Is Piracy a Big Factor in Todays Consoles

When you look at the worldwide success of the Nintendo DS Lite and the incredible sales of games throughout the world even when theres Flash Carts for the console is testament that maybe piracy isnt affecting consoles like it used to.

The PSP has its iso loaders but even since they were released only those who know homebrew and a few others know of the loaders, most normal users wouldnt have a clue and the same can be said for the Xbox and PS2, so is piracy a big factor on consoles these days ?

Does it really hurt sales or do those who try actually go out and buy, what are your views on this subject ?

Lets have a decent discussion about the questions raised above.

no posting to iso links etc or be warned and banned

Well, personally I think that it isn't worth the bother even to pirate xbox games ;), but I don't think piracy is done by a serious, or even significant amount of people for console makers to be too worried about.

Think of it this way... People who use homebrew like us PSP owners probably said "Holy Crap! You can play SNES on PSP!!" And went out and bought one. SO I think that Piracy isnt much different. People who see that they can use piracy to do things with consoles actually have yet 500 more reasons to spend their hard earned cash on a console. You cant have piracy without the base.

I would say it's hurting psp industry A BUNCH, lots of movie companies are making less umd releases because of piracy, and the only reason game prices raise is because of pirates, well mabie a little greed mixed inside, but the more prices raise the more pirates are going to pirate, and finally gaming industry will collapse, but after a period of (possibly long) slumber, someone will surely try and start the gaming industry back up again, but during the period, there will be NO game even made for people to pirate, so pirates are forcing their doom but carrying us with them.

ha ha. Funny topic to see after being banned for similar discussion. Its been discussed and debated time and time again with good arguments from both sides of the spectrum.

A lot of you know where I stand but I'll state it again.

In my opinion, especially in "todays" consoles as the title of this thread says, no, piracy is not really a big factor that is threatening to bring down any of the major gaming consoles.

1.) The PS2 is still going strong and Sony execs stated they think the PS2 will see a 10 year lifespan. And the PS2 seems to easily be able to play "back up" PS2 games.

2.) The GameCube & XBOX are not really doing so hot lately but that is because they are dying off being at the end of their lifecycle. Not cause of piracy. you can't even pirate GameCube games can you?

3.) I have to imagine the XBOX 360 is pretty secure, and it will probably be years before the copy protection used for Blu-Ray is decrypted or hacked so the PS3 is not in any danger. Also, who the hell wants to download a 25GB PS3 game? Not me. Its enough of a hassle messing with PSP ISO's and they are almost always less than 1GB.

4.) If you have the right stuff, it is much easier to play NDS & GBA ROMS on a Nintendo DS than it is to play PSP ISO's on a PSP. But yet the Nintendo DS is dominating the PSP in almost every region.

5.) There probably are not as many die-hard PSP homebrew experts to cause a big profit loss for Sony due to ISO Loaders. Give DevHook or DAX Loader or any other loader to any homebrew "n00b" and tell them to use it. Most would probably smash their PSP out of frustration. Also for that reason, a lot of PSP homebrew users are intimidated by comlex nature of some of the ISO Loaders. I was one of those people once.

With all that said, quite simply I love using PSP ISO's. But I do own most games in UMD as well. I just have a 1.50 PSP and can't play the games otherwise. The faster CPU speed, extended battery life, and elimination of painful load times that the PSP is known for among other benefits makes ISO Loading spectacular on the PSP.

I KNOW most PSP homebrew users with a 1.50 PSP feel the same. I'm just not afriad to voice my support of it.

Also, I'm not so naive to not acknowledge the dangers and harm of piracy. But the only areas where I have seen major losses due to piracy is from Computer Software & Music. Video games are not really threatened too much by it. And with the next-gen consoles on their way, I don't think it will be worthwhile to try and play pirated PS3 games. Maybe in 3-4-6 years when Blu-Ray discs are as cheap as blank DVD's now and Blu-Ray Burners come in every PC. But not in the near future.

Now pardon me, I must go back to playing Tekken: Dark Resurrection on my trusty 1.50 :D

The only way to know this answer for sure is to survey every user of a given console, and ask them how many games they wanted to buy and did vs how many they wanted to buy and pirated.
Statistics showing how many iso's were downloaded mean nothing, because the intent to purchase is unknown. A drop in overall game sales means nothing, because there are a ton of economic factors other than piracy that affect a consumer's decision to buy something. It's really easy for manufacturers to blame lack of interest in a game on piracy, and continue efforts in DRM and such.

The big issue for manufacturers is the warm and fuzzy they get when a system is unhackable, and they can actually rely on game sales numbers, vs a hackable system that makes those sales numbers meaningless. Of course, used game sales also forfeits the results, which is why there are undercurrents of talk about locking out used games.

So basically, you'll never know what's going on in a consumer's head until you control their mind entirely. Enter cyberpunk references... :)

PS2 Piracy sounds fun, I think I'll try it. Thanks for the great idea DCEMU!




















:D Just Kidding DCEMU!

The lack of knowlege of the general public on how to get and play pirate games astounds me. Dont these people know anything? Even my friend who is a BIG gamer buys his games cause he "works all day long and doesnt have the time to do the pirate thing". When I talk to the people in the videogame stores not one has tried it ( they can borrow games from the stores fro free so they say why bother?). I once used to work in a place for crazy people and I got the opinion that everyone was crazy. Now I see that that was just a tiny percentage of humanity that was like that. Being theives we think that everyone else is a theif. but we are just a tiny percentage too. So in ending I think that piracy hurts the videogame makers not at all cause even though people think its cool almost noone is doing it outside of the people reading this right now

I guess voltron's got his points that i agree on, but daxziso's not that hard to use it... nither is devhook... good point on the bluray, but psp game scene don't look that promising tho. backups are just way too easy to get and runs better than the original copy anyways

I think big companies (not only consoles, but music, and movies aswell) fear that their profits stall or rise too slowly for them to be happy.

it's funny to hear them whinning all the time, and then present those profits year by year of zillions of dollars...and, oh yes, they still want more.

I know how long it takes to develop a game and all that, but...if we had access to the real accounts, I'm sure we'd be surprised of how much they actually win for every game...but they still want more.

they always talk about losing money, but that's not true, they never lose. instead of having 20% profits, they might have 15%, you get the point.


if they try to sell games at $40 and they don't sell enough, they blame it on piracy, but they never say people CAN'T AFFORD to buy games so expensive. they assume that we are going to pay that for a game and if possible 1 or 2 a month...NO WAY!


so one thing, is money...and another is what you get for your money.

i love watching previews and the latest technology graphics stuff for games, but when you play the games, 99% of them are crap, pretty, but still crap or copies of another game.

I could live playing only with the demos you get from websites or magazines, because I just want to see the games, and many times I can't spend more than 1/2 or 1 hour playing to a game, and that's it...I don't want to see it again...

"seen it before" and "boring" are probably the comments I'd say after watching a new release

it's sad but it's the same with movies...when was the last time you really enjoyed a movie and thought it was worth your money?

so, is piracy killing the console star?
NO

personally i use isos to try games its like a blockbuster inside my room and since im to young to drive thats really important to me but if i play a game i like then i will buy it when i get the chance so it helps the console in that aspect which probably helps balance out the die hard pirates

One thing is for sure. Piracy has nothing to do with the cost being charged for games. In Australia, the average AAA PC title costs around 80-90AUD. The PC has plenty of piracy issues. Compare this with the XBOX 360 where there is NO piracy and those games cost 100-110+ AUD. How they justify the ridiculous prices for XBOX 360 games in Australia is beyond me. If they are wondering why the PS2 is still outselling the XBOX 360, it all comes down to the pricing.

What makes the 360 game pricing even more of a joke is when you compare a title like "Prey". Prey ran far smoother and had higher resolution textures in some places on the PC Demo than the 360 Demo I tried, so in some cases, you'll be getting an inferior product for 20+ dollars extra.

Piracy is a big deal. It's not like if there was no piracy that game prices would be reduced, you'd be naive to believe game companies would sell games for less than they can get away. However, piracy is unlawful. Does it make sense to try out an iso of a game to see if you like it and subsequently buy it? Maybe. Still wrong though.

Okay,

I work for a major game company (no I will not tell you which one), but let me assure you that piracy prevention is a MAJOR issue.

A lot of people say "$ony trying to steal your money" or "Microsoft" just in it for the money. The people who say this have obviously never worked at a company. Of COURSE they are trying to make money! However, they ARE NOT bringing in the boatloads that people imagine. Companies publish many games, but many games fail and you have to be able to cover that loss in order to pay all the programmers, designers, developers, testers, localizers, marketing, producers, etc., etc. These are the lives of HUMAN BEINGS and their FAMILIES that the company has to support. Plus you need money for future development and company growth at the same time, otherwise people will say "their games are no good anymore."

With the retail price of games (especially in the US) already low, and the cost of development easily soaring into the double digit millions IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO MAKE A PROFIT! Every pirate cuts into what may have been a sale.

I've seen my games up on torrents, and yeah it pisses me off, because I know the people who are downloading it aren't thinking about the thousands of collective hours of overtime, stress, and all of the blood sweat and tears that went into planning and creating the game. They just want to enjoy the benefits, leaching off us like parasites.

I would seriously like to punch them in the face, for insulting me and everyone who worked on the project, and all of their friends and family who had to go through the hardship of making a game with them.

That's my two cents's:(

Don't pirate, YOU ARE STEALING and YOU ARE KILLING THE INDUSTRY. It isn't just Sony and Microsoft out there, there are many game publishers who don't have thier coffers and are working their asses off to make good games.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Voltron

With all that said, quite simply I love using PSP ISO's.
[/B] on my trusty 1.50 :D

---

Yeah me too. I will admit I'm a huge pirate, but with out them I would have probably sold my PSP. Homebrew is awesome and all, but I also really like playing commercial games. What I don't like is how this site is so negetive towards iso loaders, but that's their opinion and I don't think anyone can change it.
It doesn't matter if people are pirating games because there will never be enough to make a huge impact. BTW, I've also almost been banned on several occasions.

I think what is most important is that we support game developers by purchasing the worthwhile games. This shows that we are loyal and supportive of the developers and the console distributors.

This goes as well for those who contribute to digital piracy; those who do so should know that it hurts the gaming industry, and if they won't stop the piracy, at least they can purchase a game once and a while.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DaGamer

I would say it's hurting psp industry A BUNCH, lots of movie companies are making less umd releases because of piracy, and the only reason game prices raise is because of pirates, well mabie a little greed mixed inside, but the more prices raise the more pirates are going to pirate, and finally gaming industry will collapse, but after a period of (possibly long) slumber, someone will surely try and start the gaming industry back up again, but during the period, there will be NO game even made for people to pirate, so pirates are forcing their doom but carrying us with them.

---

NO WAY, Give me a break!
1.) UMD Videos were never widely received or supported. The prices were ridiculous. 14.99-19.99 or higher. Same as DVD prices. Why would you want a scaled down stripped version of movie when you could get so much more on a DVD for a few dollars more?

2.) Game prices have raised? In what country? Not in the U.S.A. I bought my PSP on March 24, 2005 (launch day) and some launch games were $49.99 for the PSP. Now most games are 39.99, some 19.99-29.99. What are you talking about? So before PSP homebrew even existed, games were the same price as what they are now. ISO Loading is NOT hurting sales or raising prices.

3.) You state soon the gaming industry will collapse and be doomed. Again, what country are you from? In the U.S.A. the Video Game Industry is at an ALL TIME HIGH and growing stronger year by year. Pirates are forcing their demise and taking us with them? I think you've been watching too many pirate movies lately. When it comes to the PSP, where can you buy "pirated" games? You can't. You can't really make bootleg UMD games and sell them on a street corner like you can CD's DVD's, Computer Software, etc. etc. Pirates are hijacking the PSP's success.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DaGamer

I guess voltron's got his points that i agree on, but daxziso's not that hard to use it... nither is devhook...

---

Yes, you are right. The loaders themselves are not difficult to use. What I was referring to is all of the firmware file installation, the constant updates, the custom MODS to allow features such as No Autorun, return to 1.50 xmb, etc. etc. It can be a lot to wrap your head around if you are not familiar with it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oninotsume

I work for a major game company, let me assure you that piracy prevention is a MAJOR issue. A lot of people say "$ony trying to steal your money" or "Microsoft" just in it for the money. These are the lives of HUMAN BEINGS and their FAMILIES that the company has to support. IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO MAKE A PROFIT! Every pirate cuts into what may have been a sale.

---

Excellent post oninotsume, it really sheds light on the business side of things. I agree that is is extremely hard to make a dollar. And companies, just because they are big, are not the beneficiaries of unlimited sums of money. Every day companies face mergers/acquisitions, bankruptcy, etc. etc. You speak first-hand and make a very strong point AGAINST all piracy. I'd feel bad for what I do now but I buy most of my games and dump them myself.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SSaxdude

Homebrew is awesome and all, but I also really like playing commercial games.

---

Yes, I agree. I constantly hear people talking about how all PSP games suck. That is not true. There are now a LOT of really great commercial games. I don't so much use ISO Loaders for the thievery, I do it because I have a 1.50 PSP and a lot of games won't play unless backed up to ISO. I play commercial PSP games more than my XBOX 360/PS2/GameCube games. I love PSP games. I just wish more of them would feature infrastructure WiFi.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Voltron

ha ha. Funny topic to see after being banned for similar discussion. Its been discussed and debated time and time again with good arguments from both sides of the spectrum.

A lot of you know where I stand but I'll state it again.

In my opinion, especially in "todays" consoles as the title of this thread says, no, piracy is not really a big factor that is threatening to bring down any of the major gaming consoles.

1.) The PS2 is still going strong and Sony execs stated they think the PS2 will see a 10 year lifespan. And the PS2 seems to easily be able to play "back up" PS2 games.

2.) The GameCube & XBOX are not really doing so hot lately but that is because they are dying off being at the end of their lifecycle. Not cause of piracy. you can't even pirate GameCube games can you?

3.) I have to imagine the XBOX 360 is pretty secure, and it will probably be years before the copy protection used for Blu-Ray is decrypted or hacked so the PS3 is not in any danger. Also, who the hell wants to download a 25GB PS3 game? Not me. Its enough of a hassle messing with PSP ISO's and they are almost always less than 1GB.

4.) If you have the right stuff, it is much easier to play NDS & GBA ROMS on a Nintendo DS than it is to play PSP ISO's on a PSP. But yet the Nintendo DS is dominating the PSP in almost every region.

5.) There probably are not as many die-hard PSP homebrew experts to cause a big profit loss for Sony due to ISO Loaders. Give DevHook or DAX Loader or any other loader to any homebrew "n00b" and tell them to use it. Most would probably smash their PSP out of frustration. Also for that reason, a lot of PSP homebrew users are intimidated by comlex nature of some of the ISO Loaders. I was one of those people once.

With all that said, quite simply I love using PSP ISO's. But I do own most games in UMD as well. I just have a 1.50 PSP and can't play the games otherwise. The faster CPU speed, extended battery life, and elimination of painful load times that the PSP is known for among other benefits makes ISO Loading spectacular on the PSP.

I KNOW most PSP homebrew users with a 1.50 PSP feel the same. I'm just not afriad to voice my support of it.

Also, I'm not so naive to not acknowledge the dangers and harm of piracy. But the only areas where I have seen major losses due to piracy is from Computer Software & Music. Video games are not really threatened too much by it. And with the next-gen consoles on their way, I don't think it will be worthwhile to try and play pirated PS3 games. Maybe in 3-4-6 years when Blu-Ray discs are as cheap as blank DVD's now and Blu-Ray Burners come in every PC. But not in the near future.

Now pardon me, I must go back to playing Tekken: Dark Resurrection on my trusty 1.50 :D

---

to half answer about gamecube piracy... i read onlin that with PSO and the adapter for broadband it is possible to rip the games to your hard drive and play them off of there, although a rental fee to get the disk is far better than the 50 + to get the game... even with blockbusters crazy 7.50 rental fees... to the other post... i think they stopping UMD movies because sony added the movie player, and most likely everyone with a psp hasa computer at the least, and most likely internet and limewire... why pay for what you can download...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Voltron

you can't even pirate GameCube games can you?

---

Actually, yes, you can, but it is VERY hard to do because the two things you need to rip a game and the modchip you need to get to play the games are VERY hard to find.

if you own a dvd you can convert it to run on the psp thats legal. what they charge for a umd movie should be a crime thats why thats dying not from people coping them. i for one only play iso on the psp load times are much better but i wouldnt even own any game systems if i couldnt play free games so im not hurting a damn thing i dont sell or share anything. sure i like games but to pay 65.00 dollars for a 360 game is crazy only elder is worth that the rest not even close

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oninotsume

Okay,
Every pirate cuts into what may have been a sale.

---

What if we were never going to buy the game anyway? Then the company isn't really affected either way except they no longer have the satisfaction that they denied me free entertainment.

For instance I would never have purchased some games I have "aquired" because they are overall bad or don't interest me that much but have some factor that I like, yet wouldn't pay for and would just go without under normal circumstances. Any game I do like I do pay for, or if one of above said games grows on me and it turns out I do like it later on, I tend to go out and buy it.

(Above mentioned are not PSP games, any newer console I almost always buy the games to help support it when starting out, and considering I use the PSP almost exclusively for homebrew at this point it's makes no difference)

Also I think that piracy will be dead in the next-gen (for consoles) because take Sony, they have gone comptletly anti-piracy with the PSP and now with the PS3. Also, Nintendo have always been good at blocking out piracy, but maybe people will find ways to play ROMS on the Wii's virtual console or copy the games. I don't know too much about the X360 so I'm not sure with that and piracy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ryan_rocks29

Also I think that piracy will be dead in the next-gen (for consoles) because take Sony, they have gone comptletly anti-piracy with the PSP and now with the PS3. Also, Nintendo have always been good at blocking out piracy, but maybe people will find ways to play ROMS on the Wii's virtual console or copy the games. I don't know too much about the X360 so I'm not sure with that and piracy.

---

I dunno, hackers can be pretty crafty, and they live for doing this kind of stuff. I think it'll be impossible to keep them out forever, even if all software exploits are taken care of hardware based modifications will be around for a while yet.

piracy wont die... it may actually get stronger. The more complex you make a system the more reasons for someone to hack into it. But there is an enourmous population of people who have no idea whats going on. My friends modded xbox still amazes people when they come over. When i show people homebrew on my psp like snes emulators they think im some sort of genius for having it. As long as it takes considerable effort to pirate stuff its going to be ok. Not too many people will do it and those who day hey they kinda earned it.

There are two types of game piracy, the ad-hoc home pirate who downloads iso's, and the organised mass duplication pirates who can run off possibly millions of copies for cheap sales, mostly in Asian countries where this is endemic. Given that home pirates probably account for far less than 1% of the users of any given console title, as the overwhelming majority of people don't even know this is possible, far less understand how to carry it out. Then complaints from the game industry that iso downloaders are killing their industry are simply nonsense. Sales will slump purely because games are dull, derivative, unengaging, and just no fun to play, so the market reacts accordingly, and correctly. To blame this on piracy is really just the games industry exhibiting a sense of self-entitlement in which they feel the market owes them sales no matter how poor the product.

As for mass-duplication commercial piracy, the industry has a more real concern here, as the consumer can engage in piracy with absolutely no additional technical knowledge, and may not even know what they are buying is pirated. But this so far seems to be confined to countries where copyright enforcement is lax, and the average consumer doesn't have the income to pay western prices for games or software anyway. Obviously this would be alarming if this type of piracy spills over into western markets, but this doesn't ever likely to happen on a significant scale. I have never personally seen or heard of pirated copies of Halo 2 or GTA for sale in local markets, no doubt it must happen, but conventional law enforcement can contain this quite effectively.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Voltron

it will probably be years before the copy protection used for Blu-Ray is decrypted or hacked

---

It's already been hacked actually, I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere, but I can't remember where...

The XBOX 360 is pirate-able...don't even need a chip.

So is the Gamecube...mod the box and DVDs fit nicely.

It's extremely EASY to download games for EVERY SYSTEM.....the knowledge is everywhere, ironically some people are too lazy to learn how.

The PS3 will be hacked....let's see a new technology with no security holes? Please!!!! It will be expensive for the lowly end-user pirate because of the expensive media and Blue-Ray burners but everything becomes cheaper in time.

I can see the Wii being a problem because of it's size, but who knows? Maybe they'll find a way for games to be played by large SD Memory cards like the PSP? Sony was stupid enough to put that GAME folder there, (that's a real thought I'd like to hear more about, I wonder how many people lost their job because of that lovely feature...quick qestion, that folder was supposed to be for demos & updates....how many demos have we gotten???)

These people (scene groups) like the challenge and they are very good at what they do. The end-user, usually, waits patiently at the other end.

I think estimating that 1% of the gaming public pirate games is WAY under shooting it; but I could be wrong of course. I'm amazed when I meet people who still buy movies & music on a consistent basis.

Piracy isn't hurting the business, overly expensive & inflated proudction costs transferred to the customer in $60+ games is what hurts the industry.

I think copying games and then selling them is what is actually bad because you are making money off of what someone else did. 360 has already been hacked, I think PS3 will be hard since no one has a Blu ray burner in their computer, and I think Wii will be easy to hack since Nintendo isn't as concerned about piracy as MS and Sony.

This thread is going to be impossible to moderate....
I mean the very subject alone is a taboo topic.

Shadowprophet exits the thread and pretends he never saw it......

Just remember the rules people. No links to warez. And no warez discussion, (remember) the topic was ,Is software piracy really that big of an issue. like everyone sais it is,- That doesnt mean this thread is a free card to vent iso and warez discussion. We're watching. So avoid breaking the rules;)

Depends on the particular game and particular console. I'd say overall, very negligable. But on the psp side, iso and video loading probably hurts. Homebrew on the other hand, cancels all that out major league.


Consider this...people often pirate games they don't think are worth the money e.g they wouldn't have bought it anyway.

I do not believe piracy is affecting most consoles too much. However, policies toward any console/portable system and public relations may play a larger role in the success of a console system and how many people will pirate games for it. I hope I do not sound too biased but I traded in my PSP for a Nintendo DS because I am under the impression that Nintendo's policies regarding the DS are far more friendly and courteous towards consumers than SONY's policies. Of course, the fact that the PSP's games are mostly the same old stuff people have played before and the excessive load times did not help either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aryn

Of course, the fact that the PSP's games are mostly the same old stuff people have played before and the excessive load times did not help either.

---

i agree with you

and i think that piracy is a factor, but not that great of a big one, seeing as only a small percentage of the general public know about and how to pirate games, i can still amaze people with moonshell, beup (MSN) and NesDS

IMO piracy may even help promote games. Say theres a game that you'd like to try but isnt released in your country (say Brave Story :p). If people try it out and like it, they may actually import it. I'd like to think of piracy as more of a rental - only free. Besides that, if they pirate it, it normally means they werent intending on buying it in the first place (unless of course they try it an actually like it, maybe they'll buy it). Same thing can be viewed about music piracy. More people are downloading illegally, yet sales have increased!

Well, thats my rant :rolleyes:

back in the day i had the cd drive for the n64, i had hundreds of the hk silver disks for the psone....and yet, when i game came out that i was interested in, i went out and usually prepaid for it, the cheap pirated stuff was to entertain me between the games i wanted, i honestly have no real desire to runs iso's on the psp though, for me, a portable is for quick entertainment rather than sitting down with for hours playing a new game that would be better suited on a tv screen.

as far as hurting the industry, i do not think it does, yes the mass produced disks from hong kong hurt sales, but chances are that the person buying 3 dollar pirated games would NOT have gone out and bought new games anyways.

when the game is good, people will buy it, or wait and buy a used copy like i do although i still do not own a single psp game becuse it is for my emulators :D

piracy on computer software does do more harm as far as sales goes i think though since alot of software is insanely priced, possibly to make up for the people pirating it, but i seriously doubt that videogame industry actually takes any sort of loss because those that copy would not buy the gmes new to begin with.

done rambling.

I've been buying and playing games since back in the Atari days. I remember saving $50 from various jobs to buy "Raiders of the Lost Ark" only to be disappointed at the fact the game was virtually impossible to finish.
I have 10 children and own just about every console ever made. I have probably spent in excess of $20,000 dollars in the past 25 years on consoles and games (Carts, UMDs, CDs/DVDs, ect).
Do I think it is alright to use pirated games?
The short answer is yes.
I use this as a try before you buy philosophy. If I find myself or one of my children playing the game for more than a week I will go out and buy it.
In short I do not believe piracy hurts companies as much as they claim.
If they release creative and fun games I believe most will pay for it. If the game is garbage they should not blame poor sales on piracy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by $n!pR

IMO piracy may even help promote games. Say theres a game that you'd like to try but isnt released in your country (say Brave Story :p). If people try it out and like it, they may actually import it. I'd like to think of piracy as more of a rental - only free. Besides that, if they pirate it, it normally means they werent intending on buying it in the first place (unless of course they try it an actually like it, maybe they'll buy it). Same thing can be viewed about music piracy. More people are downloading illegally, yet sales have increased!

Well, thats my rant :rolleyes:

---

lol, but dude, it is still a piracy with it, no matter what.
i wish it will stop, but its a job for people that had been maintaining their family and theirselfs,

It wasnt a question of moral, it was a question of if piracy is hurting game companies....My answer was no.

lol
ok dude,
who want to pirate hunt!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PlantationBoss

There are two types of game piracy, the ad-hoc home pirate who downloads iso's, and the organised mass duplication pirates who can run off possibly millions of copies for cheap sales, mostly in Asian countries where this is endemic. [...]

As for mass-duplication commercial piracy, the industry has a more real concern here, as the consumer can engage in piracy with absolutely no additional technical knowledge, and may not even know what they are buying is pirated. [...]

---

I think this is an excellent point. Pirating to test a game or music or movie etc, is one of those moral grey areas. Pirating to make money and deceive others is bad. Trying to enforce IP laws on other countries is the real challenge for companies, but would affect their profit margins the most.