Machinarium creator extends pirate amnesty
Indie game sees 17,000 sales in a week after price dropped by 75%
Indie developer Amanita has extended the pirate amnesty for the game Machinarium, after a better than expected response to the promotion saw 17,000 copies sold in one week.
Previously Amanita revealed that the piracy rate for the critically acclaimed graphic adventure was running as high as 85 to 95 per cent. The title was released without any DRM or anti-piracy protection, the presence of which is a common excuse given by users pirating commercial titles.
As a result Amanita announced an amnesty where the price of the game would be dropped by 75 per cent, to just $5 - including a game soundtrack. The promotion was originally intended to run only until 12th August, but will now be extended "for a few days".
The Czech developer also revealed stats indicating the percentage of orders by country, with the USA taking the lion's share with 39.4 per cent. The UK was next on 11.5 per cent, followed by Germany on 7.2 per cent, Spain on 5.5 per cent and Canada on 5.3 per cent.
Indie developers have often complained of high piracy rates, equivalent to or higher than those of retail titles, with Cliff Harris of Positech Games gaining some notoriety for his attempt to engage with pirates and ask why they refused to pay for products.
High prices, DRM, overall quality, and a lack of demos were suggested as the primary reason for most instances of non-casual piracy.