Gaming Is piracy ruining the Wii?

[jesterscourt]

No, and let me explain why.

I own over a dozen Wii games. Pretty much just the AAA titles. I have HBC on the Wii, and I mainly use those to play old NES/SNES/GBA/Genesis titles. Now you could say that's lost revenue (potentially) for Virtual Console, but the cost is just too high to justify it. Sorry. If I can get the ACTUAL cartridge for cheaper on Ebay than you are trying to sell a digital copy of it, that's just good business sense. Now, just imagine if they were true microtransactions. NES titles for under a buck, SNES/Genesis for 2 or 3 bucks and N64/Dreamcast/whatever for 5 bucks. People would be dumping $20 a week. Every week.

I own a Dreamcast. I actually OWN around 30 titles. Did piracy hurt that console? Most assuredly. What the Wii needs is more titles that aren't shovelware.

Nintendo, you want to have the respect of the gaming community? Only allow up to THREE third-party titles for the Wii every month to be released. Think very hard about which ones you let out, because those movie tie-in and other assorted shovelware titles. Once a quarter, Ninty you can release your AAA titles. And you can have one to two bonus releases, for a total of six.

 

[aks47u]

"The entertainment industry would make more for artists if it embraced these technologies and found ways of doing business online," Hogge argues. "When you have six million people breaking the law, it's the law that needs changing, not the people."
Quote from an article about aXXo, bit I feel it applies.

 

[mucus]

Piracy ruining the wii?

From what I understand Nintendo doesn't make very much money from the sale of systems. Or even from the sale of games.
Nintendo makes it's money by selling the code to developers who want to make games for the system. It's much like anything else in this world, the money is made from "people" but more from business to business.

So I don't think piracy is ruining the wii...

 

[Bladexdsl]

well when game prices are ridiculously over priced ($60+) here in Australia than why not? plus we don't get games here till months later if their ever released here in the 1st place so when i see an opportunity to play a game months before it gets here i take it

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

From the amount of releases for the Wii, I'm going to assume it is a cheap platform to develop for.

That means tons of shovelware and low quality games. The number of suck-ass games increases, and the quantity of quality releases seem hard to measure.

For instance, take a look at the PS3 and XBOX360. Frankly, they're not easy or cheap to develop for, especially for the PS3. In the same way, the number of sucky shovelware for these platforms remain pretty small and quality exclusives remain easy to spot.

In a sense, the Wii is doing itself in. Because it is so cheap and easy to work on, inexperienced devs just jump right in and throw whatever the hell they have at it. The result? See for yourself.

Piracy isn't exactly a major contributor to the problem for obvious reasons. Rather, blame the system itself.

 

[houseonfire]

The wii is not being ruined by piracy. The only thing about the Wii that is being ruined is piracy. And that is because of people whining about the wii being ruined.

 

[ChaosBoi]

If anything, I think it's the prices of games that're ruining the Wii, which also applies to all the other consoles and handhelds. When I really think about it, I would've saved at least $700 dollars if I didn't buy any of my games in the past 3-4 years, and I don't get new games that often.

 

[Bladexdsl]

piracy is helping the wii peeps buy more wiis to mod it, use usb loader selling more hard drives so in the end nintendo still wins

 

[KazoWAR]

kinda a little off topic but from what most people have said here it kinda fit. I myself dont have a wii, but a DS. I have Pirated almost 50 games most i would never buy, also most of them i never even played for more than a hour before getting bored. the few games i do play repeatedly some i prevoulsy owned befor getting my flashcart, and some i would have goten if i in fact didnt have the cart.

 

[BlackEnigma]

If anything, I think it's the prices of games that're ruining the Wii, which also applies to all the other consoles and handhelds. When I really think about it, I would've saved at least $700 dollars if I didn't buy any of my games in the past 3-4 years, and I don't get new games that often.

I can agree with this. Games are expensive.

And companies seem to be content with you buying the same game over and over again if you allow it.

 

[BlackEnigma]

I think that because many of us "Hardcore" gamers have homebrew and thus access to piracy methods.Many of these people choose to pirate "core" (good) games like Madworld, SSBB, Mario, pretty much all of the good games because that's how they roll.

QUOTE(dinofan01 @ Apr 17 2009, 10:34 PM) Well if you bought the mature games like metroid and no more heroes in the first place third parties would have invested money in more games like that.

 

[scousethief]

Nothing is really runing the wii , the console will always sell due to its low price point , the games on the otherhand are as always what makes or breaks a console , the fact the the wii titles are more shovelware than anything is damaging any credibility it has , if developers spent more time and effort into releaseing good titles with good gameply and decent content then a lot of buyers would be happier.

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

From the amount of releases for the Wii, I'm going to assume it is a cheap platform to develop for.

That means tons of shovelware and low quality games. The number of suck-ass games increases, and the quantity of quality releases seem hard to measure.

For instance, take a look at the PS3 and XBOX360. Frankly, they're not easy or cheap to develop for, especially for the PS3. In the same way, the number of sucky shovelware for these platforms remain pretty small and quality exclusives remain easy to spot.

In a sense, the Wii is doing itself in. Because it is so cheap and easy to work on, inexperienced devs just jump right in and throw whatever the hell they have at it. The result? See for yourself.

Piracy isn't exactly a major contributor to the problem for obvious reasons. Rather, blame the system itself.

 

[Hillsy_]

Madworld has sold 66,000 from US Retailers.. Yeah, most hardcore gamers pirate games, they have the knowledge to do so. It is an endless spiral. If more shovelware does surface don't blame Nintendo especially if you don't buy the third party software.

It's not rui9ning the Wii at all. In fact, if it were ruining it, the Wii wouldn't be the top sell console this gen.

Or maybe that is a reason why it is selling well, due to piracy.

 

[zuron7]

piracy should be stopped for the wii
cos it will result in major losses to the company
i dont mind for consoles like the ds
i havent modded my wii or have the hbc
but for my ds i have an edge ds

I think that because many of us "Hardcore" gamers have homebrew and thus access to piracy methods.Many of these people choose to pirate "core" (good) games like Madworld, SSBB, Mario, pretty much all of the good games because that's how they roll.QUOTE

they buy the good games and pirate bad ones

 

[theoperator288]

I see Jargus, well very good. I can also understand if it is a game you had lost or misplaced downloading may be the option or if you lived in an area where games were largely unavailable or ridiculously priced.

And yes I'll agree for major titles piracy doesn't hinder sales that much but (although not on the wii) Look at GTA Chinatown Wars, it IS a major title and one that is very good in terms of gameplay and fun among others, and very hyped up. Guess what happened... It practically went to failure headfirst.

Now I know this isn't the Wii (or that that game's failure is a direct result of piracy) but it still shows that piracy may have a lot to do with a game's sales.

Anyways its just something I thought of and wanted to let people be aware of.

Someone needs to check their sources :-/
GTA Chinatown Wars was not a flop. According to Rockstar's GDP for the month of March it made profit. I read a story recently that stated it only sold around 66k copies in the US and I know for a fact that is not right. The game itself has sold around 250k-400k overall. Just saying you might want to check a couple credible sources.

As for Wii piracy. I think it has been stated enough that yes, there is piracy, but it is not affecting the wii at all. Maybe morals, but not profit. Look at Nintendo's NET sales for the past 4 months (or before) when piracy has become big, I guarantee that it has not dropped (if it has, not significant). To be honest, I have my fair share of wii games, around 8 including SSBB and No More Heroes, but I really don't "hardcore" play them. I have downloaded 2 games (Marble Saga, which I turned around and bought after finding out how good the game was, and Wii Sports, my copy got borked by lil bro) Yeah, I might sit down and play with my family on a round of Mario Kart, but I rarely see my bro/sis/family playing the wii. It's one of those "family" times where we play rockband or guitar hero. That's what Nintendo wants for its system. I mean, it is called the "We"

Anyway, my vote is that it's not ruining the system.

 

[FlatFrogger]

I see Jargus, well very good. I can also understand if it is a game you had lost or misplaced downloading may be the option or if you lived in an area where games were largely unavailable or ridiculously priced.

And yes I'll agree for major titles piracy doesn't hinder sales that much but (although not on the wii) Look at GTA Chinatown Wars, it IS a major title and one that is very good in terms of gameplay and fun among others, and very hyped up. Guess what happened... It practically went to failure headfirst.

Now I know this isn't the Wii (or that that game's failure is a direct result of piracy) but it still shows that piracy may have a lot to do with a game's sales.

Anyways its just something I thought of and wanted to let people be aware of.

Someone needs to check their sources :-/
GTA Chinatown Wars was not a flop. According to Rockstar's GDP for the month of March it made profit. I read a story recently that stated it only sold around 66k copies in the US and I know for a fact that is not right. The game itself has sold around 250k-400k overall. Just saying you might want to check a couple credible sources.

...

If people only read kotaku or their "source" then they will think it failed because kotaku went and made a post of the effect OMG GTA CHINATOWN IS A MASSIVE FAILURE. Pretty much every other site out there was saying it was doing pretty good even though the market conditions are relatively rubbish (sales over all where down in march).



Piracy isn't equal to a lost sale either, people are running off with this notion it is.

 

[Plastikrokk]

Piracy is such a touchy word. Lets say the definition of piracy to be, say, obtaining a copy of a medium without the creators being paid. So yes, if you download a game, it's piracy.

But what about used games?

You walk into a Gamestop and buy a copy of Madworld used. None of that money goes towards the developers. Yes, the game was purchased at one point in time as new, but now there are 2 people playing the game and the developer only gets paid for one. Say that person plays the game, and sells it back. Another person walks into the store and buys it. Now 3 people have played and the developer has only been payed for 1.

I assume people like you purchase used games because of the discount in price. Using our definition, these used game sales are piracy.

No, I don't believe that piracy is killing the Wii. What kills the developers is people walking into a game store and seeing the same game for a cheaper price and purchasing that instead of a new copy.

 

[Omgwtfisthat]

Yes it is ruining my wii because burnt media ruins the wii laser quicker!
Just kidding, anyway I disagree with OP on the thing about pirates not making games that are not good. Next to me I've got a pirated copy of Balloon Pop! Even Totally Spies! (None of which I purchased btw). They were purchased from Vietnam, probably supplied by some place in China. I tested some with DVDinfopro and they get quite good quality rating percentages (this DVD5 Brawl pirated game disc got 99.05%!).

Anyway, would I be called a pirate if someone purchased pirated games for me as a gift? (Not saying that this is the situation at hand, though

)

 

[Maz7006]

I personally don't own a Wii, but seeing the immense amount of consoles that Nintendo sold, i don't think that's a problem. I'm sure many people own Wii's and I'm sue that their are many people that buy many games.