| naznatips said: Well that's piracy on everything though correct, not the games industry? Because there is no way that's how it plays out if you narrow it down to video games only. Japan often has higher attach rates on their systems than either of the other 2 major territories. However, in China you can walk into a store and find a burnt copy of a Wii game for the equivalent of 3 bucks. It's nothing like that in America. Obviously, there aren't stores that sell pirated software here. I can't imagine there are enough tech savvy gamers in America for piracy to make any real dent on the industry. Music? Movies? Absolutely. Any idiot who can use torrents can abuse that, but video games? No, I can't see there being any real effect on the Wii being slightly easier to pirate games for than the PS3. |
Well that's piracy on everything though correct, not the games industry?
As far as I'm aware, correct - and I mentioned as much in my post.
Japan often has higher attach rates on their systems than either of the other 2 major territories.
What I find so surprising is how they are willing to ise illegal software but buy original games! I would love to see what the videogame vs software (applications and operating systems) piracy rates are like over there.
However, in China you can walk into a store and find a burnt copy of a Wii game for the equivalent of 3 bucks.
Only if you want to overpay - you can get games for US$0.64!
It's nothing like that in America. Obviously, there aren't stores that sell pirated software here. I can't imagine there are enough tech savvy gamers in America for piracy to make any real dent on the industry.
Actually the US are pretty savvy when it comes to these things - and the rest of the world for that matter. When I stayed in the US with a friend that's all he would do - visit warez sites and download games to burn onto CD or DVD. Here in Hong Kong I met a Canadian who was really into Xbox but had loads of games that were downloaded via torrent sites and burned onto DVDs - and he did this with a friend when he was back in Canada. In fact, of all the Americans and Canadians I know here that play games, they all pirate - and it wasn't a habit they acquired in Hong Kong; they started back home. The availability of pirated software in stores means they can just go and buy the games for the cheap now, but I'm willing to wager that they would continue downloading games illegally if Hong Kong lacked pirated software.
The fact that all these guys pirate games from back home is very telling IMO. Of course this is anecdotal, but out of all of them, they all do it - and that's a 100% batting average!
I think piracy is rampant worldwide, period. I don't know how much of a dent each country may create on the overall gaming industry, but small dents are still dents and collectively they can cause "MASSIVE DAMAGE" (heh) on the industry as a whole.
Finally, video games are very available online. Wii games are everywhere, as well as Xbox, 360, DS, PSP and PS2 games. Only the PS3 doesn't have any piratable games yet, but that's more a matter of when, not if.
Of course, I don't know exactly what the videogame piracy rates are, but I'm looking for references and links. If any of you can find anything please post! It's an interesting subject IMO.
