EA calls Sims 3 leak its 'demo program'

by JC Fletcher { Jun 23rd 2009 at 9:31AM }

"You identified our secret marketing campaign!" EA CEO John Riccitiello said of the large-scale piracy of a pre-release version of The Sims 3. "That was a very large scale – concentrated on Poland and China – demo program." How could Riccitiello be so cool about piracy? He told IndustryGamers that the incomplete leaked game served as an invitation to buy the full version, so despite the inadvertent leak, the value of the data from this "experiment" may outweigh the losses.

"A huge amount of the gameplay is an overlay for the community," he said, "where you are sampling assets created by other people. So for the pirate consumer, they don't get the second town, they don't get all the extra content, and they don't get the community. It was only concentrated on Poland and China, but I think of it as not being that different than a demo."

This kind of piracy only serves as a test for EA's ongoing move to online content. Riccitiello believes that EA is moving toward selling "services," by which he means longterm online games for which the initial purchase is either nonexistent or a small portion of the total payment for the game. "By the way, if there are any pirates you're writing for," he told IG, "please encourage them to pirate FIFA Online, NBA Street Online, Battleforge, Battlefield Heroes... if they would just pirate lots of it I'd love them. [laughs] Because what's in the middle of the game is an opportunity to buy stuff."

Tags: ea, john-riccitiello, leak, pc, sims-3

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ben @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:38AM

Wasn't the entire game torrentable a few days later?
I don't think anyone that pirated the "demo" version would buy full game

captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:43AM

if the game was good enough I would buy it.

....

....when its 9.99 in the bargin bin.

Ghen @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:03AM

The "demo" version is very much a fully featured sims game. If you downloaded that you would have no idea that something was missing. I had to check and re-check my wife's copy before I figured out it was the incomplete version.

Markusdragon @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:55AM

You'd be surprised at just how many illegal downloads later translate into sales. Whilst there are those that won't buy goods they can pirate, others want physical copies of the things that they enjoy.

Matthew @ Jul 23rd 2009 6:06PM

I bought the sims 3. The extra content in the game itself wasn't huge (another town built out of the same buildings in the first town, rearranged, on a different landscape), but the dlc and free dlc is pretty cool.

Piracy caused me to buy Fallout 3, too, and the creature creator unfortunately convinced me to buy spore.

captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:45AM

Although what EA fails to mention is that the full game with all the stuff from the sims online store (at the time of release) was torrented.

I just will wait for the next expansion pack to become a "demo"

Jack Hollow @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:49AM

An EA suit not mad about piracy? Isn't this the same company that caused a lot of noise with their incredibly annoying DRM on Spore?

I am perplexed.

Ghen @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:05AM

When you try one business method and it backfires on you, wouldn't you try the exact opposite to see what the result would be? From those two theories going forward you can create the best mix of both.

Storm Eagle @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:51AM

I laugh at this. The retail version still has speed problems...among others. Demo version my steel ass.

LordToastington @ Jun 23rd 2009 1:29PM

Your shiny metal ass, perchance?

Zexion_VI @ Jun 23rd 2009 9:52AM

Nice save there, EA. Clever. Not really...

siraru @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:01AM

Give the man a chance, I'm cool with him saying this.

Now why can't I buy it online from Mexico? You want me to pay in pounds?

What the hell does VAT stand for?

Just put it on Steam already :3

hector88 @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:04AM

It's a trap!

Temidien @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:11AM

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Shagittarius @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:05AM

I'm glad you crashed my car.

You better NOT eat all of those vegetables.

I'll only stick the head in.

Temidien @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:09AM

Haha, totally snorted Coke on that last one. +1

zhine @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:36AM

unintenional drug reference +1

dissolutus @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:11AM

Most of the community content is crap anyway. Why would people playing the "demo" want to pay $50 just to get access to dumb stuff like this rug http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=333343 ?

LordToastington @ Jun 23rd 2009 1:30PM

That's a nice fucking rug.

DocZoid @ Jun 23rd 2009 1:53PM

Because it really ties the room together?

xtremeholymuffin @ Jun 23rd 2009 8:17PM

feng shui?

Fulluphigh @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:16AM

Well, now I know better then to buy any of those games listed, since I'll just have to pay even more in the middle of the game. He wants me to pirate his games, who am I to argue with the man.

wicko @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:18AM

"So for the pirate consumer, they don't get the second town, they don't get all the extra content, and they don't get the community"

So why are all these content packs that aren't available to pirates all over the torrent sites?

Danny F. @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:32AM

There was a second town????

PedoJokerBear (aka Deeznuts) @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:42AM

yeah, riverview (i think)

Shiaoran @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:44AM

EA suit: OH SH- *serious'd* Yes, my pirate gamers, get your games for free, for this is totally part of our marketing plan.

Me:... Ok... *'buys' full game for $0.00* On a second thought, it's not worth the HD space. *deletes torrent task+data*

DrNicodemus @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:51AM

I'm glad EA is seeing the value in online distribution, but, I wish they would give on their own crappy store and just do everything through Steam. I would have already bought the Sims 3 if it was on Steam.

Temidien @ Jun 23rd 2009 11:16AM

If the lack of Steam distribution is the only thing stopping you from picking up the game, maybe you just shouldn't pick it up to begin with.

seniorgato @ Jun 24th 2009 10:36AM

You sir have never used EA's store.

arisc2 @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:57AM

The only reason this guy is so happy and laughing is because at the end the game was a huge success with more than 1.5 copies sold in one week, if the game would have failed we´d been reading: sims 3 leak causes huge sales failure!!!!!
"today is a sad day" EA CEO John Riccitiello said of the large-scale piracy of a pre-release version of The Sims 3.
The problem here is that when a game fails is piracy, when it succeed it´s magic.
And nobody seems to understand that piracy is NOT a main sales factor at the end of the day, don´t believe me? tell me that again when sims 3 reaches more than 5 million copies, very likely at the end of the year.