Greenheart Games Gives Game Pirates a Taste of Their Own Medicine

Greenheart Games, the two-man indie studio behind the game development simulator Game Dev Tycoon, released two very different versions of their newest title.

The first, for those who paid the $7.99 price tag for the title, is an unaltered, playable version where your studio could grow to be the next big studio producing AAA titles.

The second, which Greenheart themselves cracked and released upon many a torrent site, hinders those who feel the need to bypass the price tag and download said cracked version for free.

Well, that sounds pretty normal. What’s the difference?

Those who pirated the game will eventually reach bankruptcy in their game due to piracy. That’s right. If you downloaded the game, and you’re wondering why you can’t progress, it’s because Greenheart’s point has reached you. Your studio, once it reaches a certain score, will have a 90% sales hindrance due to piracy. It will ruin you.

Ah, the irony.

From the Escapist:

“To the players who played the cracked version, I’m not mad at you,” says Patrick Klug of Green Heart Games. “When I was younger, downloading illegal copies was practically normal but this was mostly because global game distribution was in its infancy.” He says that the wide availability of the game online, as well as the fact that it has a free demo and comes with no DRM means that gamers these days have no excuse for pirating the game.