Lionhead: Used Sales on 360 Worse Than PC Piracy

In an interview with Eurogamer, Lionhead Combat Designer Mike West spoke about the impact of piracy and the second-hand game market on their products. Piracy is a big issue, especially in relation to Fable III’s PC release. However, it seems the studio is more heavily impacted by the used game market.

“Second-hand sales cost us more in the long-run than piracy these days,” said West. “Piracy these days on PC is probably less problematic than second-hand sales on the Xbox.”

For West, the enemy you know is easier to handle. “I’ve been working on PC games for many years and piracy is always a problem. There are a lot of honest people out there as well, and if they like your game they’ll buy it.”

It’s a crummy situation either way, but for Lionhead’s sake, it seems they’ve already made a successful game. “For us it’s probably a no-lose even with piracy as it is,” said West. His comments are more evidence that requirements like EA’s $10 online passes are becoming more and more necessary.