Codemasters, Atari, Reality Pump, Topware and Techland to take 25,000 pirates to court
A cabal of games developers are planning to fine 25,000 British gamers for illegally downloading their software from file-sharing services.
According to a report in The Times, five games firms - Codemasters, Atari, Reality Pump, Topware and Techland - will seek £300 from each of the 25,000. The firms are demanding contact details from ISPs and are preparing to take the first 500 of those refusing to pay to court.
The move follows a landmark court-ruling earlier this week where a file-sharing gamer was forced to pay £16,000 damages to Topware for downloading its Dream Pinball title from a file sharing website. (Click here to see our sister site MCV's report on the case.)
Legal firm Davenport Lyons is representing the five companies.
Roger Billens, a partner at Davenport Lyons, said: “Our clients were incensed by the level of illegal downloading. In the first 14 days since Topware Interactive released Dream Pinball 3D it sold 800 legitimate copies but was illegally downloaded 12,000 times. Hopefully people will think twice if they risk being taken to court.”
The report estimates that over six million Britons have illegally downloaded games - although the report also cites an ELSPA source as saying that publishers might be reluctant to take the matter further as it will be seen as action against their 'core market'.
Advertisement
Of course, who knows how many of those 12,000 downloads will ever actually be run? There are probably folk with huge DVD libraries of games they downloaded "just-in-case", archived and never got around to looking at. In those cases the effect is pretty much as if it had never been downloaded at all (although copyright law has still technically been broken). And of those who did play their illegal copies - how many would otherwise have been potential customers? I wonder whether tackling piracy will have a significant effect on profits at all in the long run. And will it just all end up being shared on encrypted file-sharing systems, or being passed around physically in the playground? Realistically, piracy may actually be unstoppable, anyway. Worth the effort?
Well its easier to hit a single mum with second rate lawyer than it is too take on china and the UK gangs for this. The fake cd with box brigade from markets are much more damaging for industry as they take near legit customers. Most downloaders have no intention of buying the game in the first place either by choice or circumstance - many may then be persuaded by the experience of playing. Im still in shock that anyone would pin their living on a awful looking pinball game in this day n age - they cite that 16000 folk play on illegal copies but if they couldnt get them illegal I doubt any of those gamers would have paid for such a poor game anyway - surely they only played it because it was free and the company should compensate them for marketting the game and creating an impression its popular in any way shape or form - advertising almost. I know I would have to be paid to play such brain dough games.
They are really stupid.
They cant win the battle against file-sharing technology!!!
It looks like an agony...
The world changes, and old models should gone away...
So where do I download Dream pinball 3D?
Attack the people making it "one click download simple" before the end person. He's the one that finds the Keygen is virused, the crack don't work etc or actually the game is cr*p
If these companies had a tiny bit of dignity, they would not think about a feast of prospective leftover of this industry: If piracy was eradicated it would NOT mean more sales for them, merely less audience exposition...
-period-
Justice is ironically messed up. For these companies it is not a question to denounce piracy but merely trying to get some money from the jurisdictional branches of the game business.
All those companies are now long gone outsiders, their "prospective losses" are peanuts compared to the few companies which are actually profitable.
As mediocrity dictates, those people can't find any better than to turn bitterness on sales they would not get anyway rather than finding creative solutions to disrupt piracy.
Sooner than later, laws of Nature will have reason of such policies, and I say good riddance.
