Videogame Piracy Rampant Among Console Owners—Macrovision
Videogame piracy among console players might be greater than believed and is likely to increase, causing “significant losses” to the gaming industry, a preliminary study released Mon. by copy protection giant Macrovision said.
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The company’s survey of 6,000 Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 users showed that 21% of gamers play pirated games, but 73% would have bought the game within one month if a free version had not been readily available. “This high level of piracy on console systems, which are generally considered to be secure closed systems, is surprising,” Macrovision said. Although the company offers copy protection for PC games, it doesn’t offer a system for stand-alone consoles and their software.
The study also found 43% of all gamers who play pirated games download more than 15 pirated titles per year. More than 74% of downloaded pirated games come from Internet websites or peer-to-peer networks, while 21% of the games are copied from friends, Macrovision said. Of those who play pirated games, 64% have installed mod chips on their consoles.
Unauthorized copying and file-sharing of games is likely to become worse owing to the increasing popularity of broadband connections, Macrovision forecast. “The prevalence of high-speed Internet and the availability of pirated games on websites and peer-to-peer networks have made downloading pirated games relatively easy and widespread,” said Steve Weinstein, Macrovision exec. vp and gen. mgr.-entertainment technologies. “Game piracy will increase rapidly over the coming months and years as gamers hone their downloading methods and behaviors.” Macrovision commissioned the study “to help the industry better understand the primary sources of ongoing revenue displacement,” Weinstein said. It was based on surveys conducted in Feb. of about 6,000 console game players, randomly selected from a pool of visitors to various game- related websites, Macrovision said.