I'd just like to note that statistics of downloads cannot in any way be considered as lost sales so they should not dishearten Eschalon's team so much.
We don't know how many of those downloads are from people who already have the game and just could not bother e-mailing Plimus to reactivate their download links when they wanted to get the game after another format, or on their second PC, or at a different house (divorced parents or whatever) or their sister's PC or...
We don't know how many of the people who downloaded the game without owning it played it any further than the area allowed to be played in the demo or how many played further than that, but still disliked the game and uninstalled it shortly after, maybe redownloaded to give it another try but once again quit.
We don't know how many only downloaded it to distribute it further. I've seen it done with roms, I'm sure it happens with PC games, where people just download something to complete a collection, not actually play it.
We don't know how many just got and played through it only because they could do so for free, but would never, EVER actually buy something like it, instead just move on to the next game they could get for free.
There are many similar reasons like that which bloat the number of downloads. Certainly, as a paying customer, I'm not happy with leechers getting for free what I paid for. But I still don't want developers to have the grand misconception that all those downloads account to lost revenue in any way shape or form, because it usually leads to copy protection measures which hinder me more than the pirates and don't help sales.
Of course, if Book II includes copy protection, it can do better than Book I but mainly because of other factors. Namely being a better game (I hope so, I don't think I'd buy Book I all over again) and having better exposure and a developer that is now considered more reliable than with their first game, among other factors.
From
other threads you will see I've actually suggested the introduction of copy protection measures, but only akin to other independent games which seem good enough to stop the casual pirates who only do it when it's just too easy to, and not in a way that hinders the lawful good customers. Also, I suggested it for vastly different reasons than just adding protection for the sake of it... Thanks for reading.
PS: Axxaxx, such promises are easy to make for any company, but I wouldn't trust any individuals to have this on their mind when they're facing bankrupty and the fact they need to get a new job asap to preserve their families' well being. Of course, it's easy to trust the smaller guys more than the likes of Bioshock's publishers who made the same promise recently, heheh...