Tag Archives: Piracy

Namco Bandai VP Olivier Comte has said that he thinks Ubisoft’s PC DRM policy is “good” for the moment because there’s “nothing else that will work” against piracy at the moment.

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Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed Friday – following the company’s earnings report – that there are plans in place to combat the growing problem with piracy of DS games.

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European DS software sales have dropped 50 percent recently thanks to pirates, Nintendo’s claimed.

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Take-Two CEO Ben Feder has told MCV that unit sales of GTA: Chinatown Wars in the US “represented nearly 50 percent of the unit sales of all M-rated DS titles in the history of the platform.”

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While Atomic was showing Breach at PAX East over the weekend, an attendee at the booth attempted to steal the game’s code.

After stealing about 14Mb of the game’s code, he ran off upon discovery, and was luckily apprehended a bit later.

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One of DRM’s many problems has always been its staying power. Publishers build their walls higher and higher, but pirates just bulldoze right over them time and time again.

Ubisoft, however, thought its anti-piracy solution was different. And, unfortunately (or extremely fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Ubisoft thought wrong.

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Sony has decided to fight back against used game sales by requiring customers who purchase SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3 to register through the internet before being able to play multiplayer online.

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Ubisoft has announced it’s replacing its StarForce digital rights management application for a newer method.

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With recent the recent wave of modded Xbox 360 console bans by Microsoft, loads of these boxes are going up on Craigslist.

According to a report on CNET, these modded come with a “slew of hit titles” if you want one despite the fact you can’t log into Live with ‘em. One listing promised a console with a 20Gb hard drive; 20 HD movies; and 13 games including Madden 2010, Modern Warfare 2, and NBA 2K10.

Apparently, these folks are selling the banned consoles to get money for a new one. No doubt. It also seems it’s just the console and not the account that has been banned.

More through the link.

Microsoft has responded to the wave of bans on Xbox Live over modded 360 consoles, and while it has decided to remain mum on specific figures, it was quick to remind consumers that piracy is illegal and subject to consequences.

“While we don’t comment on specific numbers, Microsoft’s commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of the Xbox LIVE community remains a top priority,” a Microsoft spokesperson told VG247.

“All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and modifying their Xbox 360 console violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live.

“We can assure you that if an Xbox Live member follows the terms of use, purchased a retail copy of Modern Warfare 2 and played the game on an unmodified Xbox 360, no action will be taken.”

We assume that this also applies to pirated versions of games like Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, but since there is apparently not a demand for it, MS decided to only mention Infinity Ward’s latest.

The results of the latest TIGA survey are in, and it appears that the majority of UK game developers have this whole piracy thing under control.

While 90 percent think piracy is an “increasing problem,” 60 percent see unlawful plundering and pilfering as only a “low threat” to the viability of their companies. A mere 10 percent, meanwhile, think piracy is public enemy number one, assigning it a “significant threat” rating. Overall, though, it looks like developers aren’t abandoning ship just yet.

“The results of the TIGA piracy survey clearly demonstrate that UK developers are taking the initiative when dealing with the issue of piracy and looking for new ways of delivering content and communicating directly with their consumers,” said Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA.

Thanks, GI.biz.

Sony couldn’t topple pirates with firmware, so the console-maker’s taking things to the next logical level with an all-out hardware based assault. The target: the PSP Go’s battery.

“You won’t be able to rip your games and play them on the system, the firmware precludes that,” Sony’s John Koller told PlayStation Insider. “There’s no external battery, so there’s a number of protections put into place on the system.”

See, before, pirates were able to wrestle control of the platform away from Sony with something known as the Pandora Battery. Without the ability to install it, however, pirates will have a much harder time cracking the PSP Go. Or at least, that’s the hope.

Sony’s playing hardball now. It’s your move, pirates.

During Ubisoft’s financial call to investors, CEO Yves Guillemot revealed that new and back-catalog DS games sales dropped 67 percent compared to the same time frame as last year.

The blame was put on DS piracy in Europe and the company does not expect titles for the handheld to pick back up until summer roles around once more.

“Altogether our DS sales are down 67 percent versus last year and this has affected both the back catalog and the new releases,” he stated. “It’s important to note that we do lots of our DS game sales during the summer which is a period where people go for holidays and buy lots of those games. Because this market is slowing down it has a big impact on the second quarter.”

“Entering the second quarter we expect those trends to continue with much lower than expected sales of back catalog and new releases on DS games.”

Guillemot said Ubisoft is looking to boost DS sales in the meantime by including extras like figurines and premium packaging to lure customers into a purchase.

“What we are seeing in Europe, especially on the DS, is that the piracy is strong so we are working to put new figurines and new elements in the box that will change that for the future,” he said. “But in the short-term it’s affecting us. For example in Europe we have the same market share on DS as last year, so it’s really the market which is declining.

“Retail, because of that, is less active on the format.”

Thanks, GI.biz.

In an earnings call today, Ubisoft announced a 50 percent sales drop from the same quarter last year, and attributed the brunt of that heavy blow to piracy.

“Altogether on console, the piracy is low,” Ubisoft head Yves Guillemot said. “On the PC the piracy is quite a lot. We are working on a tool that would allow us to decrease that on the PC starting next year and probably one game this year.”

On top of that, Guillemot noted that DS piracy is a larger-than-expected problem — something he hopes to rectify by selling physical pack-ins (like figurines) with games.

The PSP, also, has seen its fair share of piracy in the past, but now that the console possesses “new ways to control piracy,” Ubisoft is once again looking into potential projects on Sony’s handheld.

Thanks, Kotaku.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has placed Canada on the Priority Watch List for piracy alongside Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, and Venezuela.

This is the first time Canada has been put on such a list by the US government, and after complaining to the country for some time now over it’s need for copyright reform, it has now been “listed”.

The ESA seems pleased, as the game lobbyist  has been pushing Canada’s parliament to outlaw mod chips and adopt some sort of Digital Millenium Copyright Act for quite some time.

“Putting Canada on the ‘Priority Watch List’ is a signal of the Obama Administration’s commitment to strengthening global intellectual property protection, and its intent to address this issue firmly with the Canadian government,” said ESA’s Michael Gallagher.

“Canada’s weak laws and enforcement practices foster game piracy in the Canadian market and pave the way for unlawful imports into the U.S.”

To counteract piracy in Canada, the USTR suggests it:

• Enact legislation outlawing game circumvention devices, such as “mod chips” and “game copiers,” in line with Canada’s international treaty obligations
• Create adequate legal incentives for internet service providers (ISPs) to work with copyright owners in combating online piracy
• Provide Customs officials with adequate authority to make ex officio seizures of counterfeit and pirate product at the border
• Provide adequate resources to anti-piracy enforcement efforts and make prosecution of intellectual property crimes a high priority.

More over on GamePolitics.

The ESA has appointed Jennifer Manner as its new senior vice president for government affairs.

This position most likely stems from a report filed by the ESA regarding piracy concerns in Europe.

“The entertainment software industry is faced with a variety of challenges and opportunities at the national level from protecting intellectual property and preserving First Amendment rights to fostering economic development and technological advancement,” said ESA bossman Michael Gallagher.

“Jennifer’s wealth of policy experience, particularly in the broadband space, will serve the ESA and our members well as we work to create a prosperous environment for the entire computer and video game industry.”

Jennifer was previously senior counsel for the FCC and legal counsel for various tech based organizations and her responsibilities at the ESA will include heading the government relations team.

Apparently she is also a surfer girl.

The ESA has filed a special report with the US trade representative outlining how “rife” piracy is in Western Europe.

According to the report, during December 2008 thirteen different titles were downloaded 6.4 million times — two titles accounted for 4.7 million of those downloads

“Piracy is the single greatest threat to the innovation, artistic commitment and technological advancements enjoyed by millions of consumers worldwide,” said ESA bossman Michael Gallagher.

“Piracy is a job-killer that the world economy cannot afford in these difficult economic times.

“Countries that skirt obligations to combat piracy need to understand the unacceptable damage they are facilitating —and those countries that invest in protecting intellectual property rights and ensure that piracy is not tolerated at any level should be lauded.”

Filed by the International Intellectual Property Alliance, the report lists copyright and piracy issues that have occurred in 48 foreign countries.

It is suggested that 40 of these countries be put on a “USTR Watch List” with Italy, Spain, France Germany and Poland being the biggest offenders.

Missed this yesterday in all the Games Convention madness, but in an interview with Eurogamer, Peter Moore said that he feels that there are better solutions to tackling piracy than hurting consumers financially.

“There are better solutions than chasing people for money,” Moore says. “I’m not sure what they are, other than to build game experiences that make it more difficult for there to be any value in pirating games.”

Full interview with everyone’s favourite EA Sports president through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Speaking with GI, id Software CEO, Todd Hollenshead, said that piracy is a “hidden benefit” when you buy a PC.

When asked about what PC manufacturers could do to help prevent piracy, Hollenshead replied: “There’s lots of things that they could do but typically just they just line up on the wrong side of the argument in my opinion.”

“They have lots of reasons as to why they do that, but I think that there’s been this dirty little secret among hardware manufacturers, which is that the perception of free content – even if you’re supposed to pay for it on PCs – is some sort hidden benefit that you get when you buy a PC, like a right to download music for free or a right to download pirated movies and games.”

Full interview through the link.

By Mike Bowden

According to this, Nintendo Korea is likely to launch Wii in South Korea before the country’s Children’s Day, which falls on May 5.

As the article points out, piracy’s a massive problem in Korea, an issue Wii is unlikely to be able to shrug off.

“Even before its official release, many game shops in major electronics stores such as Yongsan and Kukje Electronics Market have been selling imported Wii players that have a special chip transplanted to run duplicated game CDs,” said the story.

Have a read. Interesting stuff.