This game was widely attacked for being paid yet almost requiring the user to pay for in-game items, after they had paid. Personally, I think this is just a publicity stunt. Most games like this are free but supported by in-app purchases.
When people post FB links, all the comments are about how they don't have a FB account. Even back when Zuck's wedding announcement was posted, nothing but "Can't read it no FB account. Alternate link please."
Wait, you make a game free, which is being pirated a lot. So basically there is no way to legally buy the game, and you just cut off the legal revenue stream completely? That just sounds like a publicity stunt more than anything else.
It seems a bit weird to make the game free because of high piracy rates. For some books (including one of my own), high piracy rates correlate well with more sales. I wonder if it's different for games.
How do people track piracy anyways? I've heard it's pretty bad on iOS too (and a common reason to jailbreak) but it doesn't get much press since there are enough buyers.
This method is simple, but incorrect. Google Play purchases are bound to account, not to device. If you purchase something and then install on your phone and tablet, you get two hits and single purchase, but both copies are legitimate.
You can also trawl through the warez sites to see how many downloads there are for your software, this would give you a comparison of your pirate popularity vs others.
> Google needs to get its act together with the Play Store
How is this Google's fault? I would guess that the pirated copies are all side-loaded from somewhere other than the Google Play Store. Software piracy happens. DRM solutions can mitigate some piracy (certainly not all, and likely won't increase sales, either).
The article suggested that the high piracy rate may be because Google Play is only available in 31 countries, and with only credit and debit card payment options.
No hard numbers were provided to back that up, but presumably supporting more countries and payment options could only help sales. So, Google could support more countries and payment options.
Alternately, they could add more sophisticated DRM to android phones.
There are plenty of app stores besides Google's. In fact, anyone can setup an Android app store, or sell their own apps through the web using any payment processor they want. You can even have a "send me cash in envelope, and I'll send you a telegram with a link to the .apk / unlock code" option for the credit-card-less.
