Will be interesting to see what effects this has, though. Apart from the simple fact of early availability to pirates, these kinds of leaks can change the early review climate, since now reviews can come from all sorts of sources, not just the journalists given preview copies. What effect that has might depend on how good the game is (and how close to done the leaked version is).
A worse outcome than just the leaked version being available would be if it led to a flurry of negative reviews of the pre-release version, the way leaks of bad films have a much more negative effect on opening-weekend sales than leaks of good films do--- the didn't-see-it-because-everyone-said-it-sucked effect can be larger than the didn't-see-it-because-I-already-pirated-it effect.
The best outcome for EA would probably be a flood of reviews of the form: "wow this is an amazing game but a few things are broken in the leaked version, which I assume will be fixed by release".
The reason it was delayed is, quite simply, that it was nowhere near ready, and I think this would have happened with or without the leak. Valve aren't exactly renowned for releasing on time, there's no way they would have released an unpolished game just for the sake of a deadline.
I disliked the game so much that I've essentially avoided any game with 'Cry' in it since playing Far Cry.
IMO the best outcome for EA would be a pre-release that with such great reviews that I would actually consider playing the demo, although that still requires the HDD space that I'd likely prefer to waste on a blu-ray rip of virtually any movie as I'd expect it to entertain me for longer (I love the 5hr gameplay that most FPS now provide, real 'bang' for my buck when I can usually spend less for an RPG that'll give me anywhere from >20 to 100 hours like Mass Effect/Dragon Age)
Somewhat irrational, since Crysis plays differently and the sequels to Far Cry were developed by different company.
I guess that's brand power for you.
Crytek has been alerted that an early incomplete, unfinished build of Crysis 2 has appeared on Torrent sites. Crytek and EA are a bit shocked, but surprisingly ok with the news. Saves us the trouble of writing a demo! So check out the pirated, unofficial demo, and be sure to buy the full game when it comes out on March 22nd.
And try not to spoil yourself too much on the leak, the full game is much better already!
Oh, and they have made a demo - it's been out on the 360 for a couple of weeks I think.
It's also not meant for people who play console games but don't use the internet much and don't know how to use a torrent site.
It's meant for the marginal person who could go either way - who might grudgingly torrent a movie or music album that can't be bought in his home country, but feels guilty about it and wants to support content creators.
There's people who are going to buy, no matter what - this message doesn't affect them. There's people who aren't going to buy, no matter what - this message doesn't affect them. There's also a marginal group of people who might buy or might not - they're trying to appeal to them.
Or who knows, maybe they really are just blaming piracy while letting the ship sink. I'd buy that explanation too.
Most of those people do it out of convenience. They want to play on their console, in the living room with the big screen, and they don't want to fuck around with torrenting ISOs and hacking their machine so it can play copied games. Next to convenience, morality takes a distant second place; they probably pirate music and movies without hesitation. But fans of Crysis 2 have long been awaiting its release, and being able to play it months before its street date, even if it means playing on PC and hitting the torrents, might tip the convenience equation.
That is why this is so dangerous for Crytek.
Something like this could be the straw breaking the camel's back for Crytek releasing their next game on PC (and I don't blame them).
That sounds quite oddly phrased. Why is it not "the PC gaming market" or something to that effect? Why should anyone care about a specific distribution model?
1) EA is obviously upset. They are asking people to wait to buy the game. This has two main reasons. The first being that the beta release is still buggy and will give a bad impression. The second being that they don't want people who would have otherwise bought the game get impatient and download it. Possibly seeing what a heap of crap it is.
2) EA did not bash the community. They just said "fans, please support us, piracy hurts our industry." Piracy of course referring to actually downloading and helping spread it. The response is basically "piracy is good, stfu, fuck off, you deserve it assholes". The response is completely blown out of proportion unless the OP was modified later on.
3) EA has nobody to blame but themselves. However they know this, and did not blame anyone else in the post. The responders seem to think otherwise.
4) I hate EA as much as the next buy, but lets be fair here.
That is all.
