the leak probably isn't a completed version of the game and will lack many things the final version will have. I bet a lot of people who pirated the leak also pirate/buy the finished product when it becomes available.

Yes but if you were reading about the leak, you'd know its a full version of the game as if bought, including any updates Crytek releases to polish it up. Also, two months out, it's probably pretty much the completed game. This isn't MAGICKA or anything.


Also Krogo is 2-5% sales an actual figure or did you just make up those numbers. Because my sources tell me it's actually 20-500% of sales...

[Bells]

as stated, it seems to be one of the final Beta builds, it's a nearly finished copy with some bugs and all the keys necessary to install it like a legitimate copy.

Now, yeah, it's not like they will loose 30% of the revenue over this (at least i don't think so...), but it sorta bugs me that we never really know for sure just how big of a hole something like this can cause or not. Again, in media, sometimes it's not the Bottonline that matters but the way it's perceived. Maybe Crytek and EA will loose what...2-3k copies worldwide of people who would actually buy the game and for some reason after the leak decided not to? Maybe?

Still, it's damaging. Because behind these games you have investors, and companies and jobs. And it's kinda hard to Green light a Multi Million dollar project if your company has a track record of shit getting leaked out. That hurts the overall quality of the games we get and the bullshit DMR they paste on it... specially if you have to divert funds to your "not let shit get leaked out department" instead of the actual game.

It's not all bleak news though... a bunch of Fans made a support petition claiming they will wait the actual launch of the game, which is nice...

And this is not a major point, but something that bugs me nonetheless... you see, when you play a pirated game you are not as engaged on it as you are with a bought copy. I know it sounds strange, but any of you that ever played a game in Rom version and the real thing, probably can tell that is a difference... you know, like people say that drinking coke on the Glass bottle tastes different than drinking it on the Plastic ones? Kinda like that.

So i would imagine that, the way people break apart games and shout their opinions left and right these days, have a couple thousand nerdlings roaming around formating opinions on a game they never bought but were glad to play and dissect, can be somewhat damaging to the future projects big and small game studios decide to put forth in the future.

no guys you don't understand the sky is falling and THIS This is why we can't have nice things, err pc games ...derp?

[Pip Boy]

20-500% of sales...

They better sue someone for their potential losses of 15 thousand trillion hypothetical dollars!

[bluestarultor]

I think people are oversimplifying pirates and the various ways they operate. Put simply, this WILL dent sales, but not always in the ways you think.

No, a more subtle way this will dent sales is that people who pirated will know all about the game. The release date indicates that this IS, in fact, a final build. The release date itself is pushed back far enough to build up a stock of physical copies. This game is already being printed.

Now, when the pirates know all about the game, the info is going to hit the Net and people will have VERY early access to reviews or comments or other info to base their buying decisions on. If it's a particularly good game, people will have more interest, but if it's mediocre or falls flat, that will likely hurt sales.

On top of that, piracy is not something you can put into a few convenient boxes. There are people who simply refuse to pirate, people who pirate to try and then buy later, people who pirate to try with the intent to buy later who then never get around to it, people who would pirate anyway, people who wouldn't pirate anyway but might be lured into it just to get in on the action so they have a major head start, people who pirate to try and end up not buying who then delete it, people who pirate to try and decide not to buy it and keep it around, and many, many others. No matter how you cut it, some people who pirate are, in fact, lost sales.

Basically, this is a huge embarrassment on the company's part, unless the leak was intentional and there's something in there to track the pirates. Two months is a longer wait to actual release than I can recall ever hearing about.



Now, the SMART idea would be to set up a download service from the company and have an extra-special early digital release campaign, make a big deal out of it, probably throw in some DLC items they can whip together, and go on damage control. Sitting on their thumbs for two months is going to hurt them, but an early digital release might actually be a great new idea. In fact, it could eventually become an industry standard. You have the game; why not give it out? That gives people the game and gives you time to do some extra printing of special items to dole out in the physical release.

Basically, they COULD turn this into an opportunity. I doubt they will, but they could.

[Pip Boy]

Basically, this is a huge embarrassment on the company's part, unless the leak was intentional and there's something in there to track the pirates. Two months is a longer wait to actual release than I can recall ever hearing about.

The sad part is that we're talking about EA games, so if they had the means to do this they probably actually would.

[Bells]

Yeah, but Blues... the spirit of DLC was that it was supposed to be used to expand a game's life with smaller cheaper content while the companies got a breather between huge titles. That didn't happen.... also, Digital distribution was supposed to make games cheaper because it cutted out the whole printing process... it didn't.

So yeah, Opportunity... but it ain't gonna happen.

EDIT:

FYI... right now, the next big bullet on EA's barrel is Darkspore. so they just might be on the edge of their seats... a big leak of a major title, and the next major title is the follow up of a dissapointing flop....

[Azisien]

The sad part is that we're talking about EA games, so if they had the means to do this they probably actually would.

Not sure what this means. I have totally thought about doing this if I were in charge. I'd have a time-bomb virus set for the release date.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

I think this would hurt the "pirate to try" market- cause like let's say I pirate a game, trying it out, it's fun, I want to buy it- oh shit I can't for two months-
Either A) I stop playing, two months roll around, I've already forgotten about it, other "newer" things are out
or
B) I keep playing it cause it's real cool, I'll buy it when it comes out, it comes out 2 months later, you've kind of forgotten about it, it's been played out.

[krogothwolf]

Also Krogo is 2-5% sales an actual figure or did you just make up those numbers. Because my sources tell me it's actually 20-500% of sales...

I totally had to remove those zeros from mine to help support my argument damnit! Now you've ruined everything!!!!

[bluestarultor]

Yeah, but Blues... the spirit of DLC was that it was supposed to be used to expand a game's life with smaller cheaper content while the companies got a breather between huge titles. That didn't happen.... also, Digital distribution was supposed to make games cheaper because it cutted out the whole printing process... it didn't.

So yeah, Opportunity... but it ain't gonna happen.

EDIT:

FYI... right now, the next big bullet on EA's barrel is Darkspore. so they just might be on the edge of their seats... a big leak of a major title, and the next major title is the follow up of a dissapointing flop....

Well, really, digital distribution doesn't save much money because 90% of a game's development time and budget go to graphics. CD technology is cheap. We're talking next to nothing for materials and printing.

I'll go so far as to say DLC isn't being used entirely wrongly, either. With DLC bonuses to original purchases, you are, in fact, encouraging original sales pretty harmlessly, and DLC itself falls into the manipulative world of microtransactions. If microtransactions didn't rake in cash on a massive scale, "free" online games wouldn't stay afloat on them. Just because the release dates aren't padding the game in bits over months doesn't mean they're not being used effectively.

Also, companies don't take breathers between titles. They can't afford it. Most of the time they're working on more than one at once and when a team finishes they either help other games or start on a new project. With modern games and their expectations, adding content means also adding motion capture and voice work for cutscenes, probably graphics for new environments (which are no longer as easy to make as they used to be), etc. Not all the time, depending on the game, but you can only pad a game for so long with new guns.

[Doc ock rokc]

I don't know about this. I am getting a felling that this leak is intentional. I mean I know some Dirty pirates and some Try and Buy Pirates and both of the groups are looking at this with a squint. I mean Pre-release pirates are not rare. Hell I bet I could Download MvC3 or Bulletstorm now if I looked for it. (actually one of my Pirate friends HAS downloaded these)
Crytek doing this is pinging on many pirates trap radar. Announcing the presence of the Torrent probably encouraged more torrents. However, This is also putting PR out on the game while also Swarming Information and reviews out on the internet. Making it Get more attention on the front. Also If we look at Previous Beta Leaks (HL2) we see that The beta is Sometimes VASTLY different then the other and often gets people more interested in the game.

[The Argent Lord]

And this is not a major point, but something that bugs me nonetheless... you see, when you play a pirated game you are not as engaged on it as you are with a bought copy. I know it sounds strange, but any of you that ever played a game in Rom version and the real thing, probably can tell that is a difference... you know, like people say that drinking coke on the Glass bottle tastes different than drinking it on the Plastic ones? Kinda like that.

I've never known someone who was less engaged with a game because they pirated it. Heck, I got farther in Dragon Age on my pirated copy than the one I later purchased because I enjoyed the game the first time. You draw parallels with playing a rom of a game, but they aren't the same thing. If someone is less engaged in that case, it's likely because they're playing a game with controls and display different than the game was designed for, and not some vague undefined sense that something you pay for is just BETTER somehow. This isn't a problem if you're pirating a PC game, of course, because you're using it on the platform it was designed for.

[Bells]

Just a quick update... the beta version that got leaked out?

yeah, it also has a lot of the development tools of the game itself, all the debug software, all the DLL files open and avaliable, both the PS3 and XBOX key files avaliable, all assets of the game, and what you could think is a MOD tool, but it's actually the Cryengine development software with all the game assets in there for free.

...so, how damaging is the leak now?

[Aerozord]

Just a quick update... the beta version that got leaked out?

yeah, it also has a lot of the development tools of the game itself, all the debug software, all the DLL files open and avaliable, both the PS3 and XBOX key files avaliable, all assets of the game, and what you could think is a MOD tool, but it's actually the Cryengine development software with all the game assets in there for free.

...so, how damaging is the leak now?

wait you mean the source code? well I think that goes abit beyond pirating now and is now much more highly illegal. Source code for games is a market in itself, this is not a 60 dollar game but developer software worth tens of thousands of dollars.

[Bells]

I don't have it, i was reading up on it. Because, to be quite honest, i couldn't remember there WAS a crysis 2 untill i heard about the leak... so i can't point out if this is actually Source code or just stuff they take out before the final version

The info goes that in the game folders you get the Bin and Bin32 folders with a Bin32 folder named "Bin32_no_protect" there is Bin64 too there is an "Editor" folder with a ton of sub folders and files including a "Plugins" and a "Lipsync" folder

There is an "GameCrysis2" folder too and a "Tools" folder, this one is where it seems to get messy

Inside you seem to get registry entry files to access the Ai, there is the PS3 and Xbox Key files a "Crymaxtools" folders with acess to Physics, Characters, Models and a bunch of "*.ms" files

There is also a Face animation Sub Aplication to acess, a "Installation" subfolder a "CryMaya" sub folder, Motion Builder, Memory replay, Stress test for the PC, PS3 and Xbox versions... there is a "Outsource tools" subfolder. PS3StackParse, PS3GameStarter, FmodDesigner, Fmodtools folders....

SHEESH... you know what? holy crap, i actually think they leaked out Source code!

you, know, i don't mind saying i was really tempted to check this out... a Beta build of a nice game that actually looks pretty awesome, but after seeing this? Man, i don't want to get caught dead 10 feet near a download link for this stuff.

Some people at EA and Crytek are going to have a reeeeeeeeeeeeally bad meeting over this, i thought it was just a Buggy Beta... my guess is that most people that downloaded this crap probably don't even know what they have with them...

EDIT:

Just saw this part of a comment on one of the files in this build, it's in a "python" folder


Some of these scripts are made for internal use and may use code or libs that we do not license for distribution with a commercial product. Before giving this code out, please make sure we are allowed to.

ChrisE@Crytek.com

Glad i saw this before getting any funny ideas about trying this one out... stay the fuck away from this build!

[akaSM]

Wow, the source code of the game got leaked? Now that's really bad, I thought it was just a buggy beta too :aaa:

[bluestarultor]

Just putting this out there, but if the source code got leaked, well, that's going to cause problems. Not that people couldn't decompile stuff with third-party software, but a source code leak two months ahead of schedule means heads will probably roll.

Not that most people could do much with the source code, and those that can would need to sift through thousands of lines for what they want, but for tech-savvy people with the time and desire, that could mean lots of changes to game variables that could completely unbalance the game. Especially if it worked in multiplayer.

I see a lot of talks in closed rooms for the next several months.

[Aerozord]

could be worse for pirates. Like I said this is on a whole 'nother level. Its like comparing taking someones stock stereo and stealing their brand new car. This is grand theft. They will not take this laying down and might give them legal leverage to do alot of harm to anyone involved in this. The guy that leaked this, he will be lucky if "fired" is all that happens.

[bluestarultor]

could be worse for pirates. Like I said this is on a whole 'nother level. Its like comparing taking someones stock stereo and stealing their brand new car. This is grand theft. They will not take this laying down and might give them legal leverage to do alot of harm to anyone involved in this. The guy that leaked this, he will be lucky if "fired" is all that happens.

That's assuming they can trace the leak. Leaking games happens a lot, after all. Leaking a game is already enough to get fired over because it already is losing the company money. If it were so easy to trace, it wouldn't happen as often.

That said, it may not really be anyone's "fault." For all we know, someone might have broken into a server or something.

Legally, though, you're right. Having the game is bad enough, but having the source code and a ton of proprietary tools is just a whole new level. The thing is there really isn't any precedent for this kind of thing and even if there was, tracking all the people is going to be a problem unless they've been stupid enough to tap into the company's servers in some sort of multiplayer or otherwise made their IPs known.

On a larger scale, even if the leak can be found, it's still going to be a hit to the studio. They're not going to come out of this clean, I assure you.

[Aerozord]

That's assuming they can trace the leak. Leaking games happens a lot, after all. Leaking a game is already enough to get fired over because it already is losing the company money. If it were so easy to trace, it wouldn't happen as often.

true, I was assuming they were caught. what I meant was this is the kind of thing that would sue you into oblivion


That said, it may not really be anyone's "fault." For all we know, someone might have broken into a server or something.
possible but unlikely. If they were smart they'd keep the game on a closed system

Legally, though, you're right. Having the game is bad enough, but having the source code and a ton of proprietary tools is just a whole new level. The thing is there really isn't any precedent for this kind of thing and even if there was, tracking all the people is going to be a problem unless they've been stupid enough to tap into the company's servers in some sort of multiplayer or otherwise made their IPs known.
since multiplayer is available thats actually rather likely. But I mean even hosting sites and pirating groups. If I was them first thing I'd do is google all the places you can get this and do what I could to track them. Normally its not worth the effort to track them down but something like this they might view it as such if just to set an example

On a larger scale, even if the leak can be found, it's still going to be a hit to the studio. They're not going to come out of this clean, I assure you.
depending on how much they invested, this might even kill the company

[Bells]

And that's just the upfront damage this cause... can you imagine the Behind the scenes damage? Good studios get closed for MUCH less shit than this. Who is going to provide this company their software and working codes if they can't trust that it won't get leaked to the public? Bulletstorm also just got leaked... but as far as i heard it was just the Console versions (ps3 and xbox), but what Crysis putted out there was the entire Blueprint of the game's inner mechanics.

Now, i don't doubt a few people will use this to study a Triple A game or makes mods based on that knowledge... i just know that if my company were providind assets for Crytek and those got leaked, i would make damn sure the next time they wanted to work with me that they got screwed in the ass with prejudice if so much as one line of code got to the public with a nasty, very unfair contract that they don't have moral grounds to deny signing...

[Doc ock rokc]

since multiplayer is available thats actually rather likely. But I mean even hosting sites and pirating groups. If I was them first thing I'd do is Google all the places you can get this and do what I could to track them. Normally its not worth the effort to track them down but something like this they might view it as such if just to set an example
However that would mean that the User would have to be Retarded or something. My Friend has the game says their is a Online sign in with a SKIP BUTTON guess what the smart players will do? Next IF they go Online its like screaming "HEY I GOT THE GAME EARLY LOLOLOLOLOLOL!" It seems stupid.
Also according to my friend the Videos for the game don't work so the player is left out of most of the story.

Plus Do you KNOW how torrents work? Its not as easy at all to find a source coder Most seeds are secondhand and even then Many seeds go though a Auto Anonymity.

[Bells]

the same forum that fist leaked this story (ba dum tish) also pinted out that the leak came from the EA server. So i'm guessing unauthorized access... Forgot the name of the forum though... "punch" something...

Also... Doc... people ARE that stupid. There are quite a few instances of banned accounts due to people playing prior to launc just because of that. I think it was with Borderlands and one of the Halo games.

Although, if you pick Gamespy as your Multiplayer provider you are asking to get shanked in the ass. Gamespy can't tell Legit copy from pirate copy for shit...

[Pip Boy]

Could the forum in question have been Facepunch?

[Bells]

Yes!! that's the one