Suggestion to Increase Sales and Combat Piracy in Brazilian Territory

[higorhp]

Dear,

I hope this message finds you well. I would like to express a suggestion that I believe will be beneficial for the company and Brazilian Factorio players.

As is generally known, Brazil faces a significant challenge in relation to game piracy, and Factorio is no exception. However, I believe there is a real opportunity to combat this practice and increase sales in the country.

My suggestion is simple: reduce game prices and offer more promotions aimed at the Brazilian market. By making the game more financially accessible, I'm sure many players will choose to purchase the game legally rather than resorting to piracy.

Furthermore, by lowering the prices, you would also encourage the growth of the Brazilian player community, which could have a positive impact on sales of DLCs and other products related to the game.

I understand that adjusting prices can be a complex decision, but I sincerely believe that this approach would result in long-term benefits for the company, in addition to promoting a healthier and more sustainable relationship with Brazilian players.

I am available to discuss this suggestion in more detail if necessary. Thank you for your attention and consideration.

Yours sincerely,
Higor Henrique Pedrozo

[Qon]

If you are a chatbot troll then I guess +1 point to you. But assuming you are serious:

Why not just continue to ignore that players from weak economies pirate the game, and gain full price from players from stronger economies actually loving the game so much that they want to spend money on the game. Drastic regional pricing might just hurt income, since platforms like G2A then just resell brazilian Factorio to Europe and North America. And then refunds cost them from payment processor fees both ways. Pirating on the other hand has no cost and no maintenance. No bandwidth to pay for to distribute the client, manage server infrastructure for, no payment issue support staff to pay for. And the pirating players can keep the community alive and still promote the game to new players that might buy a full priced copy.

If you want to read more about the kinds of fraud that they might open themselves up for: https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-303

Also, Factorio already has regional pricing on Steam, with region prices probably left to Valve to set. I'm not sure Wube wants to spend time assessing the economies of countries themselves to determine fair regional value and fraud risk analysis.

[Koub]

[Koub] Moving this to general discussion, it's not a suggestion about the game content itself.
Also, this kind of discussion has a very high derailing potential, so please prove me wrong.

[FunMaker]

I don't know the implications but this video looks like a good example for going down this route: Pirate Software Brazil

[mmmPI]

My suggestion is simple: reduce game prices and offer more promotions aimed at the Brazilian market. By making the game more financially accessible, I'm sure many players will choose to purchase the game legally rather than resorting to piracy.

The game is already at reduced price for Brazil, and a little lower for "LATAM" https://steamdb.info/app/427520/ when bought via the steam platform. Maybe steam/valve do not adjust properly the prices according to the purchasing power of the individual in a country. The case for Poland where the game is more expensive than euro-country was an illustration to me. I'm sure many pirates will prefer testing the free demo before attempting illegal activity and be convinced to legally purchase the game instead

since platforms like G2A then just resell brazilian Factorio to Europe and North America

I was under the impression that G2A said they would cover the fees for the refund, and i had no indication they didn't follow up. To me they too are victim of the practice of credit card fraud dishonnest banks and others bad geofencing techniques as they seek to provide legitimate second hand market for games. The situation currently allow such practices, but i don't think many players from Europe or North America will be tempted to buy Factorio on G2A because it's not overpriced via the non-second hand market unlike some games with DLCs whose price could have 3 digit in euros or dollars, for which a second hand market makes total sense to me.

I think the demo is one of the best arguments for a game, as it makes sure players buying the game will not be disappointed in their purchase because the game doesn't work on their computer and other technical issue or is not to their taste or other personnal matter. It can still happen that you offer a gift and the person doesn't like it or already has it or has no time to play or something that will lead that person in possession of a game to want to sell it.

[Illiander42]

Also, this kind of discussion has a very high derailing potential, so please prove me wrong.

What if you're right though?

I was under the impression that G2A said they would cover the fees for the refund, and i had no indication they didn't follow up. To me they too are victim of the practice of credit card fraud dishonnest banks and others bad geofencing techniques as they seek to provide legitimate second hand market for games.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

G2A know exactly what they're doing. They're a money laundering site first, everything else a distant second.

There's a good reason that most devs who talk about them say to straight pirate rather than give them money.

[mmmPI]

G2A know exactly what they're doing. They're a money laundering site first, everything else a distant second.

I'd be curious to read some factual information about that.

There's a good reason that most devs who talk about them say to straight pirate rather than give them money.

I wish that reason is not that greedy devs don't want their precious game become a second hand product. If it's the fees because of the refund, the story has been discussed but i will say it again, i had no information that G2A didn't follow up on their proposal to covers the fees when they said it. I even asked likea year later, and was told the process was ongoing, so if you have factual information about what happened with Factorio i'd be interested. I'd rather question the practice of the banks who offer payment facility that are unsafe and make the users support the cost of repairing problems afterward instead of investing in proper verifications that may hinder the flow of trade.

[Koub]

I was under the impression that G2A said they would cover the fees for the refund, and i had no indication they didn't follow up.

G2A did get back to Wube : https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-348

[Illiander42]

There's a good reason that most devs who talk about them say to straight pirate rather than give them money.

I wish that reason is not that greedy devs don't want their precious game become a second hand product. If it's the fees because of the refund, the story has been discussed but i will say it again, i had no information that G2A didn't follow up on their proposal to covers the fees when they said it. I even asked likea year later, and was told the process was ongoing, so if you have factual information about what happened with Factorio i'd be interested. I'd rather question the practice of the banks who offer payment facility that are unsafe and make the users support the cost of repairing problems afterward instead of investing in proper verifications that may hinder the flow of trade.

Wube got their money out of them. But the story from other devs is that G2A make proving that a key was fraud near-impossible. Wube mostly managed it because of their "no sales, ever" policy.

That's my understanding, anyway.