How Console Piracy Affects Gaming

Thanks to GameSpy for posting a three-part article discussing the problems of pirated console games, and the steps being taken to combat the problem. The article talks to IDSA boss Doug Lowenstein, and suggests that "..console piracy is a worldwide industry, as multi-national as wireless telephones or McDonalds hamburgers.", also contrasting the piracy problems of the major manufacturers: "Nintendo's piracy problems are more localized than those of Sony and Microsoft. While GameCube piracy has not been a problem, Game Boy piracy, on the other hand, has proliferated."

Comments

Lik-Sang

[jnguy]

When Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo banded together to make Lik-Sang stop selling its "back-up" products, I think it stopped piracy only to a certain extent. Now people just go else where. There will always be pirates and people that buy and make illegal games. Piracy affects the ability for certain game makers to make good games, because if they don't recieve income from games in the past, they will be unable to create games in the future.

Re:Lik-Sang

[PainKilleR-CE]

And you can be damn sure that if you went around trying to duplicate and sell those figurines, you would hear from the company.

They key is in the 'and sell' part. Only a small number of people would bother to justify selling copies of games (though more would try to justify buying those copies). Backing up copyrighted material is covered under fair use in the US.

Some PC game publishers do have a policy of sending replacement CDs for a small fee if you return a scratched or otherwise damaged disc to them directly. As long as software publishers continue to 'license' software instead of selling it, they should be obligated to replace licensed copies at a moderate fee to cover the cost of replacement.

Of course, in some cases, depending on how long you've had the game before it the media was broken, it may be easier to go pick up another copy, and may even cost the same amount (though in my experience console games stay at a higher price longer than PC games).

Re:Lik-Sang

[Creepy Crawler]

With the statuette, you may for the making of the statuette. With games, you pay for the DATA. The disc/cart is just a way to transport the data.

And if we're paying for that 1 copy of the data, we should be able to, for a fair price, send the remains of the broken media and get a new disc/cart.

Since MANY game manufacturers do not allow that, we're forced to use "semi-legal" means where you cannot tell if it's backup or copyright violation. And now add in zone-based game plays where a Japanaes game wont work in the use (GameCube exempt as a switch inside which does this). You need a modchip to play a LEGIT game.

And with the statue, it prevents making them in mass quantities. If you were to use pictures from artist XYZ, you can use them for private displays. But you had better not sell them publically without written consent. And would you want to make a cast of that statuette, and prepare it, and make it? Dont think so. It's a wee bit easier copying data, which is the issue. Not some ditzy statuette statement.

Come on...

[greg987123]

Wee all know that most people wouldn't pirate a game that they would want to buy in the first place.
We really need to worry about more serious things.

Re:Come on...

[Hogwash McFly]

Wanting to buy a game and wanting a game are two quite different things. I might really want Final Fantasy XCVII Ultra Edition but might not want to pay £40 for it. That's when I might pirate it (hypothetically of course).

Your statement is moot because pirating a game is the opposite of buying it so if they're gonna buy it then they're not gonna pirate it. Try this:

We all know that most people would pirate a game that they want but don't want to buy.

These 'most people' make up quite a large amount of gamers and are the reason why game piracy is a multi million dollar industry

is this really a problem?

[pb]

I think the vast majority of people just go to the store and buy their games--either when they come out, when they get cheaper, used, whatever--and the actual percentage of people who mod their conosles is relatively small. Obviously you'd have to study this, but like the interview says, they aren't hurting.

However, what about the people who do mod their consoles and download games? I knew a guy who had tons of Playstation games and almost every Dreamcast game period. He had more games than he could ever buy, and he was a college student. He still spent what money he had on Playstation and Dreamcast peripherals and whatnot.

So how much money did the big video game companies lose on him personally? Probably the price of a few games, at most. And how much did they make? Well, I don't know, but I had the opportunity to try out just about any game I wanted to for the Playstation and the Dreamcast, without having to buy it. Now I have a Playstation, and I have quite a few games for it, all legal.

So I guess the question here is, does the price of the one or two games the average modder would otherwise end up having to pay for outweigh the incredible amount of free advertising they do?

Personally, I'd say their time would be better spent going after the professional pirates, who can produce professional-looking games at base manufacturing costs. And I'd say the same thing to the RIAA and the MPAA. Just as long as you aren't actively screwing over the vast majority of law-abiding customers, you have nothing to fear; this is probably why the RIAA is so scared right now. :)

Re:is this really a problem?

[dogbowl]

Yes, its a huge problem just not in the better established countries like the US or the EU.

If you ever travel to South America and parts of Asia, its hard to find a *legitimate* copy of a game. Burned copies are being sold on every street corner ... its just the norm in some places. I've been to a large, established store dedicated to video games in Istanbul and was unable to find a single legitimate video game - they were all bootlegs!

What I'd like to see...

[Creepy Crawler]

Is the console 'backup' makers open chip firmware and tracings so that anybody can make those devices.

Lets see how Console makers like them apples.

I think before

[Apreche]

I think I talked about this before, but now I get to post early so more people will see it!

Pretty much piracy is a double edged sword. If your system is pirateable like MS or Sony you get increased market share. But at the same time if your system is unpirateable you get more profit per sale.

Check this. Playstation games are pirateable, probably the most pirated games ever. The PS1 is a cheap and easily obtainable and moddable piece of hardware. Low income people (most of the world) can afford to get the Playstation because they can get the hardware cheap and can pirate games. I know a lot of people who have PSOnes. Sometimes I think I'm the only person without one. But all of them that I know have both legitimate and pirated/imported games. Because games are pirateable more people buy the system, and those who own the system are highly likely to buy a few legitimate games. However, because of piracy you will have a few people who would have and could have bought the game, but pirate instead. And of course if your system is pirateable there is the extra revenue you get by winning lawsuits against pirates.

Then you look at an unpirateable system like the cube. Everyone who owns a cube paid for it. They paid for every game they own and every accesory for the system. So on every sale Nintendo makes profit. The only people who own a cube are people who want it and can afford it. Nobody else has one, so Nintendo's market share is low. But when a game comes out for the cube that is awesome, like wind waker, it is instantly a million seller. Everyone who has the system buys the game.

So, piracy good and bad at the same time. Market share or profit margin? I don't see Nintendo going out of business any time soon, but I don't see sony going out either. But I do see XboX turning a loss despite higher market share in the US over the cube. Hmmmm.

I once saw one of those...

[ronfar]

I once saw one of those multi-cartridge Gameboy advance cartridges. I can't say where, of course, but rest assured I immediately reported the perpetrators to the BSA.

I didn't notice any problem with the quality of the games, I guess extensive play will be required. <bsa-protection>What a pity I immediately destroyed the cartridge in disgust at the ripping off of the poor software giants and movie studio execs who had licensed their preciousss IP.</bsa-protection>

However, if I had played it extensively, I'm sure I would have noticed some of the false advertising on the box compared to its contents. While the four gameboy advance games (Harry Potter/Mario Advance 2/Lord of the Rings/Shrek: Hassle in the Castle) I'm sure would've been as advertised, I noticed that Dig Dog (sic) was shown on the cover as having Doraemon characters in it, I guess due to Dig Dug's resemblance to an earless, robotic cat and Doraemon's relative popularity in SE Asia. There would've been some wierd games too like "King of Ghost."

Yes, 115 games in all... but most of those were old gameboy games that I doubt would sell outside of Asia anyway... like two Majong games...

<bsa-protection>Oh well, all hail BSA/MPAA/RIAA and their continuing war against copyright infringement. Their neverending quest to screw up every computer everywhere and crush legitimate reverse engineering projects like Bleem!, Gameboy Advance Flash Cartridges and Freecraft has inspired me to behave morally whenever I see anyone try to infringe their preciousss IP.</bsa-protection> Of course, some might say that in such a war, morality has become a gray area....

Profit source

[DrWho520]

One thing to remember in all of this is where these companies get their profits. Profit is not made on selling systems, but on selling and licensing games. The X-Box costs about $300-400 a pop to produce (don't quote me on that). MS loses money on each X-Box they sell. I do not know about Sony or Nintendo, but they may sell at or below cost as well. You have probably read the business philosophy, "Give away the razors, sell the hell out of the blades." They give away the consoles and sell the games. Nobody pirates the consoles, they pirate the games, and that's where the profit comes from.

Companies sometimes encourage piracy.

[AtariAmarok]

When the companies refuse to make available where there is a demand games which are available in other regions, this of course encourages piracy.

This is very similar to the region system in DVD's, which does nothing but encourage piracy, DeCSS, and region-free hacks of players because the companies often never make certain material available in certain regions.

In situations like this, the problem is not piracy: piracy is a symptom and result of the companies inexplicably refusing to take money for games (or movies) that the public wants to buy.

How much in North America/Europe?

[Mantrid]

I wonder how many console games are actually copied in North America? Especially the "current generation" of consoles - I don't think I know anyone with pirated versions of X-Box, GC, or PS2 software.

I think PC Piracy is a much bigger problem - I do know more than one person who will d/l software. And even large than that, is the borrowing/cracking of games between friends. I'm sure most purchased PC games make it onto more than one machine.

Piracy Vs. Success

[lordfoul]

Gameboy / GBA - Piracy High - Success High
Play Station - Piracy High - Success High
N64 - Piracy low - Success Low
Play Station 2 - Piracy High - Success High
GameCube - Piracy none - Success Low

That may not say Everything, But it sure says Something.

Re:Piracy Vs. Success

[scot4875]

Sure, it says that people mostly pirate games for the most popular systems. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. It's not as if rampant piracy somehow contributed to the success of the Gameboy, PS1, or PS2.

And besides, I think you're a bit off on saying that the Gameboy has a high rate of piracy. Yeah, it is in the Asian/South American markets where you can buy bootleg carts. But in the states/Europe/Japan, most people don't buy bootlegs or have flash carts.

--Jeremy

Lowering prices?

[charlie763]

OK, so they can sell a number of games while there are many being pirated and still keep a profit (even if it's a little one)? Maybe it's time for them to realize that consumers are unwilling to pay these high prices and that they should lower prices to meet consumer demand. If they lowered prices it may reduce piracy and increase profits from their current state. Honestly, they are never going to be able to stop people from pirating games...people are just too smart.