Lord N said:
Those two consoles being hacked had nothing to do with their software sales being poor. |
I think you might be able to argue that these consoles being hacked wasn't the only reason the had poor(er) software sales, or (possibly) that the consoles being hacked wasn't the main reason they had poor(er) software sales but the fact is that piracy will impact software sales.
If your system is difficult enough to hack that it requires some sort of hardware modification that will void the waranty 75% (or greater) of people who might consider stealing a game won't because they don't want to risk the money they spent on their system. On the other hand, if your console can easily be hacked using a 'softmod' (like the PSP), or no modification at all (like the Dreamcast), then many consumers who would normally buy games will end up stealing games and (potentially worse) many of the consumers who end up buying your system do so because it is easy to steal games ...
Now the PSP has other reasons software sales are so poor (mainly that its media functionality attracts people who buy the system with no intention of playing games on it) but when you have sold more units than the PS3 and XBox 360 combined and sell approximately 1/2 the software of either system (and the system has a reputation for rampant piracy) it is fair to conclude that piracy is having some impact on software sales.
