Why not use iap's to unlock the whole game the last I heard jet car stunts 2 very little piracy rates since iap crackers don't work with server side iap's.That way they would reach a whole new audience by allowing them to have a taste of the game and still prevent piracy.I don't see how always online changes anything. I was playing the game a little while ago on my bro's 5s and the connection dropped,Now it's as good as a 5$ wallpaper for his phone,This is the exact reason why always online is a big failure.
The idea is putting road blocks in between people who are stealing your game. Spiderman 2 is not Jet Car Stunts 2. Not all payment models work with all games, similarly, when you're working with a big IP like Spiderman you're not as free as an outfit like TrueAxis to do whatever you feel like.
It's sad to hear that. On both ends. I'd hate for my work to be stolen, but at the same time I'd hate for someone to avoid buying my product. So, an IAP to unlock the game seems reasonable. But I've seen how easy it is to pirate and I'm sure there's a work around for everything. I guess they just assume they'll make more money by releasing it this way and just not getting sales from many of us core gamers that would have paid happily for an offline version. Thank God there are developers that still make good gaming experiences without doing this. Just bought two other top titles this week that don't require this, so they got my money instead.
How is always online a roadblock? Blitz brigade is always online and it has been pirated to death and so is dead trigger 2.I don't know why iap model won't work here,just allow people to have a free roam around city with no missions and have an iap to unlock the whole story and side missions.If they are allowed to make the game always online they sure can make it unlockable through iap.
The bulk of the pirates out there are casual pirates who just download whatever is easy. Hell, I've seen people who don't even know they're stealing shit, they just had someone jailbreak their phone to unlock it and in the process installed one of the hacked repositories to do them a solid. You're never going to be able to do anything with the dedicated contingency of pirates who seem to have infinite amounts of time to steal literally everything, but these tiny roadblocks stop casual pirates who can still take a very significant chunk out of your bottom line.
love this game. the only spiderman game that i love is the first one and this from gameloft. i didn't see internet requirement does matter since internet connection is not a problem to me. love the graphics(on mini retina), the boss fighting is quite entertaining, not too challenging but thats okay.
So your point is that a divisive and not-very effective anti-piracy measure is viable because it forces the pirates to do a little more work than they would otherwise? That's hardly a ringing endorsement... When we're talking about small, up-and-coming devs, yes, they'd probably be forced to pick their poison and follow this route in order to make a profit. However, when we're talking about Gameloft (one of, if not the most predominant company on iOS, which has been reporting constant financial growth over the last couple of years and frequently has their games on the Top Paid Apps list even without sales taking place) following that path and wanting to have their cake and eat it too by refusing to let go of fundamental aspects of premium (i.e. paying an entrance fee for a game that will forcibly consume more and more money as you play it leaves a bad taste in the mouth) and freemium (i.e. the absurdly overpriced IAP for a skin), applied to a single-player only game, no less, then I'm not as willing to grant them the benefit of the doubt. As it is, it seems to me that this new method is actually putting more road blocks between people who'd like to support the game but don't have the device/lifestyle that allows them to comply to the game's requirements. The people who steal the game can leap past the road blocks, whether they are there or not... I don't want to derail the conversation away from the game (which, judging from some of the reviews here, seems to be an improvement over the first ASM game, which confirms my suspicions from the trailer). I just wanted to add my two cents to this debate, going simply from the point of view of someone who'd happily buy this game but won't due to a policy that, by wanting to limit the number of pirates, ended up losing my money in the process...
Actually there are no casual pirates in this world,all games and apps are cracked by it professionals who then release the cracked version to the internet which is then downloaded by everyone.Essentially there are two or three major cracker groups which do it and everyone else downloads that cracked version.No casual pirate/gamer has the time or skill required to crack a game otherwise these dedicated groups wouldn't exist. So roadblocking casual pirates is not a solution to the problem,The only possible solution is to sue these crackers which again is not possible.Unfortunately it's a lose only situation for devs here and with always online they are only hurting their potential sales. Like I said Iap unlock is the only way to block it as nothing as of now is able to crack server side apps.Always online has/will not make a difference. As it stands they have lost another potential customer.
Created primarily to promote a movie. Gameloft always substitute and camouflage bad gameplay implementation with over the top graphics that usually lag. This is another instance. The game looks great but plays poorly. All the effort has gone into the graphics -again. Not much effor has gone into gameplay. Where are the control options? My thumbs don't reach the shock or counter control. The fighting is too simple. There is lag if you've ever played a completely lag free game. Spider-Man color is too red. That's just me but I feel it is too cartoonish. The same quests over and over again gets boring and repetitive. Most of the gameplay is the same as the first game with a reskin. Online requirement is a pitfall. Why place an obstacle to people buying it? 3/10 for me. Change that to 2/10. Just tried to start the game now and got stuck on the loading screen for a few minutes. Can't start the game. I guess I better check my internet connection or maybe Gameloft servers are down. Just bought this tonight and already I can't get in!!! Not happy about this at all.
Gameloft... Please add an IAP to allow us to play the game in offline mode. You'll make money... And we will have offline play, yay!
Just bought the game tonight and as you can see its not my connection that's down as I was able to post the image. So Gameloft servers are or were down but blame my connection in their script which is a lie or I couldn't post here. How often is this gonna happen? Still down. Can't play. Damn.
Yep. I liked the first well enough and was really looking forward to this one. Simply not buying it though. I won't argue pros and cons of always online piracy measures. I'm just simply not going to pay for a game I can only play at home. My iphone is a mobile gaming system. It's pretty pointless if I can't use it as one. Yes I am sure gameloft will do fine on it anyway. But they lost this customer. And no matter how common this becomes I will never pay for an online only game. Free to play? Sure. I'll bite. But otherwise I'll just seek out games I CAN play anywhere. Next they'll be selling me blurays I can only play in my own house. I'll never have the joy of taking a film round to a friends again...
