If I could afford to pirate games, it wouldn’t be indie games.
Indie devs are usually small and made up of equally(ish) poor people just trying to make a living. That money puts food on their table and keeps the studio running.
That said, I know some devs look at it as free advertising. Doesn’t make it great, but it’s a different perspective at least.
You can try reporting the video but that probably won’t do much (doesn’t mean it’s not worth a try). The best you can do is treat it as free advertisement and hope it’ll encourage people to buy the game if they like it.
Remember that pirated copy does not equal lost sale, especially for an indie title most people won’t even hear about.
Edit: well, the double check by the other user makes this thing pretty sus. Either way, my comment still stands in case this really happens for someone.
The first step is to be kind about it. Send a message over YouTube explaining that you are the developer and kindly ask them to take it down. It is important to be very polite and non aggressive about it.
You can also report the video stating it is advertising illegal activity.
As others have posted, this guy has no subs, and not every view/sub equates to a purchase or instance of pirating. You may lose a few potential sales, but you need to understand this is not lost revenue as there was no guarantee they were going to buy it in the first place, and you have not lost something of limited stock.
You’re an indie, stop worrying about piracy costing you sales and start worrying about the people who’ve never heard of you but would buy your game if they did.
If anything, you should be encouraging piracy as a marketing strategy to help get your name out there. Anonymity is a bigger cause of lost sales than piracy ever could be.
But to be blunt, I wouldn’t really worry about it. Most people don’t pirate, and trying to chase pirates down isn’t exactly going to convert them to paying customers as they’re not the type to buy it anyways.
Do frequent smallish updates to add QoL options, bugfixes, etc. (As you should be anyways) This will make the store version superior and making pirated copies obsolete and require new versions to keep up. Obviously additional Steam features are valuable here too as you don’t quite get those in alternate versions.
I’ve demoed my games at conventions and had people tell me to my face that they’re going to pirate my game. I’d offer them a free key instead and one guy said he’d prefer to pirate it, so idk some people are just extra.
I think if you want more sympathy from Lemmy, you’d frame it more like “Hell yeah, someone published a video on how to pirate my videogame!! If you like it it’s on Steam/itch/GOG/wherever too”. Your screencap being fake or not.
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If I never play the game, that means I will never press the button, thereby protecting the universe. 😤
Making this kind of post is just going to encourage more people to “try it out for free”. If that’s your angle then great 👍
Like every other post OP makes, yes, it’s obviously to get people to play their game.
I searched the channel expecting it to be the only video and also OP:
https://www.youtube.com/@tutorialsbyluke/videos
But instead they just faked the acreenshot, it’s not even a real video
I don’t think going after some YouTuber with 87 subscribers will be worth your time.
OP faked the screenshot
https://www.youtube.com/@tutorialsbyluke/videos
The last video was from 7 years ago, but the 87 subscribers is legit for some reason
Well spotted. Just clickbait to market their game then.
The people who pirate your game were never going to buy it anyway. Don’t lose sleep over it.
If I could afford to pirate games, it wouldn’t be indie games.
Indie devs are usually small and made up of equally(ish) poor people just trying to make a living. That money puts food on their table and keeps the studio running.
That said, I know some devs look at it as free advertising. Doesn’t make it great, but it’s a different perspective at least.
Historically, as piracy rates rise so do future sales when it comes to games.
So encourage them
Send a DMCA takedown notice. If you are the copyright holder, it should be legit and they will have to process it quickly.
You can try reporting the video but that probably won’t do much (doesn’t mean it’s not worth a try). The best you can do is treat it as free advertisement and hope it’ll encourage people to buy the game if they like it.
Remember that pirated copy does not equal lost sale, especially for an indie title most people won’t even hear about.
Edit: well, the double check by the other user makes this thing pretty sus. Either way, my comment still stands in case this really happens for someone.
You can’t do anything about it as they’re not doing anything wrong, and look terrible whining about it here
I can assure you I’ll never pay for that game now specifically because I saw this post
The first step is to be kind about it. Send a message over YouTube explaining that you are the developer and kindly ask them to take it down. It is important to be very polite and non aggressive about it.
You can also report the video stating it is advertising illegal activity.
As others have posted, this guy has no subs, and not every view/sub equates to a purchase or instance of pirating. You may lose a few potential sales, but you need to understand this is not lost revenue as there was no guarantee they were going to buy it in the first place, and you have not lost something of limited stock.
Never playing a game that needs to be marketed with fake sob story photoshopped screenshots. I assume its garbage anyway
You’re an indie, stop worrying about piracy costing you sales and start worrying about the people who’ve never heard of you but would buy your game if they did.
If anything, you should be encouraging piracy as a marketing strategy to help get your name out there. Anonymity is a bigger cause of lost sales than piracy ever could be.
You can report the video.
But to be blunt, I wouldn’t really worry about it. Most people don’t pirate, and trying to chase pirates down isn’t exactly going to convert them to paying customers as they’re not the type to buy it anyways.
Do frequent smallish updates to add QoL options, bugfixes, etc. (As you should be anyways) This will make the store version superior and making pirated copies obsolete and require new versions to keep up. Obviously additional Steam features are valuable here too as you don’t quite get those in alternate versions.
I’ve demoed my games at conventions and had people tell me to my face that they’re going to pirate my game. I’d offer them a free key instead and one guy said he’d prefer to pirate it, so idk some people are just extra.
I was once excited to play your game, but this shenanigan that was documented in other comments in this thread ensures that I won’t.
Your dishonest attempt at advertising has cost you a sale. Next time, just say “buy my game, it’s good.”
I think if you want more sympathy from Lemmy, you’d frame it more like “Hell yeah, someone published a video on how to pirate my videogame!! If you like it it’s on Steam/itch/GOG/wherever too”. Your screencap being fake or not.