Download of Illegal Games up by 20%

According to BBC Newsbeat the download of illegal copies of video games has gone up by 20% in the last 5 years.

Envisional also said that the 2010 top five games were pirated online almost a million times, which can come to the conclusion that game creators might have to insert some additional game securities into the gaming industry such as a code for online play already seen in many games in the market. With these huge numbers of downloads most firms think there is going to be a generation where players think they can get their games for free.

“I buy games because I’ve pirated them, if I don’t get to try them I never would have bothered picking them up”. – Says Sam, a gamer, interviewed by Newsbeat.

This is what most online pirates like to say, because if we download it pirated we know we might get fined but there’s always the excuse of trying to “illegally” test the games first, which is not a pretty good excuse in my opinion.

“I’ve never been fined. I’ve been doing this since I was 14 and I’m now 23. Games that I enjoy I purchase, ones that I don’t enjoy I delete.”- Said Sam in the same interview.

This is what makes more and more gamers to download illegal copies of their favourite titles, if they are not caught once, twice and thrice they will keep doing this for years.

Andy Payne, chairman of the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE), believes it’s something the industry is already doing. Earlier this year video game executives told Newsbeat online piracy cost the industry hundreds of jobs and millions of pounds.However, UKIE is reluctant to give a similar estimate for either, saying it is nearly impossible to get an accurate figure. It is keen though to emphasise that big blockbuster titles can cost millions of pounds to produce. – source: Newsbeat

This is one of the reasons why most recording companies want to block The Pirate Bay in the UK.