Report: Publishers taking piracy fight to gamers

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Aug 21, 2008 3:42 pm PT

Codemasters, Atari, and others will demand settlement money from 25,000 UK residents they claim illegally shared games online; EA Sports' Moore says it's a bad idea.

The gaming industry is working harder than ever to stifle piracy. Last month, Ubisoft sued a disc duplication company for the online leaking of Assassin's Creed on the PC weeks before its retail release. Earlier this week, the Entertainment Software Association introduced Kenneth Doroshow as its new general counsel. Doroshow's work history includes a stint with the Recording Industry Association of America, notorious for protecting its members' copyrights by suing individuals for file-sharing music.

Now the Times Online is reporting that the next step in the industry's antipiracy efforts will target the individuals who illegally download games. According to the report, a group of game developers consisting of Atari, Codemasters, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, and Techland intends to serve notice on 25,000 suspected bootlegging gamers. Those who receive the notices will have the option of settling the claims out of court with a payment of £300 ($563). The developers will then pick 500 of the people who ignored the letters and take legal action against them.

The companies have appointed commercial law firm Davenport Lyons to represent them in this endeavor. Earlier this week, the firm won a £16,000 ($30,000) judgment against an unemployed mother of two for illegally downloading Topware's Dream Pinball 3D through a file-sharing site, The Times Online reports.

Not everyone in the gaming industry welcomed the news. While attending the 2008 Leipzig Games Convention, EA Sports president Peter Moore told GamesIndustry.biz that the approach hasn't worked for the music industry.

"I'm not a huge fan of trying to punish your consumer," Moore told the site. "Albeit these people have clearly stolen intellectual property, I think there are better ways of resolving this within our power as developers and publishers."

325 Comments

  • Muskeljens

    Posted Nov 6, 2008 9:23 am PT

    Lower the freaking cost of games and more people will buy them. A very simple fact. They will lose a bit of money lowering costs; yes, but isn't it better than not getting sales at all? If they keep raising the cost of games because people download things ilegally, it will just increase the number of illegal downloads. Kinda weird how the minds of the accountants work.
    I don't really see what the problem here. Most people I know that actually pirate stuff do so because they simply cannot afford to buy it.
    Where I live, console games cost on average 83$ and PC games cost aprox. 62$

    Lower costs = more sales at lowered income
    or
    Sue and attack the people who can't afford the games they want = No sales, protests, zero loyalty.

  • deathstar79

    Posted Nov 1, 2008 3:49 pm PT

    @Everyone:

    It isn't illegal in Canada.

    Yet.

  • Musashi920

    Posted Oct 27, 2008 11:37 am PT

    @otanikun:

    file-sharing them online is illegal itself. There is nothing more to it. If you downloaded the game for free you did an illegal action. Sharing(letting someone borrow) the actual physical game obviously isn't. And for a long while now limewire has prompt question when installing that asks if you are going to download copyrighted material(i.e., songs, movies, etc) if you click yes the installation stops. If you click No and you do you are now responsible for any downloading and Limewire is not liable.

    Given the nature of limewire and why most people use it. It is bad. But considering they have covered themselves with that little prompt loophole they can't be held responsible for what people upload and download.

  • otanikun

    Posted Sep 18, 2008 12:53 pm PT

    They're gonna sue the gamers? Do that and you'll loose customers, besides what do they have to prove that so many people are sharing these games "illegally" when it's so easy to share them?
    That's like saying Limewire is bad, it's available and hasn't been shut down so......what's the problem?

  • Ek-Andy

    Posted Sep 18, 2008 8:13 am PT

    The problem with the internet is that it's really hard to control the content on it, infact you just plain can't. If they thought this strategy was so effective they would have executed it long before now. The thing is this isn't going to work any better now than it did when they tried to do the same thing with the illegal downloading of music. Yeah, you can fine a few people, but the fact is there are millions of people downloading music and software illegally, and no one has sufficent resources to stop them.

  • storminmormon51

    Posted Sep 17, 2008 5:59 pm PT

    The unfortunate thing about it is that piracy will always be a part of digital media. No matter what real world restrictions you put in place, eventually someone is gonna circumvent in, and in the mean time legitimate users of the product have to jump through hoops to use what they've bought.

    I think that what these companies are trying to do is a) totally within their rights and b) entirely pointless. the 25,000 people are a drop in the bucket to what's going happening, and until someone finds a way of addressing the real issues, we're always going to have this company vs. consumer fight going on.

  • black_sun666

    Posted Sep 17, 2008 5:57 pm PT

    I suspect those 16 thousand pounds doubled the amount of money Topware got out of that pinball game

  • halomonkey1_3_5

    Posted Sep 17, 2008 5:49 pm PT

    while i do download certain games(I.E. games i'm not sure about) if there worth my money i ALWAYS buy them if not then Right Click>Delete>Empty Recycle Bin

    but i agree to go after the uploaders(without them there wouldn't be any downloaders)

  • azadiscool

    Posted Sep 17, 2008 4:30 pm PT

    OMG they should just sue everyone. I have never met someone who hasn't downloaded at least one illegal file. Whether it be porn or music

    Also, may I point out that in Asia, you can get pirated copies of any video game you want LEGALLY. I got a copy of Assassins Creed for $1

  • MasterofOrion

    Posted Sep 13, 2008 1:58 am PT

    WOW who'll they go after next? Parkinson ridden grannies?

  • deathstar79

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 4:56 pm PT

    @Cobra5: "And as for people saying its not stealing unless you are actually physically taking something from someone else... just "lol". There is no other response."

    Wow, I'm in total shock that you came up with such a compelling argument.

    Perhaps you did not understand. My point is that there is a difference between downloading a file that is on a public domain, and illegally copying a disc that they most likely got through illegal means, and sharing it with the Internet.

    @FireMaker005

    Weird... Ubisoft seems to be doing fine financially...

  • FireMaker005

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 11:34 pm PT

    Irritating. STOP TORRENTING GAMES. Except in the rare case that the game is so old that companies no longer support it. (Ie the original Sim City)

    I mean.. you are stealing from the developers that make you games. If they do not get paid for making games, they will no longer be able to make games.. And you'll have nothing left to steal.. While the rest of us who actually pay for games will have nothing to pay for.. I understand this is an exaggeration but still.

    I do think the single mother getting slammed with the $30,000 fine is pretty excessive and totally unreasonable. It should be the seeders and leechers getting slammed, not the parents of said twerps.

  • Cobra5

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 11:43 pm PT

    because trying to sue someone when they steal from you is wrong. amirite?

    I still can't understand why people don't think its a big deal. Even if I steal candy from a convenience store, and they catch me, they'll do something about it (Take the candy, make me pay for it, or give me a small fine). And if someone steals a $60 video game, its suddenly bad to try and do something about.

    As for people saying they can't find proof, well, that's what courts are for.

    And as for people saying its not stealing unless you are actually physically taking something from someone else... just "lol". There is no other response.

    Then again, talking about piracy on the internet is like trying to discuss atheism in a church.

  • The_Free-Man

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 1:23 pm PT

    also, i wonder how they find out about people downloading? they must hack into peoples computers or something......

  • The_Free-Man

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 1:21 pm PT

    thats funny what they said about music because almost everyone does it and if you tell them youll tell the cops theyll probably laugh. i personnally dont download music

  • deathstar79

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 11:11 am PT

    @Madjik2k2

    It's only copyright infringement if I were to sell the car as my own. And it isn`t stealing unless I take something from someone else, e.g. stolen a physical copy of the game.

    I just don`t agree with the way these companies are going about this. If you want to stop piracy, you have to go after the people doing the actual physical stealing, and the actual copyright infringement. Taking the fight to the downloaders is not going to stop the uploaders, who are the real root of the problem.

  • ricardo-sene

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 2:35 pm PT

    Thanks Madjik2k2 for writing. Your posts are very well said... The people that are in favor of piracy always ends in the same argument: MONEY. They say that games costs a lot, and the piracy is cheap, or free. In the end the money justify the illegal action for them .. all to save some bucks.. The money is a way to justify the crime.. It doesn't matter if it's crime since they make a big deal.

  • viewtifuljon111

    Posted Aug 25, 2008 1:42 pm PT

    Good. It's about time people are punished for stealing.Hopefully this will open some eyes. It may not be a perfect solution, but at least somebody is doing something.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Aug 25, 2008 6:58 am PT

    big business is always more important then citizens... duh...

Dream Pinball 3D Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Images | Answers | Forum | Check Prices

Check Prices

GameStop $9.99 SHOP ›
advertisement
Dream Pinball 3D Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
Dream Pinball 3D

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    9,210 of 76,690
    (down by 254)
    PC Rank:
    3,090 of 12,544
    Tracking:
    51 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    20 Wish It»
  • Player Ratings:
    44
    Users Now Playing:
    16
  • Number of Players:

    1-4

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. ask homework
    2. pinball
    3. topware
    4. 2006
    5. dream pinball
  • Everyone 10+ Rating Description

    Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement