Rampant piracy threatens PC games

BBC News
March 14, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6449421.stm

Rampant piracy is threatening the future of the PC games industry, Todd Hollenshead, head of Doom 3 creator Id software has said.

He warned that unless the problem was tackled some companies could relegate the PC to a second tier platform.

"Some developers are taking that approach," he told the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week.

Global piracy cost the US games industry more than $4bn in 2004, not including losses from net piracy.

Mr Hollenshead said the PC games industry was still not taking the threat of piracy seriously.

"I find myself when I have a discussion about piracy trying to convince people it's a serious problem.

"Some estimates show that as much as 50% of game sales are lost to piracy in the US.

"In Eastern Europe, Asia and South America the losses are estimated to be 90% plus," he said.

He added: "Piracy is rampant at this moment."

He said the problem of cracked copies of PC games circulating online was particularly worrying.

'Startling'

"The statistics of the amount of net traffic devoted to piracy of PC titles is startling," he said.

A quick check of some of the most popular websites which facilitate the exchange of cracked PC games reveals a plethora of titles.

Recent games such as Battlefield 2142, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Fahrenheit and Need for Speed Carbon are all available for download.

Id is currently working on a new title Enemy Territory Quake Wars and said developers had to work harder to prevent internal leaks.

"Every major project we have worked on has somehow found its way to the internet," he said.

He said Id had issued physical dongles with development copies of Enemy Territory which prevent the title being played without the hardware key.

"We know a copy of Enemy Territory is out there because someone is posting screen shots.

One upmanship

"Hopefully some of our protections have worked to keep that from being distributed online."

Mr Hollenshead said the industry was engaged in a game of one upmanship with hackers.

"It's not just child's play - there are big dollars at stake here."

He said the industry had to look at better physical protection for DVDs, demand better protection from digital rights management and look to educate consumers about the damage caused by piracy.

"There is a serious attitude problem we have about games and game fans especially amongst the PC community who look to hackers as icons.

"It's seen as a cool thing to be part of the warez (hacker) community and share copies of games.

"Hopefully through education and understanding the community who love PC games needs to recognise they are poisoning the well we all drink from."