The research was found by the firm Envisional who claims that the top five games last year were illegally downloaded nearly one million times from the internet, an increase of 20% from last year. According to the trade group UKIE, illegal downloads are costing the games industry a billion pounds each year, a figure that if not addressed could lead to companies closing down and perhaps even an industry meltdown. They also claimed the figures showed ‘that for every game that is sold, four will have been pirated.’

The research also found that since 2006 Films and TV show piracy has increased 30% while music album saw a decrease. While there is no official explanation as to why music piracy is on the decrease, Develop points out that a rise in ‘convenient music streaming services, such as Spotify, could be a key factor.’

Claims that every copy of a pirated game being downloaded equals a sale lost have caused arguments amongst both those who are against the crime and those who defend it. This is because when a pirated game is downloaded there is no evidence that suggests that had that game not been free and available it would have been bought instead. At the same time some people use illegal downloading as a means of testing a game they are unsure about, therefore a copy of a pirated download could in fact lead to a purchase that may not have happened otherwise.

What are your thoughts on video game piracy?

More About: piracy, video games

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It is no secret that video game piracy is a big deal, and Nintendo has decided to try to put a stop to this, but not in the way you would imagine. Those of you who have an illegal copy of Michael Jackson: The Experience on the DS will not be able to hear any of the classic tracks.

Wired explains that the reason for this is because Ubisoft has managed to incorporate the annoying sound of vuvuzelas within the game. We know that this will be very annoying to the player, and will render the game useless – unless you just want to play it and not listen?

Nintendo Everything has a video of this anti-piracy technique in action, which you can see in the video below. They also wonder what other game developers will take up this unique way of reducing the about of games that fall victim to this issue?

You certainly have to admire Ubisoft for coming up with a solution to this problem – who would have thought that it could be so simple?

More About: Michael Jackson The Experience, Nintendo DS, piracy

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