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Console Players Are Pirates

Posted by Zonk on from the yo-ho-ho dept.

According to a study by Macrovision one in five console gamers is a pirate, or uses pirated software. Interestingly the study, detailed on GamesIndustry.biz, also found that "three quarters of them would have paid for the games if they hadn't been available for free." Coverage also available on IGN.

6 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What? by Stop+Error · · Score: 1, Informative

    Games are indeed software no matter what platform they run on. (PC, Xbox, PS2, Atari...)

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  2. Re:Don't believe... by NintenDoctor · · Score: 3, Informative
    You can play backups or imports on an old model PS2 via a fliptop or slide card and a set of swap discs. There's also a fliptop for the slimline PS2s.

    (links are informative, not endorsing)

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  3. Re:Don't believe... by Bluetrust25 · · Score: 3, Informative

    The biases involved in a study like this are incalculable. I own a successful market research company and I wouldn't have any faith in publishing selected results of a survey where respondents are asked if they've participated in illegal activities. It's bullshit, there's too many variables involved.

    I also dislike that they recruited for this survey off video game review websites. That's stupid, they're pre-biasing the data to a) people with access to internet connections and b) people who visit videogame websites. You can't project that kind of information onto the public as a whole. We're talking huge swaths of inaccuracies. The percentages reported could be off by 40 - 50%.

  4. Re:Or the publishers, as the case may be by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Note that Sony has apparently figured this out, because the PSP is not region-coded. We'll find out how well they've figured it out when the PS3 comes out.

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  5. Actual Study by 123abc987 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Has anyone found the actual study (not another press release), or the citation for it? I did a search at the macrovision homepage, and then through the technology/engineering databases at my university, but I couldn't find this study.

  6. Re:This makes me wonder about the Gamecube by GerbilSoft · · Score: 3, Informative

    As far as I can see and hear, gamecube games are some of the hardest to pirate because of their backwards spinning mini dvd disc format.

    GC discs do not spin backwards. They just don't conform to ISO-9660 standards, which is why ISO-9660 compliant DVD-ROM drives (read: all of them) can't read them.

    Mini DVD-R/RWs are also fairly common. You can get a pack of mini DVD-R/RWs at almost any computer store.