The state of piracy on PSP

[wraggster]

Over at Neogaf (Which is a forum that the Gaming Industry seem to use as their forums) Rlan (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=251896) posted this rather sad viewpoint on the PSP:


With the recent discussions of piracy for the PC (seen here), I thought it might be interesting to see similar numbers for the other, possibly easiest thing to pirate ever console - the PSP.

The PSP can be turned into a pirating machine purely by installing Custom Firmware - other uses include a Playstation Player to play your own PSOne games on the thing [Which is what I used it for] or use emulators for other consoles like Megadrive, SNES, or even just applications for taking PSP images, DivX playback. etc, or purely homebrew applications of games.

Incidentily, I know a dude who got a job as a games programmer purely by some of the homebrew games he was working on in the PSP!

Anyhow, we know PSPs are selling but the software really isn't. So I went to a Torrent site (Don't think I can mention it anyway) which has a number of people who have downloaded the torrent file from that site directly - so this is just one site.

Let's have a look. I decided to choose some recent big games that were released, some of the bigger games of last year, and some games which were critically acclaimed but sold like shit.

God of War: Chains of Olympus - 94,154
Patapon - 112,183
Ratchet & Clank - Size Matters - 197,113
Crush - 48,959
LOCO ROCO - 163,904
Wipeout Pulse - 116,965
Castlevania X Chronicles - 102,354
Metal Gear Solid - Portable Ops (Not Including Plus) - 231,054
Burnout Dominator - 269,486

This is just one website, not including private trackers that keep to themselves or many other huge download portals, and I'm sure some torrents were taken down from this website anyhow (Looking up either GTA PSP games brought back very small numbers), but even then this is pretty big.

Is there anything Sony can do about this? Maybe cheaper prices? It's really like the Dreamcast all over again, except this time we have internet speeds that can actually download games in a minimum amount of time. Discuss.

Remember that Piracy ruins it for everyone including yourself, game makers are more likely to move to a console where piracy is less of a problem

[JKKDARK]

The article is right. Don't expect great games if the piracy is still big.

[wolfpack]

If you cant afford it, dont pirate it, plain and simple.

[Gene]

It makes me sick how people won't pay $30 for a game. GoW was released about 5 days ago and people have already stolen well over a million dollars from the game developers. Grow some brains(and balls) and pay the $35 for a used one.

[phsychokill]

actualy the game developers get under a half of the retail the price. the majority of the retail price is made up by publishing costs, shop price mark up and tax. if we only had to pay the game developers the games would be under half the price.

[kyyubidx]

its sad to know but for every 1 person that download a game there should be about 5 or 6 that buy them... piracy was a big issue with the ps2 but that didn't affect it in the long run...

[phsychokill]

yeh but there were that many of them at the end that even if 10% of the owners got the game they would sell millions.

[kyyubidx]

it can't be THAT bad... PS2 Sell examples:

GT3: A-Spec (14.87M)
GTA: SA (12M)
GT4 (9.54M)

and the list goes on... If you keep that in mind its a pretty good sign things DO sell... Because consider the price a PS2 game had at the time and multiply that by the number of copies... Entire companies got righer thanks to that... Well a little rich...

Back on the PSP topic... I think PSP game are WAAAAAAAY overpriced... I own very few and i'd like to have more... But many games that have no replay value or are too short are like 49€... Its crap... Sony should review their price policy

[phsychokill]

the problem for me with getting games for the psp was while im in the house what am i going to prefer playing games on a 4 or 5 inch screen on the psp or a 19inch pc monitor / 32 inch hd tv. it wouldnt of been so bad if sony had put the tv out in the original psp but even then im betting its not to great. not sure if you can play on tv through ps3 as dont have one yet hoping to get one soon tho.

[Justise]

It makes me sick how people won't pay $30 for a game. GoW was released about 5 days ago and people have already stolen well over a million dollars from the game developers. Grow some brains(and balls) and pay the $35 for a used one.

In Europe, PSP games cost 50-60 euros (about $50-60), they get released 1-24 months after the US release and many many many times they are not released at all.
What should we do?

I'm the only person in greece who actually buy the original game, after having finished the downloaded... if i can find it at greek shops... (Usually I don't...)

[Dbgtgoten]

hmmm i don't think those are big numbers think about it could be more and psp developers are still making games so they must have some renevue in the positives coming out i agree with the people who are like in greece its not fair especially if they can read english already and anyways its not that bad i actually liked the price of patapon in the us 20$ very catchy game but i wouldn't have to worry about those numbers compared to the pc because the pc being widely used more than you can say for a psp tends to have more piracy just cause everyone uses it prices for games get to high nowadays like brawl i like that its 50$ i'd pay for it to have it but if it was like 60$ like x360 games i'd be iffy they getting money hungry with the numbers since the new consoles came out at least the wii provides us with 50$ games =/ sad really

oh and btw that comment about if you don't have the money don't pirate makes no sense cause even if you pirate you can't claim that as a loss cause you weren't gonna buy it in the first place cause your a poor person x_X not that i am justifiing it

[phsychokill]

yep what justice has said is true in the uk psp games are around £30 and its $2 = £1 so thats $60 a game that can only be played on a small screen if sony had thought it through and let us have a tv interface from the start and the game firms hadnt made long games that you cant just drop in and out of more games would of sold. the ds has better sales than the psp for the reason the majority of the games you can pick them up for a short time then put it down and you have compleated something were alot of the psp games are aimed at being like console games instead of handheld games that can be played say between bus stops or on a break.

[kyyubidx]

the psp game price problem resides in none simple fact... the UMD format... Its expensive to produce and that is the simple fact that makes game prices so high... What strikes me as odd is this: if £1 is $1 and 1€ is about $0.60 why the hell do european gamers have to pay 40-50€ when american gamers only pay $40... that SO unfair!

[Qmark]

What strikes me as odd is this: if £1 is $1 and 1€ is about $0.60 why the hell do european gamers have to pay 40-50€ when american gamers only pay $40... that SO unfair!
Value Added Tax.

[phsychokill]

£1 is $2
£1 is about €1.60

the reason europe pays more is the game firms look at the ps3 hardware price for example sony put the price here originaly about the same in £ as it was in $ its just the way the game firmst have always worked plue europe has higher rates of tax more so in the uk.

[kyyubidx]

that's why i ALWAYS import... it way cheaper... eBay rules... I got lumines on ebay for like 15€... whilst i had to pay 50€ for GTA: LCS

edit: just did some research... Patapon is 50€!!!! :S:S:S

[phsychokill]

I use to get alot of imports but they stopped being as cheap and customs have started picking up on imports more got a season of lost from america and it got caught paid about £5 tax then about £9 to royal mail for the plesure of having to pay tax or in their words "customs clearance fee"

[kyyubidx]

well someone should do something about it... i know it easy to say but it sucks... and its bringing the whole industry down...

[phsychokill]

the fact is you cant do much about import tax the only way to stop it would be for the firm to chard tax and declare it as paid before it gets here. any other way and customs would just complain your avoiding taxes. its like i can go to main land europe and avoid british tax but anything i bring back i have to beable to proove i will personaly use within 3 months. seen quite a few funny excuses for people with vans full of alcohol or ciggerets.

[kyyubidx]

i think governments should do something about it... lower game industry taxes or something... its unthinkable... I mean... I was looking at some stores and the new Alone in the Dark is being announced as available for reserve and the price will be 70€ when it goes on sale... For the same price as two copies of the game you can buy one PSP... Which is, btw, unreal... Not saying i support piracy or condone it... But i can't blame people who do...

[mike_jmg]

This has always been human nature we will always want to have good things with the minimum effort. But this can work both ways.

People is downloading games from the internet, so they don't have to actually pay for playing the games they want.

Developers most of the time release some shitty game (IE games based on movies or cartoons, wich usually are playable on every current gen console), wich have low production cost, no testing no fun no nothing, just your favorite character of the moment stamped on it. And they expect to become millionare selling that crap

In addition people gets hurt in both sides too, developers who really put an effort into making a great game receive very little money. And the people that actually buys the games ends up paying a lot of money for a pile of shitty games

I don't know this still sounds like a bad excuse, but I consider it sort of a balance (a bad one though)

[kyyubidx]

mike_jmg: you are indeed right, but consider this... a masterpiece like GTA IV is on its way... The game should go on sale for like... iono... 50€ (europe's case) which is better? to sell 1M for 50€ or 3M or 4M for 35€? If they want to seel they need to do something about it... whining and complaining isn't gonna cut it for game dev's... I think games should go on sale STEAM-like... Prices are universal and you can download it anytime... A success if you ask me... I own lots of steam games...

[mike_jmg]

maybe you're right, they really should reduce taxes
Here I don't get too far away from those kind of prices, when the PS3 came out the damn stores wanted to charge $10,000 mexican wich is around $1,000 usd, even now, I checked last week and the console is still around $750 usd.

A friend of mine bought his on the US for $500, I mean $250 less

The phat psp is still around $300 usd and the slim is even prizier.

This prices are just plain stupid, someone should do something about it but I have no Idea who could

edit: Also I would like to see those figures compared to the actual sales numbers

[kyyubidx]

as i said... blame lies on both governments AND the industry itself for not making arrangements with each other... Talking it over would definitely benefit gamers, dev's, publishers and goverments... but i'm not perfect and open to hearing other points of view...

[Harshboy]

Funny, I have every single one of those games on my memory stick.

[Bear_XI]

I used to pirate but I saw how crappy it is and not beneficial for the Community and since I want to go in Computer Science to be able to go in Gaming Industry. But if they sale like crap every hard worker will either get paid less(Indie) or loose there job(Companies) and that is really shit.Now a days I only download games that are Unfindable or that the company doesn't do money on it since its sold in a Pawn Shop or that the company doesn't exist anymore.

Tell me your name if you are ready to do the same as I will ad to the list below
-Bear_XI
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[DPyro]

Incidentally, I know a dude who got a job as a games programmer purely by some of the homebrew games he was working on in the PSP!

Me too :)

[acn010]

it can't be THAT bad... PS2 Sell examples:

GT3: A-Spec (14.87M)
GTA: SA (12M)
GT4 (9.54M)

and the list goes on... If you keep that in mind its a pretty good sign things DO sell... Because consider the price a PS2 game had at the time and multiply that by the number of copies... Entire companies got righer thanks to that... Well a little rich...

Back on the PSP topic... I think PSP game are WAAAAAAAY overpriced... I own very few and i'd like to have more... But many games that have no replay value or are too short are like 49€... Its crap... Sony should review their price policy
do the math.... if the game sales at 60 dollars divide how many people bought it($14.87million)

[Aryn]

I have spent $50 or more on a PSP game that was disappointing despite receiving good reviews, and there is not always a demo for the next game that interests me. While I do not condone downloading games for and keeping them for free I do find myself having to download a game once in awhile just to make sure it is worth spending $40 to $60 on (well, unless the game is sold for a lower price).

As for the Nintendo DS, the games usually have lower graphics but almost every game I purchased for it turned out to be fun and cost $25 to $40. I find myself purchasing a game and not feeling the need to download it unless the cartridge is lost or broken because it is more affordable and less of a gamble.

The Nintendo DS is not really harder to pirate games on, unless you know somebody with a regular PSP with a firmware that runs homebrew already on it, and he agrees to lend you his hacked battery, you still have to purchase a hacked battery for the PSP and set up the installation files for the custom firmware.

Simple case and point: Make games more affordable and more fun and the temptation to download them illegally is reduced.



Oh, and the console game developers who complain about piracy and how it is hurting them the most (in most cases at least) reported decent profits.

[Jube]

You people keep thinking piracy will stop. It won't, it's going to take a lot of work for piracy to stop. Stealing games is just like stealing music right? But you can always borrow a friends music CD, rip it to your computer and burn one for yourself. For something like illegal downloads of music to stop, computers would have to not be able to burn/rip cd's to computers. That would be the only true way for music to stop being downloaded. So what about games? People love their games, you guys do right? Some people, don't have enough money to go out and spend $30 on a game (not that it's right, because it's not) so they download it, but then theirs some people who are too damned lazy to go out and pay $30 when they can, but don't. Why? Because it's cheaper. If people can get something for free why would they pay for it? Whether it's right or wrong, they don't care. And the sad thing is that people will always pirate stuff, no matter what. I could tell you right now, any type of software, can be found, free on the internet, it's a very sad thing. What's even sadder is these people who say the people who download illegally should be beat down in the street, what kind of sense does this make??? Theirs already too much violence in the world and people like this just add to it. And yeah, more people should buy stuff instead of pirating it, but no one understands things, computers are getting more advanced, and so are the ways of pirating. Unfortunately, it's not going to stop. Atleast not soon anyways..

[sammiesosa#1]

I've had my psp since 2005, when they first came out. 56 games today. Most game are horrible and cost between 25-45 dollars (On many money not well spent). The UMD casing brakes true garbage (42 for me) yet another waste.
Most people are forgetting how badly constructed and easily scratch or unplayable they can become.
To me talk is talk. For those how wish to buy the game, buy at your own risk. And for those who wish to pirate, 50 lashing on the Long Horn. :rofl:

[Snigel]

This is hilarious. The same retarded discussion as always.
Retail price X The amount of downloaded games = Developers lost money. Not true!

Firstly many people download just because they can, regardless of whether they will play the game or not. Other people don't have the money to buy the games, thus they haven't bought it otherwise anyway.
Secondly, the fraction of money the developer gets per game is not the retail price, not even close.

Now, think of it for a while, what do a user get who download the games, except the better price?
They get faster loading times, a more quiet console and better battery times. Some of you might refer to the online stores, but no, they don't have the games at release all the time, and they certainly doesn't got all the games.

This is the same problem as with movies. As long as nobody is interested in distribute the product as customers want it, some of them will get it their favorite way illegal instead. I mean, the few services selling movies is crippled, in many ways, and the same goes to the online stores for the PSP.

Surely piracy is sad when people pay for it but as long as nobody want to put up a legal alternative that can be as good as the illegal ones, don't complain.

[Spyzius]

I'm living in lithuania and games for us cost about 150 punds , thats why nobody buy that games

[kyyubidx]

it can't be THAT bad... PS2 Sell examples:

GT3: A-Spec (14.87M)
GTA: SA (12M)
GT4 (9.54M)

This numbers are not dollars... But numbers of copies sold...

[bah]

Snigel: Perhaps if it was not possible to pirate games then kids would bother to get a job to buy the games they want rather than just downloading them and claiming 'I can't afford it'.

People saying they cannot afford the games is ridiculous, you could afford the console and knew the price of games when you bought it. If you parents bought it for you then save your pocket money if you get any or get a part time job.
I delivered junk mail from about 10, the local paper at 12 or so, sold papers by the roadside at 14 and worked in a burger place from 15.
Kids could do with learning the value of a dollar rather than how to avoid paying for things they want.


'as long as nobody want to put up a legal alternative that can be as good as the illegal ones, don't complain.'

Its hard to beat free, and impossible when the product costs you millions to make and you want to stay in business to make another game.


I think the most retarded thing is when people use the 'Retail price X The amount of downloaded games != the amount of loss to the developer' argument, which is valid, to try to somehow legitimise piracy.

On the PSP it is rampant and while non realised profits do not equal losses, the developers and publishers are still making less for their work than they expected and it is due in large part to the ease of pirating it.
If your pirating the game you obviously want it in some way, and would like there to be more games made for the system in future.


If people like a game then they should pay for it or go without. If you want the faster loading times etc then buy the game and dump an ISO yourself.
All of the benefits (except cost) and non of the moral issues.

[hodgy47]

If the cost of making a umd is so high then why not sell the psp games online for download at a cheaper price, I for one would buy them, I have 3 kids all with psp's and it would save me a small fortune. However when i do buy a new game i do dump the umd to iso so my other kids can play the same game , cos i am certainly not buying 3 copies of it (financial suicide). On the main topic though piracy has always been around DVD, PC, PS2, PS1 etc and the console giants continue to keep rolling out new consoles, So even though they are making a genuine loss beause of piracy they cant be making to much of a loss or they would just stop completely.

[devdj]

the psp game price problem resides in none simple fact... the UMD format... Its expensive to produce and that is the simple fact that makes game prices so high... What strikes me as odd is this: if £1 is $1 and 1€ is about $0.60 why the hell do european gamers have to pay 40-50€ when american gamers only pay $40... that SO unfair!

€1 is not $0.60, €1 is equal to $1.53 as of today but it is unfair that we Europeans have to pay huge amounts of extra tax on things like psp games especially if you live in Ireland where we will soon see a recession in the country and inflation is so high that a normal bar of chocolate will soon cost us a about €2

[Milleniumas]

I'm living in lithuania and games for us cost about 150 punds , thats why nobody buy that games

Great to see another Lithuanian :) Yea.. piracy is a big issue in our country as well. I might even say that's even bigger if we compare with other countries. Problem is that games cost way too much. In addition I would like to say that average person gets about ~1.4k Litas ant the game costs 200 Litas, so we prefer not to buy, but to download. I must say that I haven't bought most of my games that i have in computer's hdd. I feel a bit disappointed, but what the hell can I do?

[bykfiend42]

I own every game I've been interested in on the PSP. I use homebrew for emulation and only play games that I own. This really isn't on purpose, I just happen to own most games that I like. If they found a way to block custom firmware I would just get rid of my PSP.

[bah]

If the games are so expensive that they cannot be afforded, how are people affording to buy the console (much more expensive) in the first place and why do they not spend what little money they have on more important things than having the latest generation of video games?

The Sega Master System was popular in Brazil well after it was superseded elsewhere (I would assume) because it was cheap enough to be affordable to the people there. That makes sense.

'I cant afford lots of games so I'll pirate them' isn't a good rationalisation. 'I cant afford lots of games so I will save up till I can afford one I really desire or else I will find something different to do' is.

To me it sounds similar to when people here in Australia take out huge loans, buy a big house and a 4 wheel drive, big LCD TVs etc then complain when interest rates go up, they cannot afford repayments, they loose it all to the bank and then complain about how hard done by they were.
Previous generations had a much better understanding of managing what you have and spending where it is really needed first.

They cannot sell the games at the equivalent % of the average working wage in 'poorer' countries that they do in 'richer' counties because people elsewhere would import them for next to nothing and it would kill off their markets in the rest of the world (where most of the cost-recouping and profit making is done). That's why region locking came about in the first place.
So long as they can still maintain large margins in 'richer' markets then they don't mind selling for razor thin margins in 'poorer' ones. If they feel that selling to those lower margin markets may impact their sales in the higher margin ones then they will either drop the low margin market or charge inappropriate prices there.

It's true that its a double standard seeings as companies offshore production to the cheapest market then ship the goods to more expensive ones to make nice profits but object to consumers doing the same by importing from the cheapest place.
It's a reflection of the way the worldwide consumer goods market is geared towards allowing the 'richer' nations to become even more materially wealthy (making goods more affordable here) while maintaining profit margins by paying people less for their work than its real value.

That's modern international capitalism, we could try communism but it doesn't have the best track record in egalitarianism either.

[jeegee]

as i said... blame lies on both governments AND the industry itself for not making arrangements with each other... Talking it over would definitely benefit gamers, dev's, publishers and goverments... but i'm not perfect and open to hearing other points of view...

No! Blame lies ONLY with people pirating games. Piracy IS theft. It doesn't matter what arguments you put forward in its defence. Price is irrelevant. whether the originals cost 10 pounds or 50 pounds its still doesn't excuse theft. Even if publishers, developers, retailers etc did drop prices, it still wouldn't stop unscrupulous ppl from downloading the games.

discussion is quite pointless as if ppl are willing to break the law to save themselves a few pound then nothing said in a forum will change that!!!!!!!!!!

It "should" be a simple case of if you can't afford it, you can't have it! Thats how it works with property, cars or even basic things like food and water.

I personally have no problem with ppl pirating games, just with the ones who do trying to justify their illegal actions:thumbup:

and @ Hodgy, Its fair enough to dump the umd once you've paid for it. Who in their right mind would buy multiple copies of same game?? lol :)


oh and this is only IMO

[kyyubidx]

you say that because you weren't born into a poor family with almost no cash at all... I hear you all talking about pocket-money, getting a job and learning the value of money... Keep in mind that not all countries are as wealthy as your own! I had to work my *** off to buy a psp... I had no pocket-money backup (never had such a thing too), and getting a job is the hardest thing for a grown-up like me over here so i can tell you straight away the only way a kid can get a job here is giving up school... to the system we're just cheap manpower... I do what I can to get buy and the university schoolarship is now my living... I can't afford anything else.. Plus getting a job for someone my age is really hard as they want people with PHD's and stuff... If you DO manage to get a job though, you'll lose schoolarship so what should one do? And this is just a case... I own few games unfortunately and i have to ask my friends to borrow my theirs... Its like a PLAY-AND-SHARE community... But not everyone is as lucky... So what should those do? Also you keep talking about production costs... Let me tell you a simple thing: lower price, higher sales... As simple as that... Its UNACCEPTABLE that 2 games equal the price of a system... Piracy IS theft... But two games equalling one system is an even more blatant theft...

[sammiesosa#1]

A what about the quality 50 dollars on something that brakes very easy just from pushing it into it own case.

[bah]

I accept I cannot comprehend the difficulty of living in many of the less well off parts of the world, I also cannot understand why someone living in a place where it is hard to get a job (and they pay badly if you get one) would spend such a large ammount on a portable gaming system.
Even harder to understand is why they would do so knowing the price of games then complain they are too expensive later.

There are other systems that are MUCH cheaper if you want to play games.



"Its UNACCEPTABLE that 2 games equal the price of a system... "

Not of the cost of producing them is close to or even greater than the profit margin on each sale times the number sold. Modern games are expensive to make and when they don't sell well they can be a loss for the developer/publisher.


"But two games equalling one system is an even more blatant theft..."
Products being priced out of the range of the target consumer group isn't theft nor an invitation to pirate them
It's a reason to not buy that product or related ones, or to start a competitor if you feel you could do better.

Some have said 'halve the price and you'll sell at least twice as many'. Untrue.
You may sell more but the companies have found the price point that maximises profits and it is not 'super cheap'.

If they cost anything at all then there will still be people who choose to pay nothing whenever possible.
The 'lost profit' from those who do buy the game will most likely not be made up for by those who now choose to pay rather than pirate.

[kyyubidx]

I see you are stubborn, but i am also, so:

Question 1 - Passion: What drives people to buy a system is the passion they have or the potential they see for games on that system, sometimes it doesn't matter how much money you have... And these people sometimes have more passion that even those that make the darned games.

Question 2 - Prodution Costs: I know i've said this earlier but lower prices bring more sales, so more revenues from the sales... Which means the lower the price, more you sell, so production costs can be covered either way... What really matters is the afterwards profit... And believe me, if you choose lower prices you're MUCH more likely to have more profit and therefore less piracy on the games you make. True. Basis? Just look at how much more "the orange box" sold on steam when it was on 35% discount... and compare the timespan of the discount with the sales on a normal timespan for the same amount of time... You'll see where i'm getting at...

edit: also (just a thought i came too a few seconds ago) In japan games are cheaper, and they sell like mad... I don't see companies climbing up prices over there... Ever wondered why Monster Hunter Freedom 2 never sold as much on non-nippon territory? Look at the price the game has on your store and compare it with theirs... That shall be your answer...

edit 2: also from your standpoint you claim gaming is an Elitist activity... Only for those who can afford it, which would be, by the prices, the rich... I'm glad SCE didn't think like you and released a Platinum (lower priced) version on FF7 or i would have never played the best RPG ever...

[Dembonz]

Being able to download games, music and such has made me a more selective consumer. If I try something first and enjoy and appreciate it , I'll buy it .
I'm going to pick up a copy of GOW because it's a great game and it's my responsibility to pay for a product I enjoy and to support the gaming industry I love. Just because there are so many downloads doesn't always mean all those people aren't buying.

A question I have is, isn't selling used copies of games in game stores the same thing as piracy against the game developers/publishers/industry? I mean, you can wait to buy a game you want USED and no one sees a dime but the game store, right? They will pay you next to nothing to get your copy and turn around and sell it for at least quadruple what they gave you. That's theft to me.

[djbrotherson]

LOOOL

I Love My PSP :D

[Qmark]

Piracy IS theft.
No. No it is not.
It's worse.

Suppose I were to steal, i dunno, a brick from the, uh, brick store. I've gained one brick without paying, and the store has lost the sale of one brick.
The next five dozen people who want and honestly buy a brick still generate income for the brick store.
There is also a third group of a dozen dozen who would like to have a brick, but can't afford one and/or justify the expense.

Brick Store: 1 lost sale. 60 sold bricks. 144 sales that were never going to happen.


Now, suppose I were to buy a brick. Now also suppose I have some sort of device that magically creates a perfect copy of a brick at minimal expense, and I then give them away to anyone who shows up looking for one.
Now suppose two-thirds of those 60 people decide "hey! free brick" and forgo an otherwise planned purchase for a "free" brick, while the other third are still honest and legitimate purchase the brick.
Now, let's also suppose that last group who didn't want to pay for a brick, are now more than interested now that they're "free".

Brick Store: 21 bricks sold. 40 bricks nobody's buying. 144 sales that were never going to happen.

[Snigel]

Its hard to beat free, and impossible when the product costs you millions to make and you want to stay in business to make another game.

I see that you're totally missing my point.
It's not hard to do a service that is equal to the illegal alternatives except that you pay for the things that you want.

It's not impossible to release the games online when they are done. It's not impossible to allow americans or europeans to buy japanese games in their native online store.

Of course you can't beat the price. But you can still make a service that's better than the current one. You can try to adapt your business after how the customers want to buy the games. How they want to play the games.

Of course people should pay for their software, but I'm tired of the constant discussion whereas piracy is so bad and oh all poor developers. Gee, update your business, the market is changing, so should you be.
The publishers still think that you can charge the same premium for games online as in a store. Even though you don't get something physical, you don't have to pay for staff in the store, rents etc. You don't have to pay for distribution.
All online selling systems I've seen so far is defective by design. Fix them, then complain.



No. No it is not.
It's worse.

Suppose I were to steal, i dunno, a brick from the, uh, brick store. I've gained one brick without paying, and the store has lost the sale of one brick.
The next five dozen people who want and honestly buy a brick still generate income for the brick store.
There is also a third group of a dozen dozen who would like to have a brick, but can't afford one and/or justify the expense.

Brick Store: 1 lost sale. 60 sold bricks. 144 sales that were never going to happen.


Now, suppose I were to buy a brick. Now also suppose I have some sort of device that magically creates a perfect copy of a brick at minimal expense, and I then give them away to anyone who shows up looking for one.
Now suppose two-thirds of those 60 people decide "hey! free brick" and forgo an otherwise planned purchase for a "free" brick, while the other third are still honest and legitimate purchase the brick.
Now, let's also suppose that last group who didn't want to pay for a brick, are now more than interested now that they're "free".

Brick Store: 21 bricks sold. 40 bricks nobody's buying. 144 sales that were never going to happen.
Ah so you're saying that it's better with the kind of asian piracy when you sell the copies instead? So somebody else earns money on ones job? Smart thinking there. Really like that.

Your argumentation is flawed too. If everybody who wanted a brick had to steal it instead of copying it, the store would lose money instead of just not earning any money. I see a loss of money worse than no earned money, don't you?

[Art]

Noone needs a PSP, if you can't afford to buy the games,
you shouldn't have got the console for anything other than homebrew, or at all.

Game consoles are for ppl with disposable income,
who should probably sponsor a child in a third world country first.
It's not something you need to keep you alive.

[jamotto]

I just wish they would put out more demo's for the games, I've bought just about every game they released a demo for. I have ended up passing on a lot of games that I couldn't try before I buy.

[r-complex]

The only was I see to help prevent this is to go back to the cartridge *hardware* format. And, have an encryption chip that calculates.. 4,096 bits tied into the BIOS! Yes, it would cost more to develop and execute. But, it would also be much harder for pirates to defeat.

[r-complex]

I just wish they would put out more demo's for the games, I've bought just about every game they released a demo for. I have ended up passing on a lot of games that I couldn't try before I buy.

Ever hear of.. GameFly? :) I'm assuming you are from the USA.. So, I'm sorry if I'm wrong!

[jamotto]

The only was I see to help prevent this is to go back to the cartridge *hardware* format. And, have an encryption chip that calculates.. 4,096 bits tied into the BIOS! Yes, it would cost more to develop and execute. But, it would also be much harder for pirates to defeat.

Capcom and Nintendo have tried that in the past it didn't work.



Ever hear of.. GameFly? I'm assuming you are from the USA.. So, I'm sorry if I'm wrong!

The service sounds like a good idea, but the $16 per month I simply can't justify.

[the_eternal_dark]

Blah blah blah.... I keep seeing these reports on piracy here, yet none of you f*ckers attempt to do anything about it. You say you don't pirate, yet you are the ones supporting alternative ways to load your "store-bought" UMDs on your memory stick. Either own up to what you do, or don't talk about this in a vain attempt to make it seem like you're not doing something bad.

On another note, these numbers really don't mean anything, and I highly doubt these developers are losing that much money. First, these developers are paid by the studio/company they are working for. Second, sales only add to their income, and if sales suck, they really don't loose money, it's the studio/company who loses the money. If these companies (namely Sony) were to do away with their shitty format, we could possibly see a decent digital distrobution that would damage the future piracy market for a while. But then we'd hear shit from those same pirates about "not having an internet connection" to download those games.

So, if you are like me and will continue to download and distribute the "easy" media, continue to do so, and fess up to it. I hate liars.

[Baboon]

Well I used to love importing games from japan until Sony shut Lik Sang down. :(

To be honest if it wasn't for the emulators on the PSP then I would have got rid of the machine ages ago. I've still got a handful of UMD's (Tekken Tag, Ace Combat, The GTA's etc) but all my PSP time gets spent on Mame, Amiga, Snes, Sega etc on the PSP. :)


Anyway.. "you stole my drank, now walk the plank"..."and Your booty shivers me timbers...Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"! :D

[djbrotherson]

Boo hoo our PSP's are getting hacked, raped, bricked and violated... what do you expect $ony you dumb ****s

Listen to your customers and maybe you wouldn't have been losing so much money

Cry cry cry... go get a cranberry juice