In a recent Press Release dated August 5th, Jakub Dvorsky of Amanita Design announced concerns regarding the rampant piracy of Machinarium. According to Jakub, their estimate of feedback from players who actually own the game is only 5-15%.
In an effort to combat piracy, Amanita Designs is offering a special deal they believe pirates can’t refuse: receive the latest version of Machinarium and its fantastic soundtrack for only $5.00 (Windows, Mac OSX, or Linux platforms).
PixelPerfectGaming.com contacted Jakub at Amanita Design to ask a few important questions regarding the recent pirating of Machinarium. Gamers are concerned that developers like Amanita Design may change their mind about DRM free games and adopt a more corporate approach. We decided to get to the bottom of things.
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Interview with Jakub Dvorsky of Amanita Design
PPG: Recently, on August 5th, Amanita Design released an announcement regarding the pirating of Machinarium. We weren’t aware of this problem ourselves. When did Amanita Design become aware of this problem?
Jakub Dvorsky: Pirates started to work hard immediately after the release of the game so hundreds of download links for the full free game appeared on the web almost instantly and we knew that.
PPG: If you don’t mind divulging your methods, how was Amanita Design able to track down the people pirating the game?
Jakub Dvorsky: Well, I wrote to our press release that it’s only our estimate – it means we didn’t use any scientific method to define that number. 🙂 The estimate is based on the huge amounts of download links and we also spent some time reading forums all over the web where people discussed the game and where they downloaded it.
PPG: What is your opinion of the people pirating your title?
Jakub Dvorsky: I’m quite forgiving, because I used to be a pirate as well. I think it has something to do with the age – when I was young I had no income, but plenty of time to play many games so I was pirating it. Now I earn money so I pay for games and I hope everybody else who start making money realize that it’s time to stop stealing and start supporting the development of the games he likes.
PPG: Going forward, how will this affect future Amanita Design titles and its pledge to stay DRM free?
Jakub Dvorsky: I can assure you that nothing will change. We will continue developing cross-platforms independent DRM free games. Despite the piracy our games sell well and we are thankful to all people who paid us and supported us.
PPG: On a more positive note, can you tell our readers what future titles Amanita Design has in development? We’re hoping a sequel to Machinarium is being considered.
Jakub Dvorsky: It’s too early to reveal anything, I’m sorry:)
PPG: Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. PixelPerfectGaming.com fully supports anti-piracy efforts and wishes Amanita Design luck in its endeavors to eradicate it.
Jakub Dvorsky: Thank you very much!
