Nintendo estimates it lost $975m worldwide in 2007

[Flooded]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/14/nintend...-due-to-piracy/

We're always a little skeptical of piracy impact numbers, especially when companies try to factor in things like "lost sales," which can't be adequately measured, but it's still interesting to hear how large the hit is estimated to be -- like Nintendo's recent filing with the US Trade Representative that piracy cost it and its partners some $975m worldwide in 2007. Saying that the popularity of the Wii and DS makes Nintendo an "attractive target" for counterfeiters, the big N broke the problem down by region, highlighting its efforts to stem the tide and proposed solutions and regulations. We'd say that with profits soaring and plenty of people clamoring for hard-to-find systems, Nintendo could probably get back a little of that cash by finally getting some boxes on shelves instead of pushing for new laws, but hey -- even Mario's lawyers probably get sick of being paid in mushrooms.

 

[Tweaked]

THEY WERNT TO WORRIED ABOUT LAWS WHEN PEARL HARBOUR WENT DOWN


in all seriousness, nintendo, i love you, but seriously, growwww up, The day im an asshole because i pirate so i can help my uncle whos raising his niece cuz his daughter is a rockhead. When that makes me a bad person who deserves to be prosecuted, hit me up.



I PLEAD THA FIFTH

 

[science]

THEY WERNT TO WORRIED ABOUT LAWS WHEN PEARL HARBOUR WENT DOWN


in all seriousness, nintendo, i love you, but seriously, growwww up, The day im an asshole because i pirate so i can help my uncle whos raising his niece cuz his daughter is a rockhead. When that makes me a bad person who deserves to be prosecuted, hit me up.



I PLEAD THA FIFTH

No offense, but saying you pirate because your Uncle's niece is a rockhead is not the best excuse lol.

 

[MaHe]

Heh ... I'm getting sick of the term 'lost sales'. In 95% of all the cases, those who pirated some games wouldn't buy them at all, if they had to pay for them.

 

[GeekyGuy]

Nintendo's reports of losses to piracy aren't news, they're propaganda.

Seriously, they are responding as any successful corporation would respond, and that is with a hand of greed. They still get to write all those losses off, as well as shower in the tsunami of wealth the company has taken in since the DS took off. Their stock has went up in insane ways.

I love the creative arm of Nintendo, but the company is, without any doubt whatsoever, one of the most ruthless businesses alive today.

 

[jumpman17]

Once again, these numbers come from the following:

1) Pick a random number of how many games have been downloaded.
2) Assume that every game downloaded would have been bought.
3) Assume that said games would all be boughten at full price.

 

[Tweaked]

and being a soiled brat braught upp in good home and shielded makes you ignorant as to how things really operate, but hey.


If your cool with depriving a 6 year old girl of her mother, and videogames (the only thing that can really spark her intrest, besides family) then go ahead, throw the book at me.


Anyways, it would be nice to have been braught up in a family where. A. dad doesnt smoke rock and rob banks, B. Grandpa didint do 45 for 3 murders, my cousin (daughters mom) has kids to just gain wellfare checks. But i was, so i advise you to keep your mouth shut when your deciding what is a good reason, and what isnt, k?

wish i was born with a silver spoon too


And sorry, maybe i shoulda said im only 19 and cant really afford to support anyone but myself, Sorry if that woulda avoided this argument

 

[Psyfira]

You can't blame them for doing something, every company has the right to protect it's intellectual property. But the problem would be more effectively and significantly reduced if they actually listened to you lot for once and tackled the problems that drive people to piracy in the first place:

* Pricing
* Shovelware (shovelwarez?)
* International Release Dates
* Demos / try-before-you-buy schemes that don't require extra hardware
* Release something that isn't crap on the Wii

You want to do something Nintendo; Fix it. Your consumer base do not trust your system's games anymore. Even big-name franchises are often tainted by a shoddily done cash-cow title. The world is in a truely sorry state when parents can't even trust Disney to release something worthwhile. Stop publishing crap, or if you just can't live without the license fees then give it a price tag reflective of its quality.

 

[fermio100]

In my country we have an expression that goes more os less like "Don't count with the egg in the hen's ass". Nintendo is counting with would be sales, but WII gotta see sony's results, you can't unlock PS3, so they don't sell consoles and therefore, they sell less games. IMHO

 

[Son of Science]

Pobre pobre Nintendo

That's poor poor Nintendo by the way.

That measurement is a bit drastic though.. i doubt it very highly

 

[Lumstar]

Wrong. PS3 has the highest average review score for current-gen consoles when comparing all released games in the US.

This is because both Wii and Xbox 360 get more shovelware (not a lack of good games on them).

 

[xJonny]

It's become far too EASY for any old Tom, Dick or Harry to pirate DS games now, and it seems they haven't done enough to prevent it.

 

[Lumstar]

Nintendo can't do much with DS now. Adding more protection might cause compatibility issues.

At least GBA had games with things like the tilt sensor, solar sensor, card scanner, etc that don't function exactly as intended in most flash carts since they lack their custom hardware.

I don't think any flash cart ever had eReader card scanning support!

 

[TaMs]

Well even 6 year old kids can use r4 etc easily. It's Nintendo's own fault for making their console's so easy to "hack" etc. (what really that wii number code thing was the same as gamecube's but backwards or something? Can't remember anymore.)

Also it's very hard to analyze how many games they would have sold if there were no pirates.

 

[omatic]

I don't think they're taking into consideration that the people who pirated those games wouldn't have bought them in the first place. I'm speaking mainly about those in China, South America, Korea, etc.

 

[science]

and being a soiled brat braught upp in good home and shielded makes you ignorant as to how things really operate, but hey.


If your cool with depriving a 6 year old girl of her mother, and videogames (the only thing that can really spark her intrest, besides family) then go ahead, throw the book at me.


Anyways, it would be nice to have been braught up in a family where. A. dad doesnt smoke rock and rob banks, B. Grandpa didint do 45 for 3 murders, my cousin (daughters mom) has kids to just gain wellfare checks. But i was, so i advise you to keep your mouth shut when your deciding what is a good reason, and what isnt, k?

wish i was born with a silver spoon too


And sorry, maybe i shoulda said im only 19 and cant really afford to support anyone but myself, Sorry if that woulda avoided this argument

Ok, you took what I said wrong, and I took what you said wrong. I assumed the video games were for you, and thats why I said that, because it looks as if there are more pressing matters than playing video games for you, but the fact that you are getting them for a 6 year old girl is honorable of you, taking care of a girl who is in need. I didn't mean to offend you, and am in no way trying to insult you. I'm sorry for coming across as that.

 

[xJonny]

Nintendo can't do much with DS now. Adding more protection might cause compatibility issues.

At least GBA had games with things like the tilt sensor, solar sensor, card scanner, etc that don't function exactly as intended in most flash carts since they lack their custom hardware.

I don't think any flash cart ever had eReader card scanning support!

They might be able to add something into new carts that makes it impossible to dump or something?

 

[Ace Gunman]

Ok, now that that's all cleared up, lets have no more talk of it. If this turns into another "morals in piracy" debate I'll shut it down. Those always turn into flame wars.

 

[laminaatplaat]

It all went wrong when our grand grand grand grand grandfathers pirates thought it was smart to set foot on land!

 

[notnarb]

Heh ... I'm getting sick of the term 'lost sales'. In 95% of all the cases, those who pirated some games wouldn't buy them at all, if they had to pay for them.

so if 5% would have bought the games, then Nintendo still would have 'lost' 50mil