Sometimes the best way to defeat your enemy is to make them feel really, really bad.
An indie game developer that goes by the name Greenheart Games has made over 3,000 pirates understand what it's like to be affected by game piracy. The team uploaded an alternate version of its latest title, Game Dev Tycoon, with some minor tweaks. The result? Those playing the pirated version of the game see their virtual development studio's bank account slowly eaten away by piracy.
Coincidentally, 93% of customers have pirated the game leaving only a small number of just over 300 paying customers. The massive 3,300+ people who decided that the game's $7.99 price tag was way too high have been greeted by the message seen above and inevitable failure.
As far as how the team came up with such a brilliant idea Greenheart Games' Patrick Klug had the following to say:
Initially we thought about telling them their copy is an illegal copy, but instead we didn’t want to pass up the unique opportunity of holding a mirror in front of them and showing them what piracy can do to game developers.
The game has a demo available and Greenheart is pushing to have it approved for a Steam release. If you'd like to buy the game and support the studio you can do so here.
