Does Piracy Hinder Consoles ?

***wraggster*** · May 13th, 2006, 10:40

What a bloody busy week of newsposting, what with E3 etc but anyway heres a question that will surely get some response.

Does Piracy Hinder Consoles ?

Apart from the Dreamcast which piracy really did a number on that console, does piracy destroy a console or help it.

If you look at the big consoles of the last 10 years or so, im talking GBA, Xbox, PSone and PS2 all of them had modchips and flash carts etc and they dominated over the consoles that didnt at that time.

Yes piracy kills software sales and we do not condone it in anyway at all but for hardware sales does it actually help sales.

Thoughts on this? - (No Flaming just good discussion wanted)

**shadowprophet** · May 13th, 2006, 10:51

There are many reasons piracy hinders consoles,
But the main gripe I have about piracy.
Is ultimately it causes the price of comercial games to rise

**kcc86** · May 13th, 2006, 11:07

If you look at the big consoles of the last 10 years or so, im talking GBA, Xbox, PSone and PS2 all of them had modchips and flash carts etc and they dominated over the consoles that didnt at that time.

Yes piracy kills software sales and we do not condone it in anyway at all but for hardware sales does it actually help sales.

agreed...

Software companies take the big hit when consoles are easily exploited. Piracy helps console sales; doesn't the thought of buying a console with "free games," sound tempting?

**samidgley** · May 13th, 2006, 11:12

Piracy seems to help the actual console though... I rember when the Playstation first came out everyone bought them because you could get them chipped

**shadowprophet** · May 13th, 2006, 11:20

Originally Posted by samidgley

Piracy seems to help the actual console though... I rember when the Playstation first came out everyone bought them because you could get them chipped

And im not going to argue that point lol

However there where a few people,
Me included that viewed the orig psx as a flop untill final fantasy seven turned things around,
I credit a lot of the psones success to that turning point release

**mog** · May 13th, 2006, 13:39

Yeah, if nintendo had used cd instead of cartridge on their n64, how different the console world would be today...
Squaresoft would have stuck with nintendo, Final Fantasy 7 would have been released on n64, and playstation would have died long ago!

Software piracy can hurt console sales, with software companies abandoning a console because it does not have enough security. This results in a lack of games and high game prices, causing people to choose a different console.
But piracy definitely helps console hardware sales, because there are too many pirates that buy the consoles, knowing games can be acquired freely by illegeal means.
So it helps and hurts console sales, but it ultimately depends on which outweighs the other...

**gotmilk0112** · May 13th, 2006, 13:46

whichever, piracy sux. and as IndianCheese's sig says:

"Illegaly downoading iso's is just as bad as shoplifting the game from a store"

^so true^

but i think dreamcast died because of lack of good games. the only good games i had for it were SA 1 & 2 and some bass fishing game that was really fun. and atari anniversary edition for dreacast was super game.

**muffinman** · May 13th, 2006, 13:56

i dont know tbh piracy does make more people buy a console but it does reduce software sales :s
i think figures show that console with piracy have done better though

**GinaWrite** · May 13th, 2006, 14:06

Originally Posted by wraggster

(snip)

Apart from the Dreamcast which piracy really did a number on that console, does piracy destroy a console or help it.

(snip)

IMHO, the 32X and the Saturn killed the Dreamcast as many people didn't want to get burned a third time.

Gina

**crazyjohn** · May 13th, 2006, 14:29

Part of the issue is that whilst the ability to pirate games for a system may increase the consoles sales, in many cases it cost more than (or at least equel to) the RRP to produce the system. The profit is earned through software licences. I dont believe that this is the case for the PSP (As sony takes into account that not everyone will use it for games) but it has been true for others.

------------------
"Illegaly downoading iso's is just as bad as shoplifting the game from a store"

^so true^
------------------

Well, not quite... if you shoplift from a store you have quite a big impact on that stores profit margins. Not that I'm in any way encouraging it but if you download an iso you are stealing from Sony... and I dont think they're doing to bad for themselves, eh? Whatsmore if you had no intention of buying that game in the first place you are not effecting them. Once again not saying that I agree with it but I dont think you can directly compare the two.