News - One million fine for copying one Wii game

[HEXUS]

Australian courts issue harsh fine to Wii pirate.

Read more.

[mikerr]

Read more.

Distribution costs of software have never been cheaper than it is now.

But has software retail cost come down ? at all ?

Piracy at one time was the realm of geeks, now its widespread,
even done by the average joe who won't park on a double yellow line...

The music industry is starting to learn, with spotify etc
(which removed my need for mp3s), time for the games industry to
do similar.

Not the same model, but reduced prices - £30 for a game is just silly.

[jim]

I think the music industry just unlearned Mike

[mikerr]

Slightly out of context, Warner CEO basically doesn't like the free spotify service,
not the paid (premium) service. Spotify is safe, but unlikely to release the ad-supported version in the US.

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-w...ll-be-dwarved/

[Flash477]

...but this latest case proves show that it’s not just the mass pirates that it’s targeting.

Depends how you look at it really, I mean he was uploading it to the internet, I don't think there is another way you could give it to more people...

I agree that the price of games are too high really, but then as long as people continue to copy of friends and download off the internet then thats the way is most likely going to stay. Not that a lower price would stop a lot of pirates, as they wouldn't pay for it if it was £5.

However having said that, if you are willing to wait a while they usually come down quite a bit in price.

Mind you, is it just me, or are there not as many demos nowadays?

[Barrichello]

Slightly out of context, Warner CEO basically doesn't like the free spotify service,
not the paid (premium) service. Spotify is safe, but unlikely to release the ad-supported version in the US.

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-w...ll-be-dwarved/

To continue the off-topic out of context...

The one thing that really annoys me with my free spotify (and maybe its a sneaky ploy to get people to sign up for the add-free version) is that suddenly the adverts that used to be more UK centric, now always seem to be adverts with annoying American accents? what's that about (especially if US will not have a add-supported version, we get to hear their adverts) grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

[0iD]

[mikerr]

Depends how you look at it really, I mean he was uploading it to the internet, I don't think there is another way you could give it to more people...

He was not selling it on the internet though, that's the thing people are missing.

I'd prefer to see the guys selling copied games prosecuted than someone giving it away for free,
even if he was the originator.

Given that all consoles are net-connected - why don't they all have online downloadable playable demos of all games as standard ? Might take a while to download - but done overnight would work?

Nothing worse than paying £30 for some game and finding it crap.
Use piracy as a try-before-you-buy...and well you'll not get around to buying it would you ?

[Saracen]

Well, my first comment is to take issue with the article title. The body of the article says

settled the dispute out of court agreeing to compensate Nintendo for losses incurred as a result of his actions.

So which is it ... an out of court settlement, or a court fine? From what I read, it's a settlement (Aus $1.5 million) plus court costs of $100k or so. No fine.

He was not selling it on the internet though, that's the thing people are missing.

I'd prefer to see the guys selling copied games prosecuted than someone giving it away for free, even if he was the originator.?

Actually, I think you're missing the point. This wasn't a prosecution and it wasn't a fine - it was compensation for losses incurred.

Suppose you write a book, and it would have earned you you £1 million. But I steal an unpublished master file, copy it and upload it onto the net. I only upload one copy, but thousands of other people take that file and distribute it, and millions of people download it. The result is that the publisher looks at the prospective revenue stream, decides so many sales have been lost that they can;t make a profit, so they pull the publication completely.

How much have you lost? Is it the £5 the single copy I uploaded was worth, or is it the £1 million you lost because I did?

That is the point.

If you commit copyright infringement as part of a business, you will be committing a criminal act and, yes, you'll risk being prosecuted, fined and, in extreme cases, jailed. But that's as well as any civil action taken against you for damages your actions caused.

Just about any game (or movie) publisher will tell you that their business model relies on a number of factors, phases, but a critical one is zero day sales. The pre-release orders and day one/week one sales are critical, and the bulk of the revenue comes in the first week or two. If a game is pirated and released prior to locking in that critical revenue, at the very least it threatens the entire business model for that release, and it may well turn a profit into a loss, and put a couple of years work down the toilet. For smaller companies, it may well put the entire company and jobs down the toilet too.

The people selling it can't sell it if they haven't got it, so their ability to sell it depends on someone like this chap providing it before release.

Personally, I have no sympathy at all for him. He's mucking about with people's jobs and livelihoods. He deserved what he got, and so does anyone else doing this.

[jim]

The only thing I'd say with regard to the story, is that I'd far prefer they went after people who had uploaded content (as in this instance) than using these ridiculous scare tactics on people who *might* have downloaded something illegal.

[shaithis]

Why stagger releases?

World wide release dates will drastically cut down on piracy.

[Saracen]

Why stagger releases?

World wide release dates will drastically cut down on piracy.

Dunno, but could be :-

- Limited manufacturing capacity if you try to service all regions on release day
- would delay release by building up channel stocks worlwide
- market testing
- market differentiation requires differing pricing strategies and worldwide release encourages grey imports

[GheeTsar]

It indeed odd that Australia often gets its games much after other English translated PAL releases - fuelling the desire for some people to pirate games.

Not that it makes it right - piracy really hacks me off as it is hurting the PC gaming industry to the point that developers are considering pulling out of the market altogether (i appreciate this is not a PC game in this story, but the principle stands). Either that or there is ever more draconian DRM measures employed that hack everyone off.

So in my opinon this was a fair outcome. Obviously the guy could afford the fine, else he wouldn't have settled for it. I doubt he will pirate again.

[mikerr]

Well actually, with the wonderful Steam the PC game industry is pretty sorted isn't it?
(if eeryone used it) I've bought more via steam than I ever would in physical form.

[GheeTsar]

Well actually, with the wonderful Steam the PC game industry is pretty sorted isn't it?
(if eeryone used it) I've bought more via steam than I ever would in physical form.

I like the Steam platform, but it is rare for a release to be solely released on Steam and not in any other format too.

Apparently EA are planning on cutting back on PC games, starting with Dead Space 2:

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/17620/1/

[Saracen]

Well actually, with the wonderful Steam the PC game industry is pretty sorted isn't it?
(if eeryone used it) I've bought more via steam than I ever would in physical form.

Not everyone will use Steam though, including me. What the state of PC gaming is though, I don't know, largely because I've pretty much given up with it, due to DRM.