yeah, when I was a kid every body bought their music one song at a time, but the companies threw in a free song on the B-side...
- Status
Basically this. What the Fan subbers want is the ability to watch their favorite shows within a few days/hours of them coming out in Japan, with subtitles (even if they are sometimes a bit off) and no censorship. Since no one was doing this, they started to translate the shows for themselves and their friends. If companies were willing to offer it at a decent price, people would pay for the ability to get it legally.
That isn't to say that some companies aren't trying to do this. For instance, I know the guys with the Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood license put up subbed episodes on Hulu as they are release and they've been making some decent money that way. However, some sites (like Crunchyroll) have proven less apt at it. They seem to vary between charging too much, not getting stuff out in time, or just up and losing licenses. They also have a pretty poor public image.
So basically, we're in that weird transition period between getting nothing and having a reliable supplier. A lot of the problems seem to stem from licensee companies believing they can make more money off of DVD box sets than a-la-cart sales, but those guys will go out of business eventually, especially if they keep censoring the content.
Companies have always been dragged screaming into the future... just google how many people though the phonograph was the death of musicians as a profession, or the video tape was going to kill cinema and Tv etc.
That... was kind of my point?
Well i was just reacting to your use of the word "maybe"...
C
Chibibar
Wow this is still going 
I guess to sums it up.
Digital goods are tricky stuff when trying to quantify it unlike physical goods. Can't use the example of using the car for 2 years (at no cost) and then pay for it. There is a physical component and finite resources to make it, but digital you can copy it one form or another and use it.
So if you pay later, you "may" hurt the company via future development of a product. I.E. lets say there is a cool game out there cost millions to make and no one is willing to pay a cent for it and just pirate it (or willing to pay the price they are asking) the price never drops (hypothetical) and the company never makes a sequel since they lost millions in making the first one.
So in the example above, people who pirate first and pay later (assuming the price will drop someday) hurt the company in terms of future development.
The company looks at it as potential lost revenue at the time of use.
Did I get that right?
I guess to sums it up.
Digital goods are tricky stuff when trying to quantify it unlike physical goods. Can't use the example of using the car for 2 years (at no cost) and then pay for it. There is a physical component and finite resources to make it, but digital you can copy it one form or another and use it.
So if you pay later, you "may" hurt the company via future development of a product. I.E. lets say there is a cool game out there cost millions to make and no one is willing to pay a cent for it and just pirate it (or willing to pay the price they are asking) the price never drops (hypothetical) and the company never makes a sequel since they lost millions in making the first one.
So in the example above, people who pirate first and pay later (assuming the price will drop someday) hurt the company in terms of future development.
The company looks at it as potential lost revenue at the time of use.
Did I get that right?
Ah, which really was me sighing and saying "I guess piracy might need to be the tool used to drag them". At least thats what was in my brain
Yes.
Yes, but it's more than that. They also look at it as lost revenue, period. It's what I was saying before, there's a difference between "lost revenue" and "lost sales".
If someone is unwilling to buy something at a given price point, that's a lost sale. Company doesn't make anything, but they haven't lost anything besides the chance to pick up some money.
If someone acquires a copy of their software without paying the company the legal asking price, that's an unpaid inventory liability on a balance sheet. The company has lost what they believe is the fair market value for their product and not gotten anything in return.
If, however, the company chose to implement a new risky pricing strategy that let you download a copy of their software with a pay-what-you-want price point (like Radiohead did successfully for In Rainbows), that would be 100% completely above board and everyone would get what they're looking for.
What??
Edit: A more detailed wtf response.
Liabilities on the balance sheet are obligations on the part of the company. Piracy doesn't affect the obligations of the company in any direct way that would be on the balance sheet. An argument could be made that it increases Accounts Receivable (Money that should be paid to the company for the purchase of the product) and then written off to the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts but no company does this because it's nearly impossible to track and record. The principle of prudence from GAAP wouldn't allow for that.
It does affect revenue however in the form of lost revenue. And that still doesn't appear on the balance sheet because you don't put revenue on a balance sheet!
And no, makare, I remain a non-accountant
Sorry, I am doing multiple things and tried to cut words out. It goes on their balance sheet as a liability because it's inventory that hasn't been paid for.
You're still wrong.
I will defer to you, as I'm no accountant.
EDIT: Couldn't they stick it in deferred net revenue?
Ah, I see, thank you.Deferred revenue is money you've received but haven't provided a product for yet. Kinda the opposite of what you're looking for
Unless it's a stolen disk they can't even have it as part of their inventory... best to leave accounting out of this really.
And there's the caveat that the same thing happens if the game doesn't sell and there is no piracy... which just leave us with the fact that the problem is with people that would have bought it at the initial price if they couldn't pirate it.
C
Chibibar
I guess the only way to do it (at least curb as much as they can) is the software has to phone home each time it is launched when internet is available or at least once for activation BUT NEVER keep phoning home while playing. Regardless of system, people who will never pay will figure out a way to play the game.
- Status