Avalanche founder talks piracy, hires a lot of people with 'hacker' backgrounds
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If you can't beat them, hire them, provided that they have the necessary credentials and skillsets required to achieve the task that you're hiring for. That's a little wordy to serve as a business motto, but it's a philosophy possessed by Just Cause 2 developer Avalanche Studios founder Christofer Sundberg. In a recent interview with CVG, Sundberg explained that though piracy is worrying, "50 percent of the people that work for me come from a hacker background."
Sundberg added that though some pirates "see us as evil," that "in Sweden the [hacking] scene was huge... As a studio, we've found that there's definitely a lot of talent [in that community]." Also, it has the added bonus of cutting down on piracy, since all those hired pirates (privateers?) are probably going to get free copies of the game they made, anyways. That's just smart.
Sundberg added that though some pirates "see us as evil," that "in Sweden the [hacking] scene was huge... As a studio, we've found that there's definitely a lot of talent [in that community]." Also, it has the added bonus of cutting down on piracy, since all those hired pirates (privateers?) are probably going to get free copies of the game they made, anyways. That's just smart.
Reader Comments (23)
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 10:14PM xiLeShadow said
Poor Summarization Much?
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 10:15PM IggyFandango said
If you can't beat em, pay them to beat themselves.
Posted: Mar 26th 2011 3:09PM AntiVillian said
@Apsac D
hmmm do you get money for donating sperm?
Reply
hmmm do you get money for donating sperm?
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 10:25PM Jack Kevorkian said
If anyone from Avalanche reads these comments: you made the best game of 2010 hands down. I can't wait to see what you guys do next.
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 10:42PM DigitalFortress said
@Jack Kevorkian
Bullshit they did - Uncharted 2.
It won the awards.
FAIL
Reply
Bullshit they did - Uncharted 2.
It won the awards.
FAIL
Posted: Mar 26th 2011 8:56AM Jack Kevorkian said
@Lucky48 In terms of a fun gaming experience there wasn't a better game. My opinion of course.
Reply
Posted: Mar 26th 2011 11:47AM Jack Kevorkian said
@Lucky48 I thought the story and characters were great. It was a cheesy 80s movie done perfectly. Rico's one liners are gamings very best and I mean that.
If you can find a better quotes than this I'd like to see it.
"try to to transport fuel now you pipeline jerks!"
Reply
If you can find a better quotes than this I'd like to see it.
"try to to transport fuel now you pipeline jerks!"
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 10:29PM Spunky Monkey 190906 said
Always the best idea. That's IF they want the job that is :D
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 10:29PM Schlecht said
They'll get the game for free. But then they also will get a salary.
FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 10:51PM waynski1457 said
@Schlecht
That's what booze and hookers are for.
Reply
That's what booze and hookers are for.
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 10:36PM Einlander said
Awesome, so they can pirate it from within and change the source to take out that pesky drm for me! Awesome Choice!
/sarcasm
/sarcasm
Posted: Mar 25th 2011 11:15PM FerrisCJ24 said
First, I hate hackers
Second, I love hackers that take jobs with the game companies to help prevent hacking.
If that makes any sense at all.
Second, I love hackers that take jobs with the game companies to help prevent hacking.
If that makes any sense at all.
Posted: Mar 26th 2011 2:55AM Rez Delnava said
Oh for the love of this industry, stop spreading this bullshit about hackers being bad for the industry! Pirates are the problem. Pirates are rarely hackers. Most pirates are script kiddies at best. And any hacker worth his salt is above pirating.
Pirating hurts the hacking community just as much as the rest of the industry. Hackers are intimately familiar with the damage pirated work can cause; only when it happens to a hacker, the pirate often steals/releases unfinished code which can be detrimental to the community reception of your finished product.
And if you think this studio is doing something revolutionary by hiring hackers... dead wrong. Hacking communities have been integral sources of talent in the gaming industry since hackers founded the biz.
Pirating hurts the hacking community just as much as the rest of the industry. Hackers are intimately familiar with the damage pirated work can cause; only when it happens to a hacker, the pirate often steals/releases unfinished code which can be detrimental to the community reception of your finished product.
And if you think this studio is doing something revolutionary by hiring hackers... dead wrong. Hacking communities have been integral sources of talent in the gaming industry since hackers founded the biz.
Posted: Mar 26th 2011 7:38AM CynicalStrike said
I really wish people knew the difference between hackers and crackers.
Posted: Mar 26th 2011 5:10PM CynicalStrike said
@Apakal
"Pointless semantics"... I think you'll find that meaning is crucial to communication and understanding.
Reply
"Pointless semantics"... I think you'll find that meaning is crucial to communication and understanding.
Posted: Mar 26th 2011 10:05AM BoBsS said
Reminds me of Game Dev story, the hackers have by far the greatest ability in everything lol.
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