Game Dev Tycoon taunts pirates

Greenheart Games, the studio behind the recently launched industry sim Game Dev Tycoon, has released a version of their title onto a popular torrent site that's designed to gently taunt pirates who illegally download the game.

A short while after starting the game, those who have downloaded the cracked version of the title will begin to see an ironic set of circumstances unfold that are designed to highlight the impact of the actions of pirates. Funds start to drain from the player's virtual account, bankrupting their studio, making it impossible to succeed because of in-game piracy.

"The cracked version is nearly identical to the real thing except for one detail," it was explained on the dev's blog. "Initially we thought about telling them their copy is an illegal copy, but instead we didn't want to pass up the unique opportunity of holding a mirror in front of them and showing them what piracy can do to game developers."

"So, as players spend a few hours playing and growing their own game dev company, they will start to see the following message, styled like any other in-game message:"

Boss, it seems that while many players play our new game, they steal it by downloading a cracked version rather than buying it legally. If players don't buy the games they like, we will sooner or later go bankrupt.

It was revealed on the developer's blog that of the percentage of players using the pirated version of the game was an astonishing 93%.