PSP, DS piracy cost industry $41.6 billion since 2004

According to Japan's Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association (CESA), piracy on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP has cost the industry $41.6 billion USD since June 2004.

The group began conducting research in June 2004 and ended in late 2009.

Research was done by tracking the downloading done of the top 20 software titles in Japan from 114 piracy sites.

CESA says that amounted to $10.4 billion in piracy losses, and the region accounts for 25 percent of the entire global software market so the total posted above was Japan's "losses," multiplied by four.

The report says P2P networks like Gnutella were not included, and says the $41.6 billion number may actually be conservative.

In the world, the U.S. was the "busiest region" for piracy, followed by Japan and then China.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 7 Jun 2010 23:41

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18 comments

KillerBug

"The report says P2P networks like Gnutella were not included, and says the $41.6 billion number may actually be conservative."

No, the report is not conservative...it does not even figure in the fact that no one is willing to buy these softwares anyway; so piracy does not result in loss of sales. If anything, piracy sells the units...and they make money on those.

8.6.2010 00:51 #1

DXR88

Originally posted by KillerBug: "The report says P2P networks like Gnutella were not included, and says the $41.6 billion number may actually be conservative."

No, the report is not conservative...it does not even figure in the fact that no one is willing to buy these softwares anyway; so piracy does not result in loss of sales. If anything, piracy sells the units...and they make money on those. Not to mentioned Sony isn't exactly turning out awe inspiring titles. i don't think the PSP would have done any better software wise if it had not been hacked.

41.6 billion dollars is like what in government issue a couple of F-22's and 3 javelin's even teh made up numbers don't serve a purpose.

41.6 Billion dollars doesn't get people jobs, 41.6 billion dollars doesn't help eliminate out sourcing. 41.6 billion dollars doesn't get rid of all the money grubbing corperations.

so what is 41.6 billion dollars good for...Surveys and a nice fictional number that dumb politicians will play with when there being pressed to let RIAA/MPAA/and game developers police and sentence the wrong doers themselves.

8.6.2010 00:57 #2

biglo30

If you ask me the psp actually benefit from piracy because I'm sure if it had not been hacked it would have never seen so much hardware sales(the only reason why i bough one), because the most of the games that they have for it realllllly suck. I think sony really doomed them selves from the start by not including a dual analog in the unit because it really limited the systems capabilities. Playing games like call of duty really sucked because of the lack of buttons because you have to use the buttons as an analog.

8.6.2010 01:22 #3

eiamhere

Exactly. if the PSP was not hacked, they wouldn't sell any where near as many consoles. Their user base would be smaller, meaning less developers prepared to make games, but mainly less potential customers.

8.6.2010 03:58 #4

KillerBug

I know for a fact that we spent much more than that much on blowing up schools in Iraq...and then we spent even more on shipping "sailboat fuel" back and forth across the most dangerous roads in the world.

8.6.2010 04:03 #5

elbald90

i have to agree i only bought my kids DS'S and myself a PSP on the strength that i could download the games .Had i have been made to buy the games i can safely say i would not have purchased either

8.6.2010 05:07 #6

Mysttic

They also do not factor in that out of all those downloads, someone out there would have bought some of those games to have for their collection. *Cough* Pokemon; as a lead example.

My opinion; let them kill piracy in its entirety, then they'll realize how wrong their figures are, as people won't stand by and just by shit products and maybe just maybe if piracy was dead, they'd start giving a shit about making quality products in all types of media entertainment.

Honestly make it a criminal offense with jail time in every country, shut down anything that can even begin to file share, or nab. Then do that for 10 years; see if it even lasts that long and forecast the sales. Will they reach 42 billion then, my ass they will.

8.6.2010 08:51 #7

Tristan_2

Please-_- I think its safe to say we all know this is bull shit sorry for my language but really the companies know this is bs. Despite PSP's Custom Firmware the PSP and DS grow in sales sure the PSP isn't exactly booming but it has sales possisbally half the sales of the DS without Piracy.

8.6.2010 09:11 #8

MrBarlow

They cant just count downloads, times by �xx and then say thats how much they have lost...!!
The only DS games that I download are ones I wouldnt have bought anyway!!
So they are losing nothing from me in that equation!!

8.6.2010 12:37 #9

SProdigy

It's all about the quick buck anymore. I was sitting in the cheapo theater this week and saw the trailer for Alice in Wonderland... "Coming March 2010"... wait a tick, that's out on DVD and Blu-Ray ALREADY?

Remember when quality flicks would have some longevity and just about anything you could go see at the movies might be worth the money? Throw that out the window with any form of entertainment anymore.

The suits sit in their office and hope that maybe 1 out of 10 ideas sticks, because that 1 will make enough profit so that the other 9 can lose money and not matter. It's quantity and getting the masses to part with their dollar as much as possible. Guess what? We're not going to buy EVERYTHING anymore! 40 billion dollar loss? Right...

8.6.2010 13:22 #10

ThePastor

They'll stop piracy at the same time they close our southern border...

8.6.2010 20:03 #11

MrPuffin

Oh WE LOST 46 BILLION DOLLARS

is that supposed to change the mind of pirates who don't give a sh*t about how much the company profits anyway specially when they have made like $500 billion since 04

i do download stuff from torrents but if i like the game i will generally buy it

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8.6.2010 21:37 #12

KillerBug

I think at this point, pirates would be happy to hurt some of these companies, if only they could. I know pirates are happy to hurt Ubisoft!

8.6.2010 23:21 #13

chanulus

Originally posted by KillerBug: I know for a fact that we spent much more than that much on blowing up schools in Iraq...and then we spent even more on shipping "sailboat fuel" back and forth across the most dangerous roads in the world. yes, because that has so much to do with this article...

9.6.2010 00:12 #14

pcrazy99

The majority of Ds and Psp games are garbage. I don't remember a time where I actually played my DS or Psp unless I was killing time.

9.6.2010 01:15 #15

JOHNSTARR

Originally posted by pcrazy99: The majority of Ds and Psp games are garbage. I don't remember a time where I actually played my DS or Psp unless I was killing time. I've spend more time updating my psp firmware then actually playing it.

No time for Leap frog!!!

9.6.2010 04:47 #16

KillerBug

Originally posted by chanulus: Originally posted by KillerBug: I know for a fact that we spent much more than that much on blowing up schools in Iraq...and then we spent even more on shipping "sailboat fuel" back and forth across the most dangerous roads in the world. yes, because that has so much to do with this article...

I'm just saying that Halliburton charged more than 40 billion to transport nothing...why cant sony and nintendo just have the US government pay them 40 billion for doing the same?

9.6.2010 04:53 #17

IguanaC64

My daughter's DS has a MD Simply cart, but no one she knows of at school has one of these types of carts. Aside from families with a resident geek willing to take the risk and have the understanding of using one of these devices, you do not see these around much. Certainly not in the amounts that these figures would have you believe.

I'm curious how they figure losses based on what's available. Do they make some calculation of seeders vs leechers times a specific figure? Availability <> real cost.

14.6.2010 17:05 #18

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