ELSPA: 90% of American Nintendo DS owners are pirates
By James Walker
According to the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publisher Association’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit (or ELSPA IPCU, for those of you in the know) manager John Hillier, 90% of American Nintendo DS owners are playing pirated games.
Speaking with a local newspaper in the UK, John Hillier of the ELSPA’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit, which I can only assume is some kind of crack anti-piracy squad with hats and glares that could make a turnip cry, has made one of the most absurd claims in recent memory. In speaking about the problem of piracy on the Nintendo DS through the use of storage devices like R4 and M3 DS, Hillier claims that upwards of 90% of all United States DS owners are, in fact, pirates.
The implications are massive. In America it’s thought 90 per cent of Nintendo DS users are playing pirated games because of R4s… Takings from Nintendo DS games in the US are lower than any other console and no doubt it will have a similar impact here… That’s the real danger — you may think you’re getting a good deal but using the R4 is risking the future of the games industry.
Yes, that’s why to this point the Nintendo DS trails only PlayStation 2 in the US in terms of software sold, and why the DS on a worldwide level has sold over 60 million units to date. Because we’re all pirates. Considering there are nearly twenty million Nintendo DS handhelds sold in the US alone (to date), that would mean that somewhere in the range of 18 million of those DS owners are pirates.
Am I the only one seeing the flawed logic here? Because if I am, I’ll shut up.
Related:
Entry was posted
on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 2:55 pm
under
Read more entries by James Walker.
Stumble It!
Tips N4G
January 31st, 2008
That is completely ridiculous. That would indicate 9 of every 10 DS owners is a pirate. I know a lot more than 10 DS owners and none of them play pirated games. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a ‘pirated’ cartridge. Then again, maybe all of us in Canada are too honest for the statistic to apply to.
It sounds more like some statistician had a typo in a report and PR had a field day…
January 31st, 2008
That is the BIGGEST bullshit I’ve ever heard since George Bush made the “Mission Accomplished” speech.
January 31st, 2008
Most DS owners don’t even know about the existence of such devices.
Furthermore, there’s less incentive to hack a Nintendo DS than, say, a PSP since the special cartridges actually cost money.
January 31st, 2008
ok.. So are you kidding me.. This is the dumbest thing I have ever read. This guy shouldn’t even be able to post on the internet without being able to reference a legitimate source for is information information about American DS users. A majority of DS owners also watch Hanah Montana everyday they get home from school, to say 90% of DS users in America are pirating games is the most insane thing I have ever read!! They are more worried about getting that new Hello Kitty purse than figuring out how to use R4.
My thought is this guy works for Sony and is trying to scare 3rd parties away from making games for the DS. Go find another job, and go get a degree from somewhere other than “I have no idea what I am talking about” State.
February 1st, 2008
Obviously it’s all bull shit.
Can you imagine? If what that UK wonker said was correct, that means that the makers of the R4 chip would need to produce almost 20 million units in order to supply the gigantic demand for said chips, just in the US alone. Because there are about 21 million DS owners in the US. That would mean that there would be more people wanting to buy a R4 chip than to buy food or some other important stuff. C’mon, DS users aren’t that damn obssessive. Sheesh!
It makes me wonder if John Hillier was listening to the crap that was coming out of mouth… maybe he got confused what his ass said by way of a fart and believed it was one of if brain farts.
In anycase, it still stinks.
That would mean that in the US close to 20 million R4 chips were sold in order to keep all those pirated DS games in. There are more than 21 million DS users in the US.
February 4th, 2008
Wow that would make my 10 year old a PIRATE!!!
Hmmm maybe its time I sit with him and have a discussion and see what other thing he is doing illegally…
Well another reason to create a law in the US like the Patriot Act and the Protect America Act. Maybe this one we can call the
EVERYONE IN THE US IS A CROOK ACT!
February 14th, 2008
just like the wii (and as i say at my work gamestop, when people ask why the wii is so hard to get a hold of) the DS and the Wii are systems that appeal to none gamers of the world, and there are many more non gamers then there are gamers.