Video Game Piracy: The widening problem and how to stop it

We are told that the video game business is bucking the trend of other industries suffering through the global financial woes, and many companies are finding a way to avoid the cur of piracy with an easy solution.

Check through the current top sales of video games, taking Australia as an example. At November 30 the five top selling games were.

1. Wii Play with Remote - Nintendo Wii
2. Wii Fit – Nintendo Wii
3. Mario Kart with Wheel – Nintendo Wii
4. Resistance 2 – PS3
5. Singstar ABBA – PS2

See a trend? Sure the top three are games for the Wii, but more importantly, four of the top 5 have some sort of peripheral hardware associated with the game. This trend continues when you break it down across platforms – at least at the console level.

Guitar Hero: World Tour and its associated microphone, guitar and drum peripherals hold down two of the top ten Nintendo Wii sales chart positions, features in both PS2 and PS3 top ten and along with the Karaoke game, Lips (and its microphones) also appears in the Xbox 360 top ten.

Nintendo have released a bundled pack with Animal Crossing for the Wii, with the Wii Speak peripheral. I think they have cottoned on to it, avoid game piracy by packaging your software with a new piece of hardware, whether the game actually needs it or not.

Actually, there doesn’t need to be an actual gaming peripheral as part of the offering, even ‘normal’ games can be more attractive at the sales counters given the right trimmings. Sure there are special editions (usually limited, or costing another 50 percent) for most blockbuster releases today, but what about good old in box goodies, like we used to get?

I believe there is still a place for the odd cloth map in an RPG, or stickers, key rings, extra content discs or similar items that make opening the retail box more attractive.

Digital distribution will ultimately take over, as it almost has for music, but until then game publishers will need to look to other, more tangible ways to elicit the honest dollar from an otherwise tempted wallet.

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22159/1092/1/3/

Couldn't agree with you more.

The problem is though that some countries have to wait months sometimes on games being released, when something is released in the US, people will often download pirate versions simply because they can't get it any other way.

For instance Space Invaders and Arkanoid on the DS. If they released it with the analogue knob control I'd buy them without a second thought. Instead we are expected to pay for games that are just sub-par without the add-on.

I pre-ordered the gold edition of Fable2 which was supposed to have some cool additions like a Hob figurine. Instead I get an email telling me all I would get is a 'making off' DVD which is available for free online anyway. I canceled the order and bought the damn thing from a supermarket at 2/3rds the price.

Before any of these companies can hope to combat piracy, they have to ensure that there are legitimate ways of getting their products with all the extras included.

I remember back in the day when Ultima 4 came out on the Apple IIe it included the cool cloth map. A friend of mine had the retail box and it was so fun. Of course all the kids in High School at the time pirated the game, but it was the extra content that made me want to buy it.

Later on with Gabrial Knight 2 (special edition, deluxe, whatever it was called) it included Gabrial Knight 1, a full novel of Gabrial Knight 1, a comic book and other content that made it very appealing to buy and not pirate. The same can be said for Diablo 2 in the deluxe boxed set, it included Diablo 1 and a lot of content that made it worth buying and it is still on the market today. Other Sierra On-Line games were included in boxed sets with all the games in their series such as a King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, or Leisure Suite Larry. These sets included interviews, trailers, enhanced versions of the games, better manuals, some had hint books, and they even included their older games such as Mystery House. This made the purchase of the games worth it.

What do you get today. Usually just the CD or Cartridge with a very thin or non-existant manual. Most CD's don't even come in jewel cases on the PC. Just a box to put on the shelf with the disc and a paper case. You are lucky to even get a manual as it is most likely on the CD in PDF.

Give us the extra value for a reasonable price and we will buy the games and not pirate them. I have fun going to the stores and shopping for games rather than downloading them. I see games I didn't even know existed. I picked up an old PC game at Game Stop the other day for $4.99 called Army Men Sarge's War. I didn't know it was made for the PC and I am a huge Army Men fan. I only had Sarge's Heroes 1 & 2 on my N64 and they are a lot of fun.

The big boom in pirating really came on the Dreamcast and ultimately was the downfall of the system. That's too bad as it had some great games. Half Life beta got so pirated it was never released.

I also bought the Tin Boxed set of Doom 3 on X-Box. It included Doom 1 & 2 in their original form and that alone was enough for me to warrant the extra money. I know you can mod the X-Box and play it anyway but it was a fun extra on the disc.

My point is give us the extra content and value in the box like the figurines spoken about, the cloth maps, online downloads to those who purchase the game, etc. Don't put out crappy games that not only won't sell but won't be pirated either because they suck. Take longer between titles if it means better quality games and only announce the game when it is ready to ship. Don't say the game will be ready for Christmas then delay it till next July (Yes movie industry Harry Potter I'm talking about you!!!!). Hype is good but gamers don't like delays. On the other hand don't put out buggy games either. If a game is buggy then it won't sell and will be pirated just so you can try it out and see if the bugs are tolerable.

Like has been said before especially on the PC a lot of people who buy the games download (pirate) them first so they can see if they run on their hardware (or run well on their 4 year old computer with an Intel Graphics Card). If they don't run on their hardware then why purchase the game? Most games on the PC do not run well on the minimum specs listed on the box. They run when you have the recommended requirements to play the game. This is why so many people with little knowledge of their PC's choose to go with a handheld or console system. At least the games that are not buggy run on their console system. Much easier to pop in a PS3 cd and play than to upgrade your PC to play the same game.

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Originally Posted by JDvorak

I remember back in the day when Ultima 4 came out on the Apple IIe it included the cool cloth map. A friend of mine had the retail box and it was so fun. Of course all the kids in High School at the time pirated the game, but it was the extra content that made me want to buy it.

Later on with Gabrial Knight 2 (special edition, deluxe, whatever it was called) it included Gabrial Knight 1, a full novel of Gabrial Knight 1, a comic book and other content that made it very appealing to buy and not pirate. The same can be said for Diablo 2 in the deluxe boxed set, it included Diablo 1 and a lot of content that made it worth buying and it is still on the market today. Other Sierra On-Line games were included in boxed sets with all the games in their series such as a King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, or Leisure Suite Larry. These sets included interviews, trailers, enhanced versions of the games, better manuals, some had hint books, and they even included their older games such as Mystery House. This made the purchase of the games worth it.

What do you get today. Usually just the CD or Cartridge with a very thin or non-existant manual. Most CD's don't even come in jewel cases on the PC. Just a box to put on the shelf with the disc and a paper case. You are lucky to even get a manual as it is most likely on the CD in PDF.

Give us the extra value for a reasonable price and we will buy the games and not pirate them. I have fun going to the stores and shopping for games rather than downloading them. I see games I didn't even know existed. I picked up an old PC game at Game Stop the other day for $4.99 called Army Men Sarge's War. I didn't know it was made for the PC and I am a huge Army Men fan. I only had Sarge's Heroes 1 & 2 on my N64 and they are a lot of fun.

The big boom in pirating really came on the Dreamcast and ultimately was the downfall of the system. That's too bad as it had some great games. Half Life beta got so pirated it was never released.

I also bought the Tin Boxed set of Doom 3 on X-Box. It included Doom 1 & 2 in their original form and that alone was enough for me to warrant the extra money. I know you can mod the X-Box and play it anyway but it was a fun extra on the disc.

My point is give us the extra content and value in the box like the figurines spoken about, the cloth maps, online downloads to those who purchase the game, etc. Don't put out crappy games that not only won't sell but won't be pirated either because they suck. Take longer between titles if it means better quality games and only announce the game when it is ready to ship. Don't say the game will be ready for Christmas then delay it till next July (Yes movie industry Harry Potter I'm talking about you!!!!). Hype is good but gamers don't like delays. On the other hand don't put out buggy games either. If a game is buggy then it won't sell and will be pirated just so you can try it out and see if the bugs are tolerable.

Like has been said before especially on the PC a lot of people who buy the games download (pirate) them first so they can see if they run on their hardware (or run well on their 4 year old computer with an Intel Graphics Card). If they don't run on their hardware then why purchase the game? Most games on the PC do not run well on the minimum specs listed on the box. They run when you have the recommended requirements to play the game. This is why so many people with little knowledge of their PC's choose to go with a handheld or console system. At least the games that are not buggy run on their console system. Much easier to pop in a PS3 cd and play than to upgrade your PC to play the same game.

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I agree with that wholeheartedly. In fact, over the weekend I found a Diablo II LOD instruction book in the recycle and snatched it, cause the whole series had wonderfully detailed art throughout the manual.

I have the second kings quest collection set, which was just great, and most of my early PC buys were the lucasarts six-packs. At least three of the CDs were always reduced content, but getting them at all was a nice treat.

In the case of the Dreamcast though, you're wrong about HL, the beta was pirated BECAUSE it wasn't coming out, not the other way around.


Now, I don't see why this is new. For a long time it has been standard for high end PC software to come with a hardware key. Wii Fit and Rockband work the same way, you can't pirate a balance board, and it's not really all that worth it to get all third party/used controllers to pirate the game. As for Wii Play, I don't know about anyone else, but it was like 2-5$ more than the remote itself and there were no remotes in stock when I got it (havn't even tried the game yet).

I think eventually the copying issue will lead us to a revitalization of high definition analogue media, but that's just me.

I think the big console piracy boom was with the PS1, not the dreamcast. I remember seeing copied ps1 games all the time when I was a kid. The unique thing about the dreamcast was that no mod chip was needed, just a stupid boot disc (at the start), it just made it too easy to pirate

I agree with everyone. The only reason I bought my Wii Sports is because they included a Wii console (AND a WiiMote!), no extra charge. A little expensive, but still worth it.

Haven't bought a Wii game since! Well, Wii Play I guess (ha, and the game isn't even worth the extra $15, should have just got the controller! :( Each 'game' could have been programmed in a day by high school kids!)

I almost bought Guitar Hero, but since everybody else had one, by the time I could find it, I was already sick of it. I guess I'm too old. And cheap.

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Originally Posted by slug349

Each 'game' could have been programmed in a day by high school kids!

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While I do understand the concept of hyperbole, it's that attitude that make so many disillusioned when they actually try to make a game or play homebrew games.

Guess I never thought of the fact that less people pirate games that use unique hardware. That's a great idea, but I still think Digital Distribution is the best anti-piracy.

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Originally Posted by quzar

I agree with that wholeheartedly. In fact, over the weekend I found a Diablo II LOD instruction book in the recycle and snatched it, cause the whole series had wonderfully detailed art throughout the manual.

I have the second kings quest collection set, which was just great, and most of my early PC buys were the lucasarts six-packs. At least three of the CDs were always reduced content, but getting them at all was a nice treat.

In the case of the Dreamcast though, you're wrong about HL, the beta was pirated BECAUSE it wasn't coming out, not the other way around.


Now, I don't see why this is new. For a long time it has been standard for high end PC software to come with a hardware key. Wii Fit and Rockband work the same way, you can't pirate a balance board, and it's not really all that worth it to get all third party/used controllers to pirate the game. As for Wii Play, I don't know about anyone else, but it was like 2-5$ more than the remote itself and there were no remotes in stock when I got it (havn't even tried the game yet).

I think eventually the copying issue will lead us to a revitalization of high definition analogue media, but that's just me.

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Yea you are right Half Life wasn't coming out and got leaked and pirated pretty much toward the end of the Dreamcast. I only meant that if the Dreamcast hadn't had a lot of pirating going on that the game would have been released and profitable. A lot of the problem with Dreamcast came from poor sales and ports of games to the Sega Saturn. The Playstation versions of the same games vs the Saturn were better. Especially the 3D games. Tomb Raiders on Saturn was just sad. I did like the port of Quake 1 to the Saturn it wasn't bad. Hexen sucked as well on the Saturn. The Saturn shined in the area of 2D games especially in the Capcom fighting games. I have a Saturn with 72 Games, a lot of them imported from Japan. I love it to this day but do see the problems it had carrying over to the Dreamcast. I have a PS1 also but a lot fewer games. I love the Saturn and Dreamcast and play them all the time. But it was too easy to pirate games on both systems. Easier on Dreamcast as you didn't need to mod it. The Saturn has a spinning trick you can do to get the pirated discs to load but it a pain to master. And yes the PS1 had a lot of piracy going on as well but it didn't impact the system like that of the Dreamcast.

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Originally Posted by Van-B

Couldn't agree with you more.

The problem is though that some countries have to wait months sometimes on games being released, when something is released in the US, people will often download pirate versions simply because they can't get it any other way.

For instance Space Invaders and Arkanoid on the DS. If they released it with the analogue knob control I'd buy them without a second thought. Instead we are expected to pay for games that are just sub-par without the add-on.

I pre-ordered the gold edition of Fable2 which was supposed to have some cool additions like a Hob figurine. Instead I get an email telling me all I would get is a 'making off' DVD which is available for free online anyway. I canceled the order and bought the damn thing from a supermarket at 2/3rds the price.

Before any of these companies can hope to combat piracy, they have to ensure that there are legitimate ways of getting their products with all the extras included.

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I agree that the availability of games in certain parts of the world does lead to piracy. If there is a game that only comes out in a specific region then the only way to get it besides importing is to pirate said game. On the DS it is not so much a factor as it is region free but on other systems it can be difficult to get say a Japanese only release to run on a UK or USA system. In the case of my beloved Sega Saturn I had to have an Action Replay All-In-One card to boot up Japanese discs in the USA. The card had the cheat codes, made the Saturn region free, and had the extra 4 meg of memory to run X-Men vs. Street Fighter by Capcom. I have a lot of Japanese imported discs for the Saturn and it is fun to play to this day.

People are just gonna pirate, it's that simple( I buy my games)!The market is shifting and maybe non-ip is the way to go.The big companies will just have to change how they do business.

I think the whole concept of using serial #'s to unlock full versions of the games or other programs is stupid. The serial #'s are too easy to get. Keygens are available everywhere. A whole new form of copy protection has to be made. But then again it can get cracked too. Homebrew on the DSI anyone?

Freebies and novelty items definitely make me more likely to buy something, as it feels like I'm getting more value. Something as simple as a poster-sized overworld map or an instruction book full of custom artwork is appreciated. On a related note, I finally stopped subscribing to Nintendo Power recently since they stopped having the fan art section a while ago, and even more importantly, their subscription gifts significantly dropped in quality (All they have is Player's Guides now, you used to be able to get T-shirts, game soundtracks, and sometimes an exclusive game or demo such as LoZ: Collector's Edition).

As far as security measures go, what if, instead of using serial numbers, drm, or limiting the number of times something can be installed, they set a span of time between installations? Something like giving each copy of a program a unique identifier, and then using it to track the dates of installations through a server. Then, after an installation was executed, that same installer cannot be used again for a week to a month. It's a more fair policy than only letting someone install their product a specific number of times, and it would be a great deal more secure than a serial number. There'd need to be a little more behind-the-scenes security than that, obviously, but you get the gist of it.

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Originally Posted by Auriman1

Freebies and novelty items definitely make me more likely to buy something, as it feels like I'm getting more value. Something as simple as a poster-sized overworld map or an instruction book full of custom artwork is appreciated. On a related note, I finally stopped subscribing to Nintendo Power recently since they stopped having the fan art section a while ago, and even more importantly, their subscription gifts significantly dropped in quality (All they have is Player's Guides now, you used to be able to get T-shirts, game soundtracks, and sometimes an exclusive game or demo such as LoZ: Collector's Edition).

As far as security measures go, what if, instead of using serial numbers, drm, or limiting the number of times something can be installed, they set a span of time between installations? Something like giving each copy of a program a unique identifier, and then using it to track the dates of installations through a server. Then, after an installation was executed, that same installer cannot be used again for a week to a month. It's a more fair policy than only letting someone install their product a specific number of times, and it would be a great deal more secure than a serial number. There'd need to be a little more behind-the-scenes security than that, obviously, but you get the gist of it.

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Yea that's true that limiting the time between installs might be an answer. But consider this even on trial versions of software where they quit in 15 days or a month you can keep them going with changing the registry on the pc or installing them to a different user account etc. without even cracking the software to a full version or using a pirated serial #. The same could be said if a program installs and then won't allow a reinstall for a period of time. There has to be a better way of doing this if they want to stop piracy all together. That being said and has been said before even with piracy the industry is growing in leaps and bounds. Like I have said people will be more apt to buy games if they don't keep putting out bad games. Don't get me started on how many platform games based on movies are out there when an adventure game of the same movie would be a better sell. Heck why don't they include the movie with the game making it a great package. I would love to get a game on say PSP and the MP4 movie is included with the game as a bonus. I mean a lot of games cost $30 and up so combine the movie with the game for $10 more in a deluxe package and it would sell. Besides with all the crackdowns going on by movie, music, and game companies it would be my luck I would be caught pirating and get fined at the very least or goto jail.