Is piracy a good thing?

Finnish developers claim that piracy can benefit and lead to an increase in the popularity of the brand. Russian colleagues partially agree with them.  

While many developers and publishers are trying their best to stop the spread of unlicensed products, the authors of Angry Birds from the Finnish company Rovio believe that the sale of counterfeit goods may not be such a bad thing.

“We can learn a lot from the music industry, including how not to fight piracy,” Mikael Hed, executive director of Rovio, said at the MidemNet music business conference in France.

It doesn’t make sense to spend money on lawsuits,” Mikael believes. – This is necessary only if pirates harm the brand or lure users away.

He also noted that any counterfeit causes, first of all, interest in licensed products. At least, Rovio believes in it. 

Russian publishers also agree with this. 

“Pirates, without knowing it, increase the popularity of the brand,” comments Pavel Ryakkonen, Distribution Director of Nevosoft. – “In addition, our many years of experience in the market of downloadable games shows that there are people who will never buy anything on the Internet – it’s easier for them to hack or use already hacked products. It doesn’t make sense to fight them.”