Sony: Piracy is a big concern and the reason we can't do business in Philippines

[-Xandu-]

A Sony executive has stated that the widespread piracy in the Philippines is forcing many companies to abandon any plans for manufacturing software in the region. He went on to say that this is the sole reason why Sony would not even consider importing PSP videogames into the Philippines. However, he did admit that it is difficult to quantify how much the industry loses in relation to the PSP and stated that it is very difficult to quantify.

http://bp2.blogger.com/_FEciqVreT8k/RqrqUaexn6I/AAAAAAAAA9Y/u6Zef0b_GJc/s400/piracy-up-manila.jpg



"Piracy is the big concern and this is the reason why we cant do business here," said Hiroaki Kobayashi, president and managing director of Sony Philippines.

"I think its also the problem of other companies," he said, citing the widespread availability of pirated versions of movies, audio products, video-games and computer software.

He said this was why Sony would not even import copies of video-games for their popular Playstation Portable (PSP) into the Philippines.

Kobayashi said he could not say just how much the industry lost to piracy saying: "Its very difficult to quantify."


Read. (http://www.gameops.net/2007/07/sony-piracy-scares-off-investors-from.html)

[Buddy4point0]

lol i love the sign. and yes ive heard the Philippines are huge for piracy.

[Chameleon]

I didnt realize it was that bad over there, they have stands set out to sell pirated material... now thats stepping a little over the line.

[brunobelo]

Sony don't do business in philipines because it's not a rentable business, it's simple. Here, in Brasil, we have a LOT of piracy and Microsoft released the Xbox 360. She believed in the market. But Sony won't release that crappy PS3 here "because of the piracy". I say, again, BULLCRAP!

[kcajblue]

the philippines doesnt really have pirated stuff.
they just have really bad fakes.

and if they do have the pirated stuff, its most likely because they have to.
the philippines is a poor country.

[D3XMAN]

Eh... Lots of Asian and South American countries have "piracy vendors" on the streets. It doesn't make any sense to single out just the Philippines. Sony's dumb.

[jefdizon]

That's a load of bull, how can they isolate the Philippines as the reason they can't sell in the region? I've seen these stands and i admit, they're like mushrooms growing out of every nook and cranny. But what they fail to realize is that the source of these is not the Philippines but China and the surrounding nations in SE Asia.

A large fault could be attributed to the illegal Chinese merchants who've set up their business in the country and are importing the goods from the mainland. Most of these are sold by Muslim vendors who have no idea or not even aware of the concept of piracy, as long as it sells, they don't care.

Sony just won't admit that they're losing on the whole electronics market in the country. They sell their TV's, Stereos, etc... at insanely high prices and are out of reach to the average Filipino.

[Elven6]

Its big in India and China, but companies set up shop their aswell. During a trip I took last year the Psone and Sega Genesis were the big things that a majority of people owned when it came to consoles. The only problem was 95% of PS1 games in India were pirated so they would not run. A majority of Genesis games were those X in 1 titles which ran perfectly. Looking back on it, I think I shoulda picked up some genesis games :(

[xg917]

my country (venezuela) do the same shit. they have stands with burned cd's and burned games and burned umd's. like 50 cents for each :p and stands like in the mall they install modchips on anything for like 50 USD. im willing to move over there since the police dont care but there are a lot better reasons to live in america...

[-Xandu-]

my country (venezuela) do the same shit. they have stands with burned cd's and burned games and burned umd's. like 50 cents for each :p and stands like in the mall they install modchips on anything for like 50 USD. im willing to move over there since the police dont care but there are a lot better reasons to live in america...

Burned UMD's?

[xg917]

Burned UMD's?

yahh..

[-Xandu-]

That is not possible.. Sony never/will never release a UMD burner in public.

[xg917]

..weird. i coulda sworn i saw umds with a blank white side where a picture would be...

y is sony concerned about piracy in the Philippines rather than being concerned of the internet.

[-Xandu-]

..weird. i coulda sworn i saw umds with a blank white side where a picture would be...

y is sony concerned about piracy in the Philippines rather than being concerned of the internet.
Because you can't stop the internet ;).

[xg917]

you can shut down website though cant you?

[-Xandu-]

you can shut down website though cant you?

What about P2P sharing? You can't hunt down users..

[xg917]

What about P2P sharing? You can't hunt down users..

u got me there.. lol

[Xiaopang]

lol that logic of sony is nothing more than another step on the downward spiral this company is taking. since when does it make sense not selling anything at all and making no profit, than selling at least a little bit and making a little profit. i remember reading an interview with one of the id games guys. i think it was john carmack. he said, when they finished doom they sold licences for reproduction in china even if they only got one dollar per sold copy since this was a lot better than getting nothing and still seeing the game being copied anyways.

[kjetil1991]

its sad when that is made it scares sony and that goes back to piracy

[Raekwik11]

i hate sony, they're gay. Because this is just pure exclusion to my race. They were already gay enough for stopping homebrew but now racism.

[callsignAPOLLO]

There's less money and sales to be had in the Philippines, that's why piracy is big there, costs have to be cut for there to be a thriving market. Sony can't release overpriced games and systems in the Philippines and expect tons of buyers because there just isn't enough customers that would be willing to pay outrageous sony prices, thus sony's fear of piracy. Son's fear of piracy in the Philippines is ironic because of the guilt they should feel at the thought of trying to sell such overpriced stuff to people not as priviledged as we. =) -Sisko

[xg917]

sale price = higher
money used to make products = wayyy lower..

i hate that..
at least sell at a reasonable price Sony!!!!

[nothingtoday]

I can't believe they're complaining about this when sony and other mammoth companies are causing it in the first place. They're the ones who are "cutting costs" and taking their production lines to developing countries to get some joe there to make their overpriced products for half a meal a day. Then they have the balls to complain that someone is stealing their things.
This is a serious issue not pecause of piracy but because of human rights issues. No one in their right mind would save up for two years just to buy a real game, and no one in their right mind would pay a person so little

[callsignAPOLLO]

I concur -Sisko

[VampDude]

They should sell the PS3 to the Philippines and then pull out when a mod chip is available if they're worried about piracy, that way they can sell a console or two and a few games :D

[sourced]

here in the philippines theres a mall called "greenhills" where you can find everything pirated. lol

they charge you 800 pesos(about 18 u.s dollars) to downgrade your psp. and 300 pesos ( about 7 u.s dollars) to load isos onto your psp.

[VampDude]

here in the philippines theres a mall called "greenhills" where you can find everything pirated. lol

they charge you 800 pesos(about 18 u.s dollars) to downgrade your psp. and 300 pesos ( about 7 u.s dollars) to load isos onto your psp.

And here on my PC, that is completely FREE! :D

[Cap'n 1time]

What about P2P sharing? You can't hunt down users..

See RIAA.

[Joe88]

i hate sony, they're gay. Because this is just pure exclusion to my race. They were already gay enough for stopping homebrew but now racism.

so every company is "ghey" for not allowing you illegally download game for free and run them?

it aint rascism, its the truth

[kcajblue]

so every company is "ghey" for not allowing you illegally download game for free and run them?

it aint rascism, its the truthhe meant that it happens in a lot of other countries and sony is only singling out the philippines.

and he said homebrew not illegally downloaded games.

[comicgeek]

I am from the Philippines and I admit there are alot of people into pirated stuff but there are even more people who buy legit stuff. To brand the Philippines as some kind of a piracy center in Asia or implying it is an insult. Why, most of these pirated CDs and DVDs come from other countries like malaysia or china. Unfair.

[Raekwik11]

so every company is "ghey" for not allowing you illegally download game for free and run them?

it aint rascism, its the truth

Of course its the truth but you obviously never been in a third world country. They need to make money one way or another. We in the US and UK have it easy. I'm not saying its good to make it in an illegal way because i don't condone piracy. I don't question the legality system. But if homebrew really posed a threat...If piracy was really a threat... They would have targeted more than one country. It would have been a regional predicament not focused on one specific country. Sony does not have an excuse to single out the philippines because there are bigger countries than the philippines that has illegal transactions of pirated games as well. They know the bigger countries have money so they dont cut off business to them. It is clear that Sony sees that we the philippines are useless because we don't make dont bring money on the table for sony so they used this piracy excuse to finally pull the plug on the philippines.

[comicgeek]

bulls eye

[JPJunkie]

I hate piracy but I like that sign in the pic

[sourced]

And here on my PC, that is completely FREE! :D

wel, duh :confused: im just pointing out on how the philippines is extorting people who pay for these products, when the people who made these programs intended them to be free (e.x DAX's downgrader)

[kryst abegnalie]

I am from the Philippines and I admit there are alot of people into pirated stuff but there are even more people who buy legit stuff. To brand the Philippines as some kind of a piracy center in Asia or implying it is an insult. Why, most of these pirated CDs and DVDs come from other countries like malaysia or china. Unfair.


I am agreeing with you comicgeek. I also came from the Philippines and also the sad truth is there are some stores selling pirated stuffs, but why single-ing out the Philippines, the pirated copies that in the Philippines mainly came from Malaysia, China, and in some dumb countries selling their pirated stuff. But Sony should realize that many of the Filipinos now a days using PSP as a main console here and i have to say that they will lose a lot of money not selling their PSP software games. I am also against piracy, there are bad things about piracy, yes we also fight for piracy, but the bigger countries like china still insisting piracy to enter in our country. So why are only the Philippines, maybe most of you dont know what life is here in the Philippines, but not all people here are poor and dumb you know, they just want to make a living, but again no to Piracy, and Sony should sell their original PSP games here, and Filipinos, dont be a dumb about paying for upgrading/downgrading psp firmware, you will be a loser if you pay for them.

[animekid4]

I dont get you ppl. THE HAVE A BLOODY SIGN.