Dead Trigger for Android Goes Free Due to Piracy

Dead Trigger, the new game from Madfinger Games is now free on Android, but only because too many people weren’t paying for it before.

The game went for $0.99 on the Google Play Store to Free over the weekend, and today the developer issued a statement regarding the price drop on Facebook. According to the developers, the price dropped to free because too many people were pirating the one-dollar shooter.

Because of the “giant” piracy rate, the developer made the game free-to-play, which it is adamant does not mean freemium. Gamers can still play through Dead Trigger without buying any in-app purchases, but the option is there should they want to pay for the upgrades. The developer intended to charge less for Dead Trigger than its $8 Shadowgun, and seemed surprised that users would still pirate a game that costs much less.

While the piracy rate on Android is high, Madfinger Games makes no mention of piracy on iOS, which we know does exist to some extent. Dead Trigger still sells for $0.99 in the App Store, and is one of the top 100 best-selling games on the platform at the moment (it currently sits at number 68 in the games chart).

We find it sad that some users have no problem pirating a game that costs one dollar. We keep hearing reports about Android developers not making as much money as iOS developers, and piracy is likely a reason for the disparity between the two platforms.

Without users buying the apps, developers have no reason to continue developing new apps. And it just doesn’t make sense to not pay such a small amount of money for something the developers spent a lot of time creating.