One in five console gamers is a pirate, claims Macrovision
Posted by: Kurt Uhlir at March 23, 2005 7:37:05 PM
A
new study conducted by California-based firm Macrovision claims that
one in five Xbox and PS2 gamers is using pirated software - but that
three quarters of them would have paid for the games if they hadn't
been available for free.
The company - which is a provider of anti-piracy solutions, so it does
admittedly have something of a vested interest in the findings -
surveyed 6000 console game players during February for the study.
Other notable statistics include the claim that 43 per cent of the
pirates in the survey acquire over 15 games per year, while almost
three quarters - 74 per cent - get their games from online services
such as peer to peer networks, with only 21 per cent copied from
friends.
64 per cent of those who play pirated games, meanwhile, use a chipped
console to do so - with the remainder presumably taking advantage of
the ability to mod consoles such as the Xbox without the use of a
physical chip.
No statistics were provided, however, on how many people with modded
consoles do not play pirate games - which would have been interesting
to see, given the strong community of homebrew developers that has
sprung up around both the Xbox and PS2.
"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," according to Macrovision
executive vice president Steve Weinstein. "Game piracy will increase
rapidly over the coming months and years as gamers hone their
downloading methods and behaviours," he warned.
