Macrovision声称五分之一的游戏机玩家都使用盗版

One in five console gamers is a pirate, claims Macrovision

Posted by: Kurt Uhlir at March 23, 2005 7:37:05 PM

A

new study conducted by California-based firm Macrovision claims that

one in five Xbox and PS2 gamers is using pirated software - but that

three quarters of them would have paid for the games if they hadn't

been available for free.

The company - which is a provider of anti-piracy solutions, so it does

admittedly have something of a vested interest in the findings -

surveyed 6000 console game players during February for the study.

Other notable statistics include the claim that 43 per cent of the

pirates in the survey acquire over 15 games per year, while almost

three quarters - 74 per cent - get their games from online services

such as peer to peer networks, with only 21 per cent copied from

friends.

64 per cent of those who play pirated games, meanwhile, use a chipped

console to do so - with the remainder presumably taking advantage of

the ability to mod consoles such as the Xbox without the use of a

physical chip.

No statistics were provided, however, on how many people with modded

consoles do not play pirate games - which would have been interesting

to see, given the strong community of homebrew developers that has

sprung up around both the Xbox and PS2.

"The prevalence of high-speed Internet, and the availability of pirated

games on websites and peer-to-peer networks, have made downloading

pirated games relatively easy and widespread," according to Macrovision

executive vice president Steve Weinstein. "Game piracy will increase

rapidly over the coming months and years as gamers hone their

downloading methods and behaviours," he warned.