Demotruk said:
Ubisoft DS games are not the kind to be heavily pirated. I think I prefer Iwata's explanation, that interest in DS is declining because they haven't managed to make any new software into the sorts of phenomenon that Nintendogs, Brain Training, NSMB and MK:DS were. As interest in the DS declines, software naturally declines with it. Ubisoft would be hit hard by this, of course. |
Ubisoft said the drop was mainly in regions such as Germany, Scandanavia and North-East Europe, where piracy is growing stronger for the DS. I'm really basing what I said off of Ubisoft's quotes from their Fiscal report, as well as other interviewee's / publishers saying DS piracy is becoming more predominent in eastern Europe.
The DS is starting to wind down too now it'd seem though, which doesn't help. The second hand market certainly makes it difficult for Ubisoft to keep releasing what are very similiar games and expect to charge full price. I think Scribblenauts success shows that you need software that'll stand out to get a huge hit.
So er, I guess both explanations account for it. To have a drop-off to Ubisoft's extent though to me has to primarily attributed to Piracy, I believe they had DS revenue drop by over 50% which is hugeeee.
