ESA Sent Takedown Notices For 45 Million Infringements In Fiscal 2009

eldavojohn writes "The Entertainment Software Association has released this year's fiscal report (PDF), putting out their numbers to level the finger at new targets. Following up on last year's published report, this one has a whole bunch of new numbers to ponder. The top five P2P game piracy countries this year are: Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and Poland. The ESA's anti-piracy program notes, 'Chief among this year's actions were five separate law enforcement raids against game pirates in California, resulting in the seizure of several thousand games and dozens of modded consoles, and the arrests of five individuals.' But don't worry, they've expanded to other countries. 'The ESA sent takedown notices to ISPs covering more than 45 million instances of infringement of member company games in more than 100 countries worldwide.' They also strive to show they are actually doing things, like endorsing 43 bills aimed at regulating content or controlling access to video games — with not a single one of them making it into law. They did put some into effect at the state level; mostly making it a crime to sell mature games to minors. You can also find their activities localized to you, as this report has sections arranged by state and country. Conspicuously absent this year are any global numbers of what piracy cost the entertainment industry, so unfortunately Ars Technica will have to find someone else to audit, although Venture Beat has a good breakdown."

Comments

It's a crime to modify your own hardware

[selven]

And here I was thinking that kind of thing is reserved for cyberpunk dystopias.

Re:Double edged sword...

[Dutch Gun]

First you say this:

Perhaps game devs should tone down the violence then. It's getting absurd how much violence is going into games lately. It's no longer enough to show a blood splat and have the enemy fall over, no, you have to show all the organs being ripped out in every detail.

then this...

Anyway, there are plenty of videogames that are both good and not M rated. Nintendo is known for making great games that you can give to a child without having to freak out.

If there are plenty of videogames that are both good and not M rated, then what's the problem?

I've worked in the game industry for well over a decade now. I have yet to work on a game that wasn't Teen-rated or lower, and I've made no special effort to do so. The simple fact of the matter is this: like you said, there are a HUGE NUMBER of great Teen-rated or lower games out there. And yet a small number of M-rated games get so much of the attention. Why are you blaming developers for that?