I pirated it too back then, and bought two copies years later. Sent them an email when I did so and got this reply from Ron Carmel almost exactly 10 years ago (2013-12-18):
> thanks, daniel! tons of people play world of goo without paying for it, and we're ok with it. we think that sometimes buying the game makes sense (when you can afford it and it doesn't feel like a big expense) and sometimes it doesn't (when you can't get access to a payment system, when you're poor, or if you're living in a place where the price of the game sounds outrageous).
> anyway, appreciate your support now, and glad you are enjoying it!
That's a pretty incredible amount, because there was a point where there were indie bundles making headlines every week and World of Goo was featured in every single bundle imaginable. I feel like every person who played games 15 years ago bought World of Goo intentionally or accidentally in some form at least 10 times.
If I recall correctly they were the ones who popularised these bundles in the first place as they offered the pay what you want model that went on to be copied by Humble Bundle and co.
We may be able to decrease that just a tiny bit. I did buy it legit, twice, but its a pain in the ass to keep a track of whats going on with licensing, which platform do i have licenses on? What platform did i get migrated to without knowledge or consent? Etc. but it is a nice game to come back to every now and then. So i dont buy it anymore but when i feel like playing i pirate it, i figure i own it on at least two platforms already, should be ok. If others like me exist, then the high piracy numbers might in part be a condemnation of drm and another part high praise to the replayability of the game.
Few other games get this much revisitation from me. Warcraft 3 used to until blizz stope that from me and forced me into their "remaster"
As I remember it the article was quite interesting notably because it also compared another similar category game released around the same time that chose DRM and yet had similar piracy ratios.
I pirated it, liked it, then bought it three times (one copy for Wii and another for Linux I think and then later for iOS). I do feel times have changed. Not just because I have more disposable income, but the UX of buying digital games has improved massively (both for PC with Steam, on mobile app stores and on consoles).
I bought the physical CD back then and still have it but would have to go digging for a CD drive if I were to ever need to reinstall it. Thankfully the code has been stable over all these years and it still works as well as the day I installed it.
Btw this sucks. I'm a big fan of World of Goo, and bought it on every platform that I use: directly, on Steam, on Google Play and on Apple AppStore.
Recently I wanted to install it on my phone and found out, that my bought version of World of Goo on Google Play is no longer available, because, surprise, Netflix. Not only it stole my bought app from me, it also prohibits me from buying it again because Netflix is not available in my country.
From what I can tell, it's because the original game was not updated for newer versions of Android. I went to the Play Store, switched to my older Google account, and found it in "manage apps" by switching to "not installed", selecting the "games" filter, and scrolling to the bottom, where World of Goo (the original) says "not available for device". Tapping it shows the listing, where it says "Your device isn't compatible with this version"
Google Play used to show when an app was last updated. This appears to longer be the case. However a reviewer says it has been "abandoned since 2013", which explains why Google Play won't let me play it on a Pixel 6a, with an Android version 10 years newer.
Android just doesn't have the backwards compatibility of Windows or Linux.
Yes, sadly that's the issue with mobile platforms, I had a browse through the Android games I got with a Humble Bundle 10 years ago hoping to play Ridiculous Fishing but none of these games work anymore.
Yes. “Purchase” of any “intellectual property” is essentially a marketing trick that we have come to accept. (Note that when you purchase my physical property, it is now your property. If you purchase my “intellectual property”, it’s almost certainly still my property, you just have some license to it. Which license precisely? Well, read this 50-page EULA.) The closest you can get is a DRM-free copy that you can back up yourself.
In this case, though, I assume that your original World of Goo would still work if you had kept it on your phone (and maybe prevented it from being updated automatically?). It’s “just” that it is no longer available for re-download.
I suspected as much, but it sounds like something that shouldn't be possible or rather, something that shouldn't be done.
I hang out with indie game devs and there's a running joke that it's now possible for indies to sell their soul to corporations. Just sell Netflix exclusive rights to your (mobile?) game. It's no longer a thing limited to SaaS!
The other running joke with acquisitions is that they can buy your app but you can always just build a similar app. I thought the timing of the World of Goo 2 release is a bit of a coincidence, but maybe I'm just connecting the dots wrong.
Both. Just disappeared from my purchases. It is installed on one of my devices, and in android there is a button that leads from an app shortcut to Play Store page [0], but pressing it just brings you to a blanc page that displays an endless loading indicator.
I wonder if this is some kind of regional issue. I also bought this version(about 10 years ago?) and was able to reinstall it and play just fine directly from the link you posted.
EDIT: Looks like it doesn't scale correctly though, and I get a warning that the game doesn't support my version of Android! What a shame.
Installation worked for me just now on my European Samsung Phone with Android 13. Though, I had to go to the app-lib to find it, the search only showed the Netflix Remaster-Version. Maybe you just didn't found it in the list?
I don't think the word 'own' can be fully applied to digital items at all. I've lost count of various apps that were one bought by me and then just disappeared from the stores. The big part of it is constantly changing requirements by the AppStores, for many small developers it is impossible to keep up with all the os updates, reworking of permissions, new privacy policies, etc, for all old titles.
what I love about Little Inferno is that it’s a very direct criticism of capitalism… and was released originally as a launch title for a new video game console (the WiiU). I always loved that they did that.
I liked the first version of the game, but found it impossible to finish after a few levels. I hope there’s an easy mode for people like me who want to enjoy a game without having to aim to be the fastest or best player in the world. I’d appreciate a super easy mode as well (easier than easy mode).
It's a puzzle game so there's only so far you can go before you watching someone else play it.
In that vein, you can watch people play to see how to do it. I have to admit that in this case, it's not just knowing, you have to be able to execute it in a timely manner too.
