Two countries to blame for over 30% of game piracy |
|
| BY Michael Healy Aug. 29th, 2009 | More on: |
The Entertainment Software Association, the videogame industry’s primary trade association, recently released a report concerning global piracy of videogame software. Their findings are somewhat surprising - in the month of December 2008, 6.5 million games were illegally downloaded over file-sharing P2P networks worldwide. Download activity for the two most popular pirated games far exceeded their legitimate sales.
During the month-long study, piracy was concentrated in two countries - Italy and Spain, accounting for 17.1% and 15.1% of total piracy activity, respectively. The ESA believes that the lax approach taken by the countries’ internet service providers to anti-piracy initiatives is to blame.
The ESA remains dedicated to curbing games piracy. While efforts have been limited in the offending nations mentioned above, this year the association was successful in spurring five law enforcement raids against large piracy operations in the state of California, resulting in seizure of piracy materials and numerous arrests. And as far as Italy is concerned — well, I know of two adventurous plumbers who are simply ashamed of their fellow countrymen.
August 29th, 2009
at 12:27 pm
Those were not the countries I’d have expected, unless the ones I’m thinking off are more like distributors than downloaders.
August 29th, 2009
at 7:50 pm
i would think it would be japan or china or maybe usa….
August 29th, 2009
at 8:26 pm
ahh tis a shame really i dunno why they cant come up with some way to make game piracy on pc a lot harder. games like crysis suffered a lot because of it. but i didnt expect them countrys as massapeal79 said i was expecting it to be them countrys
August 29th, 2009
at 9:21 pm
Here (not gonna say where), I’ve only seen ONE person that actually buys 360 games. All the other ones I know (about 20 ppl) just download over P2P networks. It’s 5% buying games, 95% getting them for free. Piracy is the only reason ppl here buy 360.
August 29th, 2009
at 10:23 pm
China definitely. Japan and US as far as I know are about the same in terms of piracy. I could be wrong though.
August 29th, 2009
at 10:55 pm
there will be a way to burn pa3 give it time there be a way ….
August 30th, 2009
at 12:53 am
HEY WHAT ABOUT CHINA THOSE BASTARDS ARE RUINING THE WHOLE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY AND THEIR PRODUCTS ARE THE SHITTYEST PRODUCTS IN THE WORLD !!!
August 30th, 2009
at 3:13 am
I’m not too surprised at all that the top two are European countries. The price of games in the EU is an absolute disgrace, and I can’t believe people actually fork out 49.99 Euros (roughly $71 US) or more for a new title. Even old games don’t seem to reduce in price much, at least not in the actual stores.
August 30th, 2009
at 3:21 am
They maybe the conutry making most profit our of piracy. Through distribution but user may be of other countries.
August 30th, 2009
at 4:21 am
simple answer. don’t charge so fucking much for the games. greedy capitalist cunts.
August 30th, 2009
at 5:13 am
Well, you cant spect to get 600~900€ monthly in Spain and spend 69.95€ on a game.
Thats the costs of ps3 games on Spain, 59.95€ to 69.95€ almost $100 per game.
August 30th, 2009
at 5:47 am
caps lock broken?
August 30th, 2009
at 5:55 am
Don’t forget Korea! They have one of the largest gaming population percentages and one of the fastest Internet connections (on average 20.98Mbs for download, 2.98Mbs for upload).
August 30th, 2009
at 9:11 am
Wtf? Italy and Spain?! I thought it was gonna be Russia and Canada. I’m Canadian, and I know so many people that pirate games, and movies. I’ve even done it since the laws are so laxed. My friends’s little brother got a pirated movie from some guy at Halloween! And Russia… well, everybody knows.
August 30th, 2009
at 9:49 am
I don’t mean to defend the Italians, but in Italy new releases for PS3 and 360 run between 59 and 69 Euros. That means almost 100 USD. Wii games are sold at a lover price, tho: 44-49 Euros.
August 30th, 2009
at 10:37 am
never thougt it was going to be italy and spain
i thougt it was going to be south america, where i live everyone buys the 360 because of the piracy
i have a ps3 but all the ps3 games here cost almost 80$
August 30th, 2009
at 12:16 pm
the reason its so high in spain is beacuse of the price and wen i have been to spain loads of shops sell pirated games no joke there was more local game shops selling pirated games then legit ones
August 30th, 2009
at 1:18 pm
ITs just the currency, people…Euro is stronger so it seems that, from the dollar perspective, is more expensive…but at he end its the same.
@ Seldon, 900 euros = $1,285.74 I know people here were i live (Miami) who gets paid that amount of money and buy games anyways. Everything is priced according to where you live.
Im from Spain (but i live in Miami now) so i know both worlds.
August 30th, 2009
at 6:49 pm
The part I liked the most was “Improve conditions for digital delivery of game software, including no less favorable treatment of entertainment software delivered online” Thats the key folks, make it easier to pay for a game and download it. And do not penalize us for doing so eg DRM.
August 31st, 2009
at 2:22 am
In Spain, thanks to the SGAE (our own retarded version of RIAA) people have started to think this last years that it is fair game to pirate.
We get charged a “tax” (it really isn’t so since it goes to private hands) called “canon” with every blank media we purchase, on every hard drive we buy, on every memory card for our cameras, on every MP3 player, every memory stick/pendrive, they even want us to pay for every internet connection which luckily hasn’t happened yet. Heck, even multifunctional printers (printer/scanner/fax/copier) get to pay canon…!
That has made everyone hate media producers (mainly music industry, but movies and games get put toguether too thanks to SGAE) and give them the finger. You charge me a “tax” to cover loses for piracy? Then let’s pirate, and since if I buy 100 blank DVDR you will be charging me, I will make damn sure that each one of those 100 DVDRs gets filled with some pirate music, movies, or games.
The canon has to be paid no matter what use you are going to give to the hardware you are buying. I work myself with CCTV and we buy many HDs that will be used exclusively for video security recording, and each one of those HDs pays I think it is 12EUR to the SGAE. Wtf? I do not buy many DVDRs, but the ones I buy are for my computers backups at home, and with each backup I make of my own data, I am also giving them I think 0,30E. Again, wtf?
So people end up thinking here hey, if we are being charged for piracy that might happen, well let’s download and please them, otherwise they will be stealing from us…!
August 31st, 2009
at 3:13 am
@MindTwist - The same is applied here in Italy.
August 31st, 2009
at 4:45 am
Hey ESA, charge enough for your games??!
Really, I do a conversion from my country’s currency to US dollars and a new release title caps in at about $83. Damn guys, overcharging much?
I can buy three new release movies at that price, or four new music albums. I could go to the cinema at least FIVE times. Hell it’s almost a week’s groceries!
It wouldn’t be so bad if there was an assurance of quality or support, but no. You can’t take it back once the package is opened (yeah, how dare you actually open the box), but that’s not because of piracy. No, that’s because it sucks. When was the last time something really good came out? How many years has it been? 95% of everything on the shelf these days isn’t worth the media it was printed on.
Oh, and they don’t patch them these days either; they don’t add anthing, and they don’t fix anything. EA are forcing out the same sports titles year after year. What, you want me to spend $83 on another bugridden alpha? You still haven’t fixed the last one! And they’ve got the nerve to be a part of this ESA, like the nasty consumers are doing the wrong thing by them and they’ve had enough of being treated badly. Give me a break.
I like how Atari and Ubisoft are on the list also. I seek good sports titles for the Nintendo Wii, but it’s hard to find them amidst the deluge of crap that Ubisoft have put on the shelf. I actually bought one recently, and haven’t had a good night’s sleep since, what with all the nightmares!
Piracy is a bad thing, I get it, and two wrongs don’t make a right. But this is definitely not a one-way street.
September 3rd, 2009
at 9:34 am
Shame on us.
I’m spanish and I feel bad at those numbers. That said, we pay canon for the SGAE (as MintTwist said), we pay the IVA taxes and we have to buy a new game for 70 €.
¿How much do you pay in the USA for example for a new game? ¿How much month income do you get?
We have less money and we pay a lot more for those games, so a lot of people goes for the easy path. I feel really ashamed, I’m totally against piracy, but I can understand why Spain is in that list.
Sorry for my english, I hope you’ll forgive my terrible grammar.