My Experience Getting Owned by App Store Pirates
Before launching iCombat I wrote a post discussing the question of what to do with App store piracy. The options basically boil down to either: A) doing nothing, B) using RipDev or a comparable solution to make the app more difficult to crack, or C) implementing an info.plist check that allows the developer to see which users are using a cracked version and then altering the app for those pirate users (see Beejive IM’s response as one of the more decisive moves you can take with this approach). See description of how to do this here.
As a first time developer I wanted to protect my effort but did not want to pay an upfront fee to Ripdev without having made a dime so I opted to go for the more benign yet not totally passive option. I chose to detect when they cracked the application and then have a pop-up screen say something inoffensive along with a button routing them away from game play after 5 levels. The button redirected the pirate to a hidden page I created on my site called “You Jacked My App” where the text read:
“Hi if you have been directed to this page it’s because we see that you have a pirated copy. While we are glad you are interested please understand that we want to continue making it better, but to do that we need people to each pay for their copy. If you want to continue using please purchase today.”
The idea was to get the user to empathize with my cause and maybe convert a tiny fraction of those users into sales. While it was a cheesy move and probably a bad idea I figured it couldn’t hurt to try (maybe I should have just rickroll’d them all!). For a great example of a better executed version of this strategy see developer Ben Chatelain’s pop-up here which mentions needing the sales to help feed his 1 year old! I just found this but had I seen it pre-iCombat 1.0 I would probably have implemented something similarly guilt evoking.
See below some stats to give you an idea of the scope of the problem for iCombat as well as some conclusions I have drawn from the experience:
A few thoughts on the data:
1) Pirates are extremely early adopters:
- iCombat was cracked and posted to Twitter before even propagating through all of Apple’s servers (I’d say within 30 minutes from going live). Their adoption on the front end was much quicker than the paying user. Nothing beats free…
2) There is no feedback culture among app pirates
- I am not sure whether they rely on legit app reviews or just word of mouth, but surprising that no one anywhere posted a warning that iCombat was blocked after just 5 levels (of 20). As far as I know the cracking apps only utilize the plist hack so it is not an issue of hackers having found a workaround to my pop-up (I could be wrong here)
3) The overall pirate community is smaller than I had expected, but much more active
- 5 to 1 ratio off the bat in terms of pirated copies to purchased
- leveled off at about 1 to 1 ratio over the last few weeks before I removed the block (since then it has gone back up but on much smaller volume)
- iCombat has had dozens of Tweets about cracked versions of the game
- Cracking is a source of pride for pirates, and this pushes them to disseminate more aggressively
4) There was a high clickthrough rate to my site (only way user could avoid would have been to press home button) but once there ZERO users clicked through to purchase a copy. Maybe if I had mentioned a 1 year old baby this would have been higher.
Some considerations specific to iCombat:
- iCombat was priced at $0.99 throughout this period
- Initial coverage in Gizmodo at launch plus the fact that iCombat is a familiar theme (tank game reminiscent of Combat for Atari or Wii Tanks game) might have also pushed an abnormal amount of geeks/ pirates to download it
Conclusions:
1) Piracy is still not that big of a problem when talking about the apps with larger download volumes
- Dave Castelnuovo from Pocket God was generous enough to share with me that they are only seeing a 5%-10% piracy rate for example. While this could be in part because of Pocket God’s rapid update cycle which renders each pirated version outdated after just a week or two, it might also be a sign that the cracking community still isn’t that large on a relative scale. This argument is supported by my declining per cent of pirates relative to overall downloads.
2) Blocking pirates is not worth it unless you can push conversion by giving them a lite style version
- Strategically structure the cracked game so pirates get the upsell, in iCombat’s case I would do (planning on a lite version soon) limited weapons, limited levels, no global high scores (coming in 1.2), etc. Again for a good example of this see the link to Ben Chatelain’s 10 day demo strategy (above).
- A full block risks damaging the brand for non-pirates (could be perceived as a bug) or of creating a backlash by disgruntled pirates. Not worth the risk.
3) Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face
- The goal behind launching an app isn’t thwarting pirates, it is getting users and generating sales so leave the “making a point” anti-piracy measures to the big guys. The competition is so fierce to get noticed in the App store that any attention is good attention. Ethan Nicholas from iShoot fame probably isn’t too worried about the small pirate minority seeing as how he sold a couple hundred thousand copies of iShoot at $2.99.
- In most cases there is not a direct cannibalization of your sales by people using cracked copies – unless you have a high priced niche app the cost is negligible and the market is not zero sum (see my upcoming posts on my conversations with pirates that backs this up)
- There is a ton of anger and energy spent thinking about pirates (see the iPhoneDevSDK forum here for examples), this energy should be put into creating better apps and focusing on the top line potential. In my case there are design issues that I should have focused on rather than trying to spoil the pirate’s experience.
So What Do We Do?
Assuming you have a relatively cheap app with a wide potential audience and what you perceive to be a long term value proposition, I think the best solution is to create a version akin to a lite version of the app for pirates. It is no good to shut off access to the app completely, but it also doesn’t get you very far to give away the core value you are offering to the paying user. I have decided I am going to do this for the next update of my app and hope that happy users, be they paying or pirates, will help spread the word and get iCombat above the App store noise.
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Wouldn’t it work for one to just require a purchase in-app? As far as i know, pirates can pirate the actually app, but not find a way around the in-app stuff. I know that Tap Tap 3 was only .99 because it wanted to sell things in the app. Apple had a policy of only buyable apps can sell virtual goods then. when they changed that it became free.
They seriously pretty much steal your money. How much of a commission does apple take out of the pie?
The interesting thing is, how the in-app-buying stuff of iPhone OS 3 affects pirated versions of the game. Could you just sell a basic version for 79 Cents and then offer additional levels, maybe also for free (can you “sell” free stuff in-game?)? If they pirate the 79 cents-version, they will not be able to buy additional content. Therefore, if they really like the app and want more, they have to buy. And if they don’t like the app, they wouldn’t have bought it
I think it would be HILARIOUS if you would have rickrolled them instead. That’s just classic!
the real version.
Adapting apps to pirates is a great idea. Interesting approach!
I have pirated my share of items off of the internet and really like your attitude. In many cases, if I used an program that was then disabled or more trouble to crack again than the price, I would simply purchase a legit copy.
ClubPenguinCheats
Yes thanks for highlighting this…absolutely agree that the numbers aren't scientific here so should take instances like yours into consideration.
As for blocking devices I definitely wouldn't do anything like that. The last thing I want is for a paying user's experience with iCombat to be tainted by some misguided anti-piracy measures. Thanks for the post both great points…
Initially i was seriously toying with the idea of saying “hey thanks for playing iCombat, you can keep playing but please spread the word to your friends (or at least 1 other person)” then i was going to have a template e-mail pop-up to where all they had to do was enter friend's contact info. I decided against anything like this, or rate this app type ideas, because I thought I could just as easily have pirates turn against these measures. Just not worth the risk I think…
Have you considered selling ads on your 'you jacked my app' page? Sending them there, or to some other place (rate this app highly on survey…) that would benefit you might be another way to improve the usefulness of the pirates in your marketing/revenue efforts.
Please note that (unique IDs) – (app purchases) is not equal to (number of pirated copies) in many cases. I have two devices registered on the same iTunes account, which means I have two unique IDs for one purchase. Though if you're doing the info.plist check, this shouldn't be a problem.
Also, blocking jailbroken devices, or having a unique-ID blocklist aren't good ideas, though I'm sure you know that.
Great post and very interesting, I think you also suffer from the price point issue. The incentive obviously becomes higher to crack apps in your price range. Have you considered one of these formal anti-pirate solutions? While I don't think it worth my time with the lower priced app, your added server costs could make pirates even more expensive than just lost revenue. Let's hope Apple comes up with some solutions soon!
“Screw them, you can get plenty of face time and marketing without allowing every jailbroken phone in the universe access to something that cost you time and money”
I appreciate your opinion here but what you ay is actually not true…it is very difficult to get face time and exposure to the average iPhone user. If it were easier then you would be right, but currently there are about 40k apps all trying to get noticed. You are lucky if you get covered in any major blogs.
Also, while I said there is no formalized feedback loop that I could find, that doesn't mean these users don't provide opinions and feedback over the web. They just don't do it as pirates. I am writing a new post on one specific example I have now of a pirate that has actually been plugging iCombat online, even though he stole a copy.
Yeah I understand that point of view, and that is why we are coming out with a lite version soon. The questions becomes when the app is simple featured, as a developer how can you do a lite version without giving away the core value of your app? As for the grace period idea…that has been proven to not work on other platforms as people use the heck out of the apps and then return them for a refund.
Thanks for the post but I think we are saying the same thing. I never said piracy was my problem, in fact what I said was that more developers should stop worrying about piracy and focus more on the quality of their apps.
Here's something you have to realize.
If piracy were not an option, odds are that almost all of those pirates simply wouldn't have played your game at all. You can see it right there in your stats.
Would you rather sell 1000 copies and have 6000 people playing, or sell 1000 copies and have 1000 people playing? Obviously your goal is to sell more copies. The only way to do that is to make your game better, so that more people want it and are willing to pay for it.
Think of it this way. Let's say you go to the movie theater, and plan to buy a ticket to see movie X. You want to see movie X very badly, and you are willing to pay to see it. Movie Y is also playing, but you don't want to see it, and you certainly won't pay to see it.
After watching movie X you see that there are free tickets available for movie Y. You're not super excited about movie Y, but since it's free, you'll watch it. If it were not free, you never would have sen it.
Your game is game Y. There are only so many people who want it badly enough to pay for it. The other people don't really want it that badly. If piracy were not an option, they would never pay and never play. Because piracy is an option, they will try it out, just like you would go see a movie you might not be really interested in.
The only way to get more sales is to make your game into movie X instead of movie Y. This is how Apple itself makes so much money. People are so excited about their products that they line up overnight and fall all over themselves to give Steve Jobs their money. There are plenty of fake iPods out there, but people want the real deal, and they'll pay a premium for it.
Piracy isn't your problem. Your problem is that people don't want your product badly enough. All you can do is change the product and the marketing to get people to want it more.
So there are people out there who can afford to own an iPhone, but won't pay for a 99c app!
Funny old world we live in!
After some disapointments in the app store and the lack of refunds I started to download “cracked” games. I try them and delete the ones I don't like. Every week or every two weeks I go to the app store to buy the remaining ones. There is a ton of good ideas with poor execution and you see only the idea in the store. When I buy a game with concept/gameplay that I like, with beautiful graphics and 250 levels only to discover later that after the fifth level they are all identical I feel cheated. If there was a grace period, say 3 hours or a day, I'd buy every game, but for now I can't see a better strategy for me.
I am somewhat confused about your “don't block pirates” point. Previously in the article you mention pirates have zero feedback systems (for somewhat obvious reasons, they don't want to be tracked). If this is true, there is no benefit to allowing them to continue to access your game. The only thing you risk is “backlash” by disgruntled pirates.
Screw them, you can get plenty of face time and marketing without allowing every jailbroken phone in the universe access to something that cost you time and money and is costing them nothing and will gain you nothing in return. Sure, this marketing ploy will work for you, right now, but in the future will just be seen as “eh, another programmer got owned by pirates”.
I don't know the specifics to determine how much code is required to detect and run the alternate version of the pirated version, but if it was anything more than 3 seconds of my personal time, there is no reason to code an entire application around them. The only time this makes sense is if you already have a trial version. Otherwise, I'd brick 'em.
Interesting write-up, thanks a lot for sharing! We've been discussing the piracy of our app 'Bombora' over on our blog. Seems like it's about time Apple woke up to this problem.
http://www.bomborasurf.com/2009/05/06/the-crack...
You know iCombat was my first app and I was really excited to see people using it first and foremost. After the 3rd or 4th Tweet with links to the cracked copy I did get angry but figured it was still better than nothing…
I guess I have been OK with the cracking because, as I said in my post, I think if you believe you have a long term viable app then it is not such a big cause for concern. It is only if we think that there is a 1-to-1 ratio of pirated copies to lost sales or that the time horizon to making revenue is limited (which it isn't) do we start to overvalue the impact of the pirates. After all there are 37MM+ devices now so while pirates may be 60% of my users today my volume is still trivial relative to the potential user base. Good luck with your app!
Thanks for the article (I got here from TUAW). I just submitted my first iPhone app to the app store and I'm fairly nervous about piracy. I thought about it but ended up leaving out any copy protection in the final version.
I'm taking a wait and see approach. I too balked at paying RipDev before I knew if it was going to be a viable product… I'm going to watch my sales the first month closely. Did the twitter posts about your app being pirated get you down?
Thanks yeah I think some bloggers have maybe oversimplified my point, nowhere am I encouraging piracy because it is definitely a huge problem. I am happy with how iCombat has done from a review point of view, but financially it could have done better without the massive illegal usage. I probably wouldn't feel OK about the piracy though if I didn't think iCombat still had the potential to do much better.
I guess it just depends whether you look at the App store as a one shot thing or an ongoing opportunity to get to the top of the charts. Thanks again for your post!
Hi there!
I don't own an iPhone, and I've never visited the AppStore.
But I wish you luck that these fu*kheads with their stealing-is-great mentality will stop their illegal circulation of the cracked version of this.
I don't understand why cracking seems so easy, but hopefully it'll turn out for the best.
So far you at least earned a few bugs, which is great.
All the best!
T.
@ST
I guess you’re one of those upset pirate?
The interesting thing is, how the in-app-buying stuff of iPhone OS 3 affects pirated versions of the game. Could you just sell a basic version for 79 Cents and then offer additional levels, maybe also for free (can you “sell” free stuff in-game?)? If they pirate the 79 cents-version, they will not be able to buy additional content. Therefore, if they really like the app and want more, they have to buy. And if they don't like the app, they wouldn't have bought it anyways…
Of course the ideal way would be to allow in-game-buyings also in free apps. You could offer the free version (i.e. the lite version) and then offer additional things, which converts the free version to the paid version. The privacy would stop (or has to change to crack the additional content). And we would no longer loose our settings and scores when upgrading to the full version. But currently, Apple does not want this
.
I will be releasing a lite version soon so we will see how that affects the stats. As for the analytics, I can see how many pirates are using only as it is a discrepancy from sales – have no idea of the conversion of the pirate to sales though as that would require knowing what specific iPhones were doing an I don't have that level of detail. I will post when the data comes in though for the lite version…
I know, too bad these ideas never come up on the spot…might always add in the rickroll to the next version. I could let the pirates play but they would have to watch that video first!
Hey thanks for the incoherent comment, not sure what your point is though. And by the way I am not claiming anywhere that my game is worth pirating, I am just pointing out that it has been.
Have fun playing Need For Speed dude!
if your game icombat was NFS Undercover then the rates would be higher
who would even want to crack a stupid app icombat? iphone has tons of LAME ass apps no one played your app after the 1st level, that why no one knows about your message at level 5
NFS Undercover is the only game or app out for iphone worth playing..
take your ICombat with icomeback..
I found your reasoning and resolution very interesting. I have pirated my share of items off of the internet (no iPhone apps, though) and really like your attitude. In many cases, if I used an program that was then disabled or more trouble to crack again than the price, I would simply purchase a legit copy. I have done this many times. I find using the FULL version is always better than a trial version that is limited.
I think it would be HILARIOUS if you would have rickrolled them instead. That's just classic!
You know, I saw one of the cracked versions where the cracker posting it said to delete the game and purchase if they liked it. This is the common excuse from pirates I have heard…I am sure a few are that principled and maybe they start out with that belief but if you have ever used limewire or kazaa you know that once you have the content that just doesn’t really happen that much.
As for stats I can’t break down the conversion rates but as I said I imagine they are low if anything. I am coming out with a lite version though so we will see what happens to the ratio of pirated to total users then.
I wonder what your stats would have been if you had offered a “Free”/”Lite” version of the game?
Does your system let you know if the people who pirated the app are continuing to play the game or if they stopped? I'm wondering if they “pirated” the app to see it in action for free to decide if they wanted to shell out the money for the real version.