While many copyright holders are filled with rage when they see their content showing up at The Pirate Bay, not all are. The developer of the indie adventure game 'Paradigm' decided to hand out free keys on the popular torrent site instead, realizing that not everyone can afford to buy it legally.

Online piracy is an issue that affects many industries, and indie game developers are certainly no exception.

How people respond can vary from person to person. What’s right and what’s wrong largely depends on one’s individual beliefs, and some do better with pirates than others.

Jacob Janerka, developer of the indie adventure game ‘Paradigm,’ was faced with this issue recently. A few days after his game was released he spotted a cracked copy on The Pirate Bay.

But, instead of being filled with anger and rage while running to the nearest anti-piracy outfit, Janerka decided to reach out to the pirates. Not to school or scold them, but to offer a few free keys.

“Hey everyone, I’m Jacob the creator of Paradigm. I know some of you legitimately can’t afford the game and I’m glad you get to still play it :D,” Janerka’s comment on TPB reads.

Having downloaded many pirated games himself in the past, Janerka knows that some people simply don’t have the means to buy all the games they want to play. So he’s certainly not going to condemn others for doing the same now, although it would be nice if some bought it later.

“If you like the game, please tell your friends and maybe even consider buying it later,” he added.

Janerka’s comment



The response has gone relatively unnoticed for a while but was posted on Reddit recently, where many people applauded the developer for his refreshing approach.

We reached out to Janerka to find out what motivated him to share the free keys on The Pirate Bay. He says that it was mostly a matter of understanding that many pirates are actually huge game fans who don’t have the money to buy every game they want to play.

Allowing them to do so for free, might lead to a few paying customers down the road, something he experienced first hand.

“I did it because I understand that in some cases, some people legitimately cannot afford the game and would like to play it. So maybe HOPEFULLY for a lucky few, they got the official keys and got to play it and enjoy it.

“I know for sure that when I was a young kid, I was unable to buy all the games I wanted and played pirated games. And when I actually got that disposable income, I ended up buying sequels/merch/extra copies,” Janerka adds.

The developer doesn’t think that piracy hurts him much, as many people who pirate his games don’t have the money to buy them anyway. In addition, having non-paying fans of the game is more valuable than having no fans at all.

“Maybe I lost a few sales or whatever, but people liking your game can be just as valuable. Realistically, most people who pirated it, wouldn’t have played it anyway, so its neat that more people get to experience it, when they wouldn’t have otherwise,” he says.

It’s a refreshing approach to see. While pirates should be under no illusion that any major developer will follow suit, they are probably happy that someone from the industry views piracy from a different perspective.

For Janerka, there’s probably something positive in this as well. He wins the sympathy of many game pirates, and as the news spreads, this could even generate some additional sales for the Paradigm game.

Paradigm trailer

