Angry Birds creator: 'Piracy may not be a bad thing'

[garyopa]

Rovio's CEO says Piracy could get them more business

http://www.maxconsole.com/maxconsole/contents/RKLS0000001253/icon_xl.jpg

Rovio CEO Mikael Hed comments about piracy at the Midem music conference. Says it can get them more business at the end of the day. Something weird to say from an executive!

Rovio's Boss, Mikael Hed, best known for the extremely popular Angry Birds franchise, made some comments about their take on software Piracy at Midem's music conference in Cannes.

He said they have issues with piracy, but they are trying to learn a lot from the music industry:



"We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products. There is tons and tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products," said Hed.

"We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy."


According to him, pursuing pirates is just 'futile', except in cases when products are being sold (which hurt the brand) or rip off customers.



When that's not the case, Rovio sees it as a way to attract more fans, even if it is not making money from the products. "Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day."

"We took something from the music industry, which was to stop treating the customers as users, and start treating them as fans. We do that today: we talk about how many fans we have," he said.

"If we lose that fanbase, our business is done, but if we can grow that fanbase, our business will grow."


Could sound controversial, but it is an interesting take on this subject!

NEWS SOURCE #1: Rovio CEO piracy can bring about more business (via) Destructoid (http://www.destructoid.com/rovio-ceo-piracy-can-bring-about-more-business-220653.phtml)
NEWS SOURCE #2: Angry Birds Music Midem (via) Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2012/jan/30/angry-birds-music-midem)

Our thanks to 'Gauss' for another super-duper news story!

[JonathanD]

I think the trick to piracy is finding the right balance between too easy to do and impossible.

Go too far in one direction or the other and any benefit that might be gained will be lost.

[Xenogears V]

He speaks that amke pay 1$ to resolve a stage. :mad:

[IJTF_Cinder]

The Corporate world needs to learn the difference between a pirate and someone downloading for personal use.

Pirates SELL the stuff they download, and this could be classed as a "Lost sale" since that pirate's buyer is paying for it.

Someone downloading for personal use, is NOT a "Lost sale", you likely would have never seen their money anyway.

The whole "$xxx Lost to Piracy" stuff is such bullshit...fictional numbers they pull out of their asses.

Someone downloading for personal use that gets fined, will NEVER buy your product simply on principle, and they're sure to tell people to avoid your product as well. There have been HUNDREDS of games I've purchased after downloading an "illegal" copy, because I enjoy the game enough. I even have games I own for the 360 that I've also bought on Steam...

There is FAR FAR too much freaking Shovelware out there today, falsely advertised like Hollywood does with Movies, showing stuff that is the ONLY good parts of the game or things that aren't even in the game(!), for me to just hand over my money sight unseen.

If I download your product and NEVER buy it, you wouldn't have seen a penny from me ever...I'm not a lost sale, I'm a sale you never would have had to begin with.