45% of Dutch Media-Buying Population Are "Pirates"

Anonymous writes "A non-government study in the Netherlands found that 4.7 million Dutch Internet users 15 years and older downloaded hacked and pirated DVDs, games, and music in the last 12 months — or, about 25 percent of the Dutch population. But there may be an upside to this unauthorized sharing/distribution: 'The average [Dutch] downloader buys more DVDs, music, and games than people who never download,' with illegal downloaders representing 45 percent of consumers who purchase content legally, according to the Institute For Information Law, which administered the study."

Comments

Economic downturn to blame

[syousef]

After all, what's a dutchman (or woman) to do when they have the economy blues but hoist the Jolly Roger and go out for a good old pillage on the high seas.

Correlation is not causation

[cliffski]

What is this article trying to say? That copyright infringement is good because the people doing it are actually also buying a lot of games?

That's bullshit. There is no correlation here, unless you studied the purchasing habits of a set group of people who couldn't pirate stuff for a year and they could the next year.
Hardcore gamers buy a lot of games. If hardcore gamers also pirate a lot, then this is a disaster for people making hardcore games.
Maybe they buy a lot of music and DVDs but pirate every game, or vice versa.

Put yourself in the position of someone making a game. If the guy who doesn't pay for your game buys a lot of CD's, that doesn't help pay your mortgage or buy your groceries. The fact that the people who rip you off might be someone else's good customers is frankly no help to you.

Everyone I know making games is moving to flash games that are ad-supported, console gaming, or doing MMO games. If people want the option to ever be playing single-player games, they need to stop assuming they can get them for free, and free-ride off the honest people who still open their wallet for decent entertainment.

Re:There's only one possible answer.

[DinDaddy]

Guess all those jingle writers, session musicians and orchestra members should give up and go do something else.

Someone with musical ability/talent can certainly have making money as one of their goals. Don't be ridiculous.