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Forums - Sales - Sony: Piracy Has Taken 'Big Chunk Of Game Sales' From PSP!

TWRoO on 22 April 2009
Aj_habfan said:
mjc2021 said:
Honestly I think people just don't want to buy PSP games. DS is probably the most pirated console ever and still manages to sell games pretty damn well.

Honestly, look at the markets of each system. I don't think 40 year old moms or little kids would even know where to begin with hacking, or even know it's possible. PSP's market is directly in-line with tech-savy males who would be most likely to hack it. That, and PSP has gained a large reputation for being an easy to pirate handheld.

And the guy is right. It does hurt software. Obviously some people buy it becuase they want to download games, but many people would just as easily buy the system regardless, maybe not right away, but as the software was coming so would these fans.

I was incredibly suprised my cousin had a DS with an SD card in it with about 30 games on it (is that an R4?).... believe me she wouldn't have a clue about hacking anything in a software way, but being offered a cart with cheap games is pretty easy.

 



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Hephaestos on 22 April 2009

Yeah that's a bit of a late call...

One good thing about hacking though.... I see most PSP games in the €10-20 range... which would be low enough to not motivate new buyers to actually hack.... then you have to consider that this is a media player and many people get it for this and not massive gaming.... so low attach rate is also affected by this.

On the other hand, the story of the PSP is hilarious, especially of how it continuously got rehacked and how they hacked the slim before it even released :p



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Hephaestos on 22 April 2009

The Ghost of RubangB said:
 I highly doubt PSP games are being pirated any more than DS games, and if anything, they're being pirated far less because you actually have to mod/hack firmware/whatever.

(I think if forced to choose between paying or not playing, they'd choose to not play).

I think video games cost too much, and if they can get the prices to a point that more people are comfortable paying, then the increase in sales will more than make up for it.

 

1 100MB to 2gig downloads Vs 1Mb to 200Mb downloads agree with you as well as the simplicity of DS hacking (buy a $15 card)

 

2 that is the same as the cost argument... but i believe that is the right interpretation... or play less.

 

3 I believe HD games cost too much... €70, I didn't like the €10 increase this gen.... then again now you get your games in the UK for €20-40 in the first weeks of launch =) PSP games had low price tags from what I saw



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nitekrawler1285 on 22 April 2009

http://www.quantcast.com/dark-alex.org#traffic

 

This is the traffic of the site that the latest M33 firmware uses to download the update.  Reaching little less than 30K people a month I find it hard to believe that piracy is all that rampant on the PSP.  My anecdotal evidence would also prove otherwise but it would seem the numbers for PSP piracy simply can't be all that high.  Or maybe i'm just hopeful. 

PSP's are no longer quite that easy to hack.  You need a pandora's battery and to flash the firmware.  You have to cut open the battery and cut portions to make that battery if you don't already have an CFW PSP.  In addition to needing an XP computer to load the files for flashing the firmware.



msnolp on 22 April 2009
Kasz216 said:

I disagree.... I think piracy has created a huge chunk of PSPs sold.

Without piracy... these PSPs just wouldn't of sold.


It's like the Ipod.  Is piracy hurting Itunes sales....?  Or is it pushing more Ipods.

Studies seem to show it's the latter.

.........................



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NJ5 on 22 April 2009
The Ghost of RubangB said:
The amount of copies of a particular movie or game that are pirated are related to how many it will sell. If a game is really popular, more people will buy it and more people will pirate it. The only game that had a disproportionate amount of pirated copies was Spore, because everybody was pirating it to protest the DRM. I highly doubt PSP games are being pirated any more than DS games, and if anything, they're being pirated far less because you actually have to mod/hack firmware/whatever. Downloading DS games is as easy as downloading .mp3s. There are still a great many people who will never download DS games or .mp3s.

I don't think piracy really hurts Sony or Nintendo though as much as they say though. I think it gets them to sell more hardware, DOESN'T hurt game sales (I think if forced to choose between paying or not playing, they'd choose to not play), and actually raises awareness about their games. There are pirates with tons of games, and their friends come over to play stuff. Their friends go "Wow this is cool can I borrow it?" and then "Oh, it won't play on my system at home unless I mod it?" "Naw, I don't want to mod it, that sounds risky. I'll just buy it."

I'm not advocating piracy, but I think video games cost too much, and if they can get the prices to a point that more people are comfortable paying, then the increase in sales will more than make up for it. Some people will always be pirates, and some people will never be pirates. And there are some who will only pirate if something costs waaaaay too much or is riddled with DRM.

Yeah, for example Windows would have nowhere near the market share it has if it wasn't for piracy. I'm pretty sure that Microsoft wants people to pirate their software to some extent (if it's a choice between pirating it and using something else like a Mac or Linux).

 



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iron_megalith on 22 April 2009

Wow.... I commend thy honesty but....... X(



mike_intellivision on 22 April 2009

The PSP is perceived to be a hackers' console. And it has long been a theory that this has hurt software sales, because many software titles do not seem to move in anywhere near the numbers that would be expected for the install base.

Thus, Sony wanted to say something and show some effort as it works to increase the quality/quantity of software available to the system. If I was a third-party developer, I would want the hardware company working to make sure that people did not get my game for free.

This is the strongest statements that I recall Sony making in this regard. Nintendo has had similar problems with the DS -- and has always been very vocal about it.

I just hope for the sake of those who love their PSP that these games do sell well -- because if they do not, for whatever reason, it probably will mark the end of significant support for the system.

Mike from Morgantown



      


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radha on 22 April 2009

i find funny that the guys working on hacking the psp say "we are still working on hacking the psp-3000". they use the word work LOL



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BladeOfGod on 22 April 2009

actually you don't need Pandora's battery anymore. You can make a Pandora battery out of your normal PSP battery, but of course, there is a risk of destroying your normal battery