The first time I played Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Black Box Studio was already gone. Disbanded. I wanted to give them my money, but there was no one left to take it.
That hit me hard — missing the chance to pay for a childhood favorite.
See, back in the day in China, most of us played this game as a cracked copy. No other way. No official retail. No Steam. No way to pay even if you wanted to. We were kids with dial-up internet and a dream — and a pirated ISO from a local PC café.
So years later, I thought: maybe a physical PS2 import copy would help. A kind of spiritual closure.
Luckily, I didn’t get scammed. Found an old-school seller who knew his stuff. Got it at a fair price. We talked a bit about why I was buying it — he was genuinely happy for me.
Also grabbed a few titles on Steam during sales. Two bucks each on average. Felt good.
I have mixed feelings about this franchise. Part of me still hopes it can rise again. Make something world-changing. Like it once did.
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
This is exactly what Gaben always said: Piracy is a service issue, not price issue. Relevant interview with Gabe Newell on Video Game Piracy from 2009 (3:39mins):
frenchfrynoob@lemmy.world 1 day ago
One more fact: before Steam’s regional pricing in China, major pirate forums were seeing millions of downloads for a single AAA title. After China was moved into the same low-price tier as Russia, and after CNY settlement plus Alipay/WeChat integration went live, legitimate user numbers exploded within just a few years.
This doesn’t mean Gabe was wrong — rather, it shows that “service issues” come with a precondition. In markets where per capita income is a fraction of Western levels, price itself is the most fundamental service. First make it affordable, then make it enjoyable. That’s how Steam won in China.
That said, this is a much longer story — one that really needs the full historical tapestry of Chinese player culture to do it justice. Maybe I’ll write a separate piece on it someday.
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
I’m not sure if I would read that (if it is longer text), but I think lot of others would. It’s just interesting to read from an end users perspective from a country we don’t see and live, not only because of language barriers.
BTW do you use a translator? How common is English knowledge of gamers in China?
frenchfrynoob@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
“Just to clarify — I know buying a used PS2 copy doesn’t support the devs financially. It’s more like a personal ritual, a way to say ‘thank you’ to the version of me who played this on a cracked disc. Totally understand if that doesn’t make sense to others.”