Ridiculous PSP piracy numbers
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Mar 9th 2008 at 1:30AM }
God of War: Chains of Olympus - 94,154
Patapon - 112,183
Ratchet & Clank - Size Matters - 197,113
Crush - 48,959
LOCO ROCO - 163,904
Wipeout Pulse - 116,965
Castlevania X Chronicles - 102,354
Metal Gear Solid - Portable Ops (Not Including Plus) - 231,054
Burnout Dominator - 269,486
A game like Patapon shouldn't be pirated -- that only costs $20 at retail! God of War has managed to get nearly 100k downloads since its release. That's absolutely shameful. Downloading a torrented game is stealing -- just because it's easy doesn't make it right.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
amish.gramish @ Mar 9th 2008 1:43AM
I have downloaded TWO and ONLY TWO PSP games illegally.
(flOw and The Cryptics! W00T!)
What were they?
DJ Max Portable 2, but I will buy it when I get $60 to import it and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and I have it pre-ordered at Software Etc. (A "division" of GameStop)
People who download games and movies illegally are pieces of &%$#*!!!!, unless if they would have to go through some importer and pay double and if the game will never be released in the U.S. (DJ Max P 2 will never see U.S. shores....)
Hopefully the legal online downloading will bring a lot of great foreign games to the U.S. and will decrease the number of illegal downloads.
Strike009 @ Mar 9th 2008 3:15AM
"People who download games and movies illegally are pieces of &%$#*!!!!"
yet you yourself have downloaded two. its not the quantity that matters, its the fact your pirating games.
Chris @ Mar 9th 2008 5:03AM
I am of the same opinion as Amish. If you wouldn't have bought the game, ever, because it looks just okay but not woth the dosh, then nobody loses money. If the company doesn't release a demo, then it's a good way totrial a game. And if it'll never come out in your country (and language), then, again, it's questionably within rights.
The problem is that everyone who pirates uses these same excuses and I believe most of them to be two faced liars.
p-diddy @ Mar 9th 2008 8:20AM
No, actually, Chris, it's not at all questionably within someone's right to download - it simply IS NOT. The reason it is called a copyright is because the author/publisher has the right to determine who copies (and/or distributes) it.
If it wasn't going to be released in the US or consumers would have to pay double, tough f'ing crap. It is still copyright infringement.
And I _do_ run CFW on my PSP-phat purely to see if I could. Custom firmware =/= piracy, so don't put me into the I-hate-all-homebrew camp. It just kills me to see people justify copyright infringement. It's not about if the company or publisher loses money - it is about taking the right to determine how a game is copied/distributed away from them. THAT is the harm caused. People profiting off it, when that happens, is just the icing on the infringement cake.
No one has a right to be entertained, even if it is just "demoing" a game "they wouldn't have bought anyway."
-p-
amish.gramish @ Mar 11th 2008 4:13PM
To everyone that responded.
I know that what I did was completely illegal (and yes, Korean copyright laws do extend to the U.S.). DJ Max Portable 2 is simply one of the greatest games ever to grace the PSP, and I was going to buy the limited edition pack off Play-Asia, but that sold out quickly. And I'm going to get Crisis Core on launch day, because it's such a great game! (I haven't played much of it, because I can't read Japanese...)
I completely believe that if DJ Max Portable 2 was released in the U.S. and Europe it would have been a big seller! (It is even in ENGLISH). But it will never happen. And another thing about the game, I'm going to buy the UMD, but I probably will never play the UMD. I'm just going to have it so I don't feel like a total *&%@#$.
And Crisis Core, I just need that game!
And any game that I download illegally, I'm going to buy, but I will never illegally download a game that is available in the U.S. Patapon? God of War? Ratchet & Clank? Never.
I do illegally rip UMDs onto my memory stick so they load faster and so I don't lose any of the UMDs.
I currently own more than 40 UMD games and UMD movies, and I'm probably going to buy ten more this summer when I get a job again. I will also get the Red GoW PSP Slim. I also bought my PSP on launch weekend and I have convinced three people to get PSPs and two of them sold their DSs right after they got their PSPs.
Chris @ Mar 10th 2008 10:48AM
Sorry p-diddy, you are mistaken. In this world, it is all about money. Copyright infringement law is solely about money. If people do not lose money, there is no wrong. If I were to take this and sell it, I am stealing profits, yes. That is wrong, and that's what terrorists do, not your average pirate. Anyway, if there is no wrong, it does not make one criminal, at least in the public view, although there are still laws against it.
The only foreseeable point to be made contrary to this is that those who do pay for the same thing to enjoy it are the ones who miss out because they must pay money. Obviously this is completely unfair.
Do not treat me like a criminal. You don't know me, and the chances are you're far less of an angel yourself.
sean @ Mar 9th 2008 1:42AM
if PSPfanboy cares so much about this why do you guys post every single time a new custom firmware comes out. i know not every person who uses custom firmware pirates games but this isnt helpin stop the problem.
Kade Storm @ Mar 9th 2008 5:13AM
"if PSPfanboy cares so much about this why do you guys post every single time a new custom firmware comes out. i know not every person who uses custom firmware pirates games but this isnt helpin stop the problem. " - Sean
Because your selective bias fails today, and fails forever. Hiding information and attempting to keep people ignorant--because they can get such information from elsewhere--isn't going to make them any more or less honest.
Custom Firmware can have a variety of other uses. Custom Firmware is also news. Doesn't mean they endorsre abuse with said software. If individuals like you and those pirates develop any sense of 'reason', you'd realise that censoring things like custom firmware news will do jack to curb piracy. This is the internet; a genuine pirate will get their custom firmware updates from an infinite number of quarters.
Ignorance amuses me, always.
Tim Parsons @ Mar 9th 2008 10:05AM
indeed ignorance amuses me too. Piracy of games is the primary reason these custom firmwares exist and are used. So save your worthless excusses f
Snailking @ Mar 9th 2008 10:33AM
/agree
The main reason ppl want custom firmware is to play pirated games.
Handing it to ppl on a platter is contributing to the problem.
HAAS599 @ Mar 9th 2008 12:37PM
I was given a psp and didnt know much about them. I put pspfanboy on my igoogle in hopes of learning about new releases and such. One day I saw a topic about latest custom firmware release. So I looked into it and it seemed like to much hassle. Then I learned about Pandora Battery and the rest is history. Because of emulators and psptube, I now have a psp 100x better then it could ever be on OE firmware.
THANK YOU PSPFANBOY!!!!
p.s. I dont download UMD games because the files are huge and I only have a 4gb MS. The only UMD games I have are Patapon, GOW, and GTA:VCS which cost me a whopping 80 bucks. all great games
p.p.s. Sony needs to hurry up with the gps and software because if the hackers can get google maps to work well on the psp then I probably wont get it.
Mills and Boom @ Mar 9th 2008 1:29PM
WTF?
Without CFW I couldn't get my GTA or Tomb Raider legal UMD games running well (really stuttery FPS, pop-in graphics). Without CFW I wouldn't have a PSP. All hail 333mhz mode.
prettysweetportable @ Mar 11th 2008 4:20AM
Uh, 333MHz mode was enabled officially by Sony in firmware update 3.40, almost a full year ago. No custom firmware has been required since then, so don't use that reasoning, man.
prettysweetportable @ Mar 11th 2008 4:24AM
Damn, typo there. It was firmware 3.50 not 3.40.
yomachaser @ Mar 12th 2008 2:54PM
100 % agreement, everyone I know with custom firmware has pirated games.
I seriously think pspfanboy should stop releasing custom firmware info all together, it can only hurt the community in the long run.
Dahk @ Mar 9th 2008 1:43AM
*proud of self for both purchases of games mentioned in article =).
I'll always support flippin' awesome developers.
Khash @ Mar 9th 2008 1:45AM
Ya know, no matter what anyone says people will continue to pirate games. But don't try to tell me it isn't stealing. It's theft, pure and simple. These people who download games off these torrent sites are criminals. If you're ok with breaking the law then go for it, but I'm sick of hearing these clowns on forums trying to convince themselves that pirating games is not a crime. 112,183 downloads of Patapon? Disgusting...
Ben @ Mar 9th 2008 3:18PM
It isn't "theft". It's still wrong. It doesn't have to be "theft" for it to be wrong. It's not about what you call it. I'm not sure why everyone needs to argue about what buzzwords to use.
Piracy takes away the ability of game developers to make a living and feed their families by developing games. It also takes away their incentive, so they'll make fewer games. Piracy hurts everyone who wants to write PSP games or play PSP games.
davedrastic @ Mar 10th 2008 12:46AM
Disgusting? I bet you, or your parents, used to copy tapes, or record off the radio, or the TV. I bet you've broken the law more than once, be it jay-walking or a parking infringement. If you really are disgusted by the act of downloading a game your head must be firmly stuck up your rear cavity. Yes it's stealing, but really is it disgusting? I'm sure it would be healthier if you were to get disgusted about more pressing issues such as the high cost of health care, or the amount of global poverty that still exists. Disgusted about downloading a game? Please, girlfriend.
Rey @ Mar 9th 2008 3:19AM
Thank you for finally saying it, I have been on these campaigns for years starting with music and movies and now games.
And yes I was called all sorts of names in high school for being anti Kazza,limewire,bearshare and so on.
But I guess now that it's games people suddenly seem to care.
Kodros @ Mar 10th 2008 2:08PM
This will sound wrong but I don't mind movie piracy as much. There is a huge difference in how the money is spent between the two forms of entertainment. It pisses me off that I have to keep paying more and more for movies just because an actor wants 25 million for 4 weeks of work. Meanwhile in video game land, the developers are making 40k-90k a year.
Piracy is still bad, but I find it easier to justify when 99% of the movies make a profit.
synonymous @ Mar 9th 2008 1:59AM
I realize this site is pspfanboy, but could the topic creators quit being such lame fanboys?
Piracy isn't ruining the PSP, those numbers that were posted aren't that large when compared to the total sale numbers. Those who think piracy is ruining the psp, or other systems, need to seriously do some digging and find out the truth.
Autobon @ Mar 9th 2008 3:17AM
Are you kidding me? It is ruining the PSP. Why do you think PC gaming is going down so fast? Because its easy to pirate games! The PSP is headed down that path as well since it is one of the easiest consoles to hack. Seriously, just off one site alone, God of War lost $4,000,000! Thats four million dollars! One site! I hope these people get put in jail, they deserve it.
Ben @ Mar 9th 2008 3:24PM
PC gaming is going down because "install the latest video driver" isn't a fun level, but they put it at the beginning of almost every game.
Also, my console has comparable graphics and better sound and even though it was really expensive for a console, it cost a lot less than a PC that can play similar games.
Piracy is definitely part of the problem though.
Dahk @ Mar 9th 2008 8:40PM
I disagree. I think piracy helps PSP in sales. For A LOT of people, they aren't even interested in buying the product unless they know its hackable - heck, 80% of those people who downloaded Patapon wouldn't have even bought the game (probably) if they couldn't download it. Take the PS2's prestigious hardware numbers. Everyone loves that console for the reason that you can chip it and dump some cheap games on there.
Lotsa people love the PSP because they can get their game fix for cheap. One of the reasons why the DS is so flippin' crazy insane for hardware sales is because they can keep like 10 games on an SD card as long as they have an R4.
Hardware volumes always drive better games from better developers, and it also takes Sony off the couch to keep updating firmwares and whatnot. Good for everyone.
Even more reasons: UMD spinning sucks up battery life, hard to carry more than 1 UMD on the road.
That being said, I'm not saying I condone this piracy. But I DO BELIEVE that it is a reason for the success of the PSP so far.
ChodalBerryWagon @ Mar 10th 2008 1:06AM
Hey, you guys do realise that a lot of the people who downloaded the game on the internet may not have bought it anyway, right?
They might have just downloaded it cause it was there, but they wouldn't have bought it.
ChodalBerryWagon @ Mar 10th 2008 1:08AM
oops, I'll rephrase.
They may have just downloaded it because it was there, but if there was no download available, they may not have gone out to get the actual game, so the developers wouldn't have made more money anyway.
Phizzy @ Mar 10th 2008 5:40AM
'Seriously, just off one site alone, God of War lost $4,000,000!'
No it didn't. When people download games they're not physically stealling money from the developers' pockets. It's quite likely that a lot of the people who downloaded the game would never have actually bought it, anyway. I'm not defending people who download games, I'm just saying that it doesn't necessarily take away from sales.
Xoonaka @ Mar 10th 2008 8:49AM
@ Dahk
I think you're letting the circles you're in cloud your view of the common public. PS2's success was not due to piracy ease. If that were true, the DREAMCAST would have won hands down. No system was easier to hack or cheaper to get games for. Piracy ran that system into the ground very quickly.
To be honest, I doubt its primarily pirates driving the sale of the PSP hardware either.
Tep @ Mar 9th 2008 3:15AM
It's so weird that this site complains about piracy numbers when they have more information on homebrew PSP than any other PSP hacking site on the net.
Hell it was this very site that I learned how to modify my PSP. I really hope you guys appreciate the irony of this article cause I sure as hell do.
Chris @ Mar 9th 2008 5:07AM
Not true. There is very little homebrew news on this site whatsoever. I can think of two that I've been to and am sure there are hundreds more, all of which will slap you in the face for an argument like that one.
Noshino @ Mar 9th 2008 11:03AM
"It's so weird that this site complains about piracy numbers when they have more information on homebrew PSP than any other PSP hacking site on the net"
Homebrew or hacking DO NOT really mean that you have to go and use pirated games...
There are MANY homebrew applications out there that don't infringe any copyrights, same with Hacking.
Morzas @ Mar 9th 2008 3:16AM
There are three types of people that pirate games.
1: Cheapskates. They can afford the game, but they don't want to pay for it.
2: People who want to preview the game. After playing the game a bit, they either buy it or don't depending on what they thought of the pirated version.
3: People who wouldn't have bought it anyway. They just downloaded it because it's not hard to do.
There's no way to know which group is the largest.
Highlader @ Mar 10th 2008 12:49AM
Does it matter which of your categories they fall into? Theft is theft.
Downloading and playing a game without paying is stealing, whether you play for a couple of days and don't like the game or play for weeks and love it. Many games have demos now, so try before you buy. But if you download it and use it without paying, what else can it be called other than theft?
Morzas @ Mar 10th 2008 4:46PM
"Does it matter which of your categories they fall into? Theft is theft."
It's not theft, it's piracy. The publisher doesn't lose any copies. They do lose potential sales if the pirate is in category 1 and sometimes if they're in category 2. Since there's no way to know which category is the largest, you can't accurately state that "theft is theft".
bumble @ Mar 10th 2008 8:50AM
theft is theft, only that this is about copyright violation. The two are not interchangeable. In copyright violations no property is being taken away from the owner, instead the property is merely duplicated. Thus no direct if any monetary loss is inflicted onto the owner.
jayj @ Mar 9th 2008 3:44AM
It's Sony's fault for not making the system more harder to hack. If a person has the option to pay for something or get some thing for free, what do you think they're going to choose?
EnviroTO @ Mar 9th 2008 8:21AM
Blame the victim and not the criminal? Society is getting it all wrong when blame is assigned to anyone other than the criminal. Steal an old lady's purse... blame the old lady? You get shot, your fault you didn't wear a bullet proof vest? That is bad logic.
davedrastic @ Mar 10th 2008 1:04AM
really a reply to Enviro
well you could blame Sony, the developers, the retailers etc for...
a, charging a high amount per game
b, producing alot of shit
c, no longer making compilations (much) - that's how I used to get my cheapskate gaming on, back in the day
d, not offering the best distribution system - the market is saying that they prefer to download, for free
e, getting us all excited about the latest new thing through incessant marketing
f, being focused on cashing in, cashing in, cashing in, as opposed to producing quality gaming solutions. It doesn't have to be this way.
So what's the solution? Well that's really for Sony, the developers etc to work out, and work it out they will, all in due course my friends, all in due course. I have a sneaky suspicion it will involve monthly subscriptions and a smaller premium for new games, more along the lines of a popcap game or such.
Barakku @ Mar 14th 2008 10:46PM
To the genius whining about price...what about Patapon? A 20 dollar game, proclamed as one of the systems best, and it gets a massive amount of dls. It's because pirates are cheapskate pieces of scum; a girl I know really want disgaea, and bought a PSP for games like that. She's going to download it, because "I'm a college student; why should I pay for things?" DURRRRRRR. I refuse to play with and no longer talk to her.
If you think Sony is the problem, BTW, don't buy a PSP. That's by sony. Support the developers, leeching scum.
RoBotkin @ May 1st 2008 12:53PM
I knew this girl who got raped. She was wearing a skirt, so it was obviously her fault. Maybe if she was wearing pants it wouldn't have happened. And she didn't get killed or become pregnant, so that's not really a crime at all, is it?
Piracy is wrong. Technically, homebrew and hacking is wrong, as it violates the EULA.
People will hack games though. I don't. I haven't hacked my PSP because I don't need to. Games are not that expensive, and if you think they are maybe you should get a better paying job. I barely make above the poverty level, and I afford about a game a month. Have I chosen a stinker before? Ask me how much I play Star Wars Battlefront. That's the price you pay for buying a gaming console at all. Advertising and word of mouth can only work so well, but a PSP is hardly the only possible form of entertainment. Try women. They smell nice and do housework.
EnviroTO @ Mar 10th 2008 6:22PM
Homebrew is not the same as piracy. If I want to run SSH and VNC or any custom apps I need to use homebrew. I am all for the freedom of using the movies, songs, electronics the way you want as long as you paid for them. It is one thing to rip a DVD you own so you can store it on a media server hard drive so you can watch it from your various electronics... it is another thing to rip it and share it with the internet. It is a shame that homebrew and DVDFab are even necessary to use the electronics and media we own to their full potential. I hope some day the game, movie, and music studios finally come up with a solution which allows me full freedom to use what I bought on the OS, equipment, and medium I want while at the same time prevents piracy.
YukiMaiko @ Mar 9th 2008 4:21AM
I personally don't do pirate or homebrew. Plenty happy with my PSP playing the games I own. And yeah the Patapon number is surprising considering its price point. Finished playing the demo so I'll be picking up the game right after Riviera and Tales of the World.
louie @ Mar 9th 2008 4:32AM
im not going to lie i dl tons of games. BUT if i love the game i DO buy it. God of war, Loco roco, Patapon, and crisis core. i dl to try them out and then if i like them i buy them just to support the developers even though i dont play the umd and i play the dl version :P
[.sm0ke.] @ Mar 9th 2008 4:36AM
I download games basically just as demos, except annual sports games. I don't want to pay Blockbuster to try out a game if I end up hating it. If I like a game, I buy it. If I don't, I delete it. I download sports games because I'm sick of basically having to renew my subscription to Madden every year.
merc25 @ Mar 9th 2008 4:50AM
@synonymous: "topic creators"? Do you know that this website is a blog, not a forum or message board? Anyway, how is Andrew being a fanboy by blogging this article?
As much as I want to agree with you on your second point, I must state the contrary. The PC is a lost cause to most developers, very few can make it on the PC. This is one of the many reasons(and there are many) why there are more companies focused on the making games for the consoles.
@Tep:
Let be frank, you are a F*ck*ng idiot. Most of this site hombrew entries are little blurbs about the new firmware being cracked or the first version of a new Dark Alex's FW(M33). Hardly, what you would call a vast resource of hombrew topics. QJ, Maxconsole, DCEMU, and numerous others solely dedicated to just the PSP scene; have this site beat when it comes to information on the homebrew scene.
@Morzas: Guarantee you it's number 1 for US. Elsewhere it's more like number 4, people who live in countries where games are rarely retail to and the ones that do cost too much.
@rey: Those programs bring back memories(mostly of horrible searches). It feels like a lifetime ago.
While piracy is a factor, let's not forget marketing(something handheld games rarely do...let me rephrase that something a lot of games don't do) and competition by other titles for the consumer's money.
chongox @ Mar 9th 2008 5:18AM
Pirates
I would like to know when you speak pirates what kind of pirates you are speaking about.
In my country when I was little. most of my music whas "pirates tapes w/awful b&w photocopys as a cover art" that people copy from vynils. Nowadays you still have the cheapskate that buy the "counterfeit cd" and most of the people buy the original cd.
I mean if you live in a country where a original game represent 1/4 of the income of a low paid worker. You can just forget about original games, if you see one you will stare at him as the unknow object of "2001 a space odysee".
99% of ps2 games are pirates in my country and is sad. But 60U$S is a scandal of money for a game.
The funny thing?, everybody pay for the pirates in my country but they pay the equivalent of the money you pay for a CD (real one)
I think that in every country people drink COKE and have "local" alternatives, but if you have money to go for the "real thing" what you are going to do?
Chris @ Mar 9th 2008 5:18AM
Here's a thought. If publishers put more effort into geting games out everywhere at once, those numbers would go down a little. (Yay for Europe)
The Dumpertaker @ Mar 9th 2008 6:05AM
@sean: So closed of mind so sad. I have custom firmware on my PSP but I have it because of all the things you can do with it that you cannot on Official frimware, not because it plays copies. For example, I play emulators on mine and use ROMs that have been released officially.
I confess I have downloaded games in the past, and I think most people have done so as well, but now I only have copies of games that I own as backups, and it also means I can have several games on my memory card as well as a UMD in my PSP, meaning I do not have to carry loads of discs with me. I do not have copies of games I have not bought, and haven't for a long time now.
I can understand why people do download some of them when you look at the price and sometimes availability, but if you want something bad enough save up and get it legally.
sean @ Mar 9th 2008 6:24AM
what are you talkin about? i said that i knew that some people use custom firmware for things other then stealing PSP games. i dont even care what other people do. its not like I do everything legally.