How Android piracy is affecting a free game

Piracy is a crime which no one can deny to exist in the world. It is a crime which is treated very casually and as a result, is very unfair on the content creators. Everything from books, films, videos, songs, games and applications are pirated.

The pirated content is very close to the native content. From the logos, to the look and feel of the book or an application is very similar to the actual. As a result, the one who’s consuming this content is not even aware that the content is pirated and thus it is becoming very difficult to curb piracy.

Android platform is one of the biggest victims to the piracy. There are many companies who have employed engineers and designers to develop new application everyday in the field of entertainment, music, education and gaming. And to your wonder, there are equal number of developers who are replicating the same app which was created from an unique ideas and took years to be developed.

When these applications are launched on the app store and start gaining traction, there are people who make a similar application and gain the advantage over the original developers. This happens majorly in gaming apps.

Piracy in gaming applications is usual because of the vulnerability of the target users. The users are mostly naïve users, teenagers or people who care less about the authenticity of the application. These users easily fall for the similar look and feel and are ignorant to find out whether the application is genuine or pirated. Moreover, they are not aware about how critical piracy is.

When the original application is paid, the pirated applications are usually free. There is a general tendency to download the application which is free when the user encounters two similar looking application. In addition to being free, if the application is a casino based applications, many applications offer lucrative offers like free bets, higher deposit bonuses and offer more returns than usual.

But what is the original game is also free?

Well, many gaming companies release their application for free to get substantial number of downloads. Their monetization structure is through in app ads or banner ads or they charge the user as the user proceeds in the game. To answer the question of how these applications are affected despite being free, there are some app store rules that need to be understood.
The algorithm of the app store considers the factors like “newness” of the app, the ratings and the reviews on the app, and the number of installs. The team piracy develops the same application in different varieties, and they have an army to give them fake ratings and reviews. As a result, the pirated applications get a better ranking and visibility on the app store while the original applications take a hit on the app store rankings and thus get affected.

Piracy doesn’t only affect the original application developers but are also a threat to the users. Many pirated applications have malware programs attached to them. The applications often ask permission to access data like messages, photos and videos and location. This is a serious threat to one’s privacy. The data so collected could be used against the user in different ways.

Awareness about how to check authenticity of the application needs to increase and paid heed to in order to curb piracy.