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January 2013

Piracy and Video Games: Is There a Light at the

End of the Tunnel?

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Piracy and Video Games: Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel?
Maxim V. Tsotsorin

Table of Contents
I. Introduction ................................................................
................................................................................................
............................................... 2
II. Videogame Piracy: A Global and Expensive Problem................................................................
............................................. 3
A. A Bit of History................................
................................................................................................................................
.................................... 3
B. Market Segments and Platforms
Platforms................................................................................................
........................................... 4
1. PC Video Games ................................
...............................................................................................................................
............................... 5
2. Video Games for Consoles ................................
................................................................................................
............................................... 6
3. Mobile Game Apps ................................
................................................................................................
........................................................... 7
D. Foreign Markets ................................
................................................................................................................................
................................... 8
II. Possible Solutions ................................
................................................................................................................................
.................................. 10
A. A Legal Solution: Anti-Piracy
Piracy Laws and Enforcement ................................................................
..................................... 11
1. Legislative Framework ................................
................................................................................................
................................................... 11
2. Enforcement ................................
................................................................................................................................
.................................... 13
B. A Business Solution: Open Pricing and F2P ................................................................
...................................................... 14
C. A Technological Solution: Digital Rights Management ................................................................
.................................... 15
D. Two Case Studies ................................
...............................................................................................................................
............................... 16
1. Valve in Russia and the Value of Customer Service ................................................................
...................................... 16
2. Game Dev Tycoon and the Power of Education................................................................
.............................................. 17
III. Conclusion ................................
................................................................................................................................
............................................ 18

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I. Introduction
For as long as there has been stuff, people have wanted that stuff for free.1 This basic
idea is the driving force behind the problem that has haunted businesses on every side of the
spectrum: designer knock-offs,
offs, pirated movies, illegally downloaded music MP3s, and stolen
video games. Yes, stolen as in theft
theft. Creating pirated CDs/DVDs or downloading illegal copies
of video games from bit-torrents
torrents is against the law whether you are the creator of a pirated
pirate
copy making it available to others for download, or a user scouring dark corners of the Internet to
find illegal but free games. Either way, videogame piracy is a crime
crime, and laws of many
2
countries provide severe civil and criminal penalties for violating those laws.3
In addition to being unlawful in many countries around the globe, videogame piracy
seems to benefit the end user who receives a game for free and can enjoy it without any costs
incurred. While this is definitely one of the major driving forces behind the w
widespread
idespread nature of
piracy, the bigger picture reveals that the only party that benefits from piracy is the pirate himhim or
herself. While it is pretty clear the game developers lose money and do not make much profit on
their releases, what it means in the long run is that no profit equals no games.4 Every dollar a
gamer would spend on a legitimate
imate copy would have gone to developing new games: with better
graphics, better sound effects, better interface, better storyline, and better overall user
experience. In essence, buying games in the open market subsidizes game development; buying
illegal copies under the table subsidized only the maker of the illegal copy and drives videogame
makers out of business.
Over the past couple decades piracy has become a relat
relatively low--cost business
available technology has made making a copy of a videogame as easy as ripping off a music CD
on your personal laptop with a click of a button
button. Digital color copiers make CD inserts that
look better than originals, and printing ttechnology
echnology allows printing on CDs without messy
stickers. In the Internet universe, multitude of bit
bit-torrents and peer-to-peer
peer sharing platforms
provide videogame pirates with an unlimited distribution m
market
arket and low cost operations. The
industrys countermeasures, however, also has not stayed still. The game developers employ a
broad array of preventive and enforcement measures targeting different facets of the problem.
1

David Houghton, A Brief History of Video Games

Games, GAMESRADAR (Aug. 30, 2010), http://www.gamesradar.com/ahttp://www.gamesradar.com/a
brief-history-of-video-game-piracy/.
2
Civil remedies typically include those afforded for copyright and trademark infringement. See 17 U.S.C. 501-505
501
(2011) (copyright infringement and applicable rremedies); 15 U.S.C. 1111-1125
1125 (2011) (trademark infringement
and applicable remedies).
3
See, e.g., Agreement on Trade-Related
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights art. 6,, Apr. 15, 1994, 1869 U.N.T.S.
299, 33 I.L.M. 1197 (1994).. In the United States, criminal copyright infringement is used for willful and for profit
violations. See 17 U.S.C. 506.
4
Bruce Everiss, The History of Software Piracy
Piracy, GAME THEORY (Aug. 17, 2010),
http://gametheoryonline.com/2010/08/17/history
http://gametheoryonline.com/2010/08/17/history-video-game-piracy-pc-ps3-wii-xbox-free-download/
download/.

The content of this paper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

This paper provides a brief overview of the videogame piracy pro

problem and its extent,
extent and
then samples the solution landscape with particular focus on those countermeasures that target
specific aspects of game development and publishing
publishing. The anti-piracy
piracy efforts should certainly be
a well-balanced
balanced approach targeting the black market in every possible manner, so it is helpful to
consider a number of enforcement and preventive measures that could be extremely effective if
combined.
II. Videogame Piracy: A Global and Expensive Problem
A. A Bit of History

The videogame piracy has been a problem since the development of the first video game
that could have been copied and resold
resoldor simply shared, as it was happening in the yearly
5
years of personal computers. The first video games were sold on audio compact cassettes, which
whi
were extremely easy to copy because of mass proliferation of dual cassette players all you
needed was a blank tape.6 During the early days, many game publishers around the world went
out of business for this exact reason
reason.7 During this period, the industry has gone to great trouble
inventing and implementing various technical anti
anti-piracy solutions to prevent copying cassette
8
tapes, such as Lenslok.
Then came the game consoles that brought temporary relief starting with Atari and
Commodore, and followed
ed by Nintendo and Sega
Sega. The games were embodied in game
9
cartridges : simply speaking, a removable circuit board with preinstalled software and hardware
modules. Those cartridges were extremely expensive to manufacture, but they were also very
expensive to copy one would pretty much need to replicate the full manufacturing process.10
Instead, the game pirates switched their focus to consoles themselves for example,
exam
NEScompatible consoles accepting unlicensed games were as common as the legitimate ones.11
Nevertheless, during
uring this period many of the game developers we know today established and
grew their operations.
Both the costs of producing the cartridges and the limited storage space posed problems
as the games became more and more complex. The industry embraced the greater capacity and
5

See generally Sandra Leigh King, While You Were Sleeping

Sleeping, 11 SMU SCI. & TECH. L. REV. 3 (2007).
Everiss, supra note 4; Houghton, supra note 1.
7
Everiss, supra note 4.
8
Lenslok, WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenslok (last visited May 3, 2013).
9
See Game Cartridge, WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_cartridge (last visited May 3, 2013).
10
Everiss, supra note 4; Miodrag Kovacevic, A Brief Overview of Console Piracy, DELTAGAMER (Nov. 27, 2011),
http://deltagamer.com/20973/a-brief--overview-of-console-piracy ([M]anufacturing a pirate N64 cartridge was
such an expensive process that pirates promptly stopped bothering with it and moved on to the PlayStation.).
11
Houghton, supra note 1.
6

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lower cost of recordable optical media CR-ROM, and later DVD-ROM. With that, many
m
game
publishers anticipated increased piracy concerns and thus developed and implemented numerous
protective measures.12 It was, however, a losing game at the outset. Technology was developing
so quickly, many companies simply could not keep up with the tools available to the public (and,
thus, the pirates).. Shortly after CD
CD-ROMs
ROMs were introduced for mass consumption, the CD
burners became commonplace in many households allowing users makes copies in their own
homes.13 Video
ideo game pirates, unable to fully utilize still growing Internet popularity, were
offering illegal copies literally going door
door-to-door looking for customers.14 As soon as the game
companies started programming their consoles to accept only authentic CDs with original game
copies and implementing other technical barriers to copying
copying, most of them were almost
immediately circumvented by modding physical altering of the console to perform outside of
its abilities.15 All of this resulted in a dramatic drop in sales and industry-wide
wide layoffs.
With the wide adoption of the Internet, the videogame industry suffered yet again.16
Instead of going door-to-door
door looking for customers, the pirates now would only needed to
upload the files and post them online.17 The Internet would do the rest - provide storage for
illegal copies, offer searchh engines for marketing efforts, collect payments etc. all while being
virtually anonymous and staying under the enforcement radar at a very low expense.
expense
Additionally, there was no longer a need to distribute a physical medium containing a video
game a click of a button would upload an illegal copy to the Internet, and another click would
pay for and download the game on
onto the users personal computer.18
B. Market Segments and Platforms

Video games exist in our lives in every shape and form, and they typically use some kind
of a platform. The most popular and established categories of video games by platform are: (1)
console games made for consoles like Sony PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Wii; (2) PC games
made for personal computers; and (3) mobile games, which are basically apps made for mobile
devices such as smartphones. In recent years, there has also been an emergence of private servers
also called grey shards that allow playe
players of cloud-based
based entertainment software access
12

See, e.g., Everiss, supra note 4. The first was Sony which used CD
CD-ROMs
ROMs for its PlayStation console. Id.
See Houghton, supra note 1.
14
Everiss, supra note 4.
15
See generally Phillip A. Harris Jr., Mod Chips and Homebrew: A Recipe for Their Continued Use in the Wake of
Sony v. Divineo, 9 N.C. J.L. & TECH. 113 (2007). See also Martene Battle, Mod Chipping for Video Game Consoles,
Consoles
HUBPAGES (last updated Jan. 31, 2013); Houghton, supra note 1.
16
See generally Koroush Ghazi, PC Game Piracy Examined
Examined, TWEAKGUIDES (Apr. 2012),
http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html
http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html.
17
Houghton, supra note 1.
18
Andrew V. Moshirinia, Giant Pink Scorpions: Fighting Piracy with Novel Digital Rights Management Technology,
Technology
23 DEPAUL J. ART TECH & INTELL. PROP. L. 1, 2 (2012).
13

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these unauthorized serve3rs to play copyrighted video games that are made available through
hacked software and/or circumvention of the rights holders technological protection
measures.19
1. PC Video Games

The most pirated platform is the PC - PC market has been always targeted by the
pirates. With advent of the Internet, PC gaming took the biggest and most obvious hit.21 With
the widespread use of the Internet, pirates began using to their advantage torrents, Usenet,
various file sharing services, FTP locations, and Internet Relay Chat in order to reach their
client base and to remain as anonymous and as invulnerable as possible.22 More recently, some
game publishers voiced their decision to go as far as to abandon PC territory completely and
avoid publishing many titles on this platform.23
20

While there are no reliable statistics specific to PC gaming industry most numbers
reflect pirated software,24 - overall video game piracy is often measured by traffic
raffic rankings on
25
the website Alexa : huge amount of traffic on popular torrent sites places them in the top few
hundred websites in the world.26 As recent as last year, the Entertainment Software Association
of Canada stated that the computer game industry in North America (including Canada and the
U.S.) lose close to $3.5 billion every year to pirated video games, the number equal one-fifth
one
of
27
thee total value of the video game market. Some claim that PC piracy rate is as high as 95%,
95% 28

19

OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE, 2013 SPECIAL 301 REPORT 20 (May 2013) [hereinafter 301 REPORT], available
at http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/05012013%202013%20Special%20301%20Report.pdf.
http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/05012013%202013%20Special%20301%20Report.pdf
20
See generally Moshirinia, supra note 18, at 21-23.
21
Houghton, supra note 1.
22
Ghazi, supra note 16.
23
See John Gauder, Pachter: Publishers Have Abandoned PC Platform Due to Piracy
Piracy, GAMECHUP (Feb. 9, 2013),
http://www.gamechup.com/pachter-publishers
publishers-have-abandoned-pc-platform-due-to-piracy/
24
In recent years, the number for United States has been around 20%. See Mike Sachoff, U.S, Has Lowest Software
Piracy Rate, WEBPRONEWS (May 12, 2010), http://www.webpronews.com/us-has-lowest-software
software-piracy-rate2010-05. See also SHADOW MARKET: 2011 BSA GLOBAL SOFTWARE PIRACY STUDY (9th ed. May 2012) (19% piracy rate for
the U.S., the lowest in the world), available at
http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2011/downloads/study_pdf/2011_BSA_Piracy_Study
http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2011/downloads/study_pdf/2011_BSA_Piracy_Study-Standard.pdf.
25
Of course, one download does not and will never eq
equal a lost sale some people would not even consider a
game unless it is free. See, e.g.,, United States v. Dove, 585 F. Supp. 2d 865 (2008).
26
ALEXA, www.alexa.com (last visited May 4, 2013).
27
Video Game Piracy Losses in North America
America, HAVOSCOPE (Aug. 27, 2012), http://www.havocscope.com/videohttp://www.havocscope.com/video
game-piracy-losses-in-north-america/.
28
Rob Crossley, PC Piracy Rate above 90%, Says Ubisoft
Ubisoft, CVG (Aug. 22, 2012),
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/364271/pc
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/364271/pc-piracy-rate-above-90-says-ubisoft/.. Yves Guillemot,
Ubisofts
bisofts CEO, has later clarified that the rate relates to specific titles, not PC gaming industry as a total. See Tom
Phillips, Ubisoft Clarifies 93-95%
95% PC Piracy Rate Comments
Comments, EUROGAMER (Sept. 5, 2012),
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-09-05-ubisoft-clarifies-93-95-percent-pc-piracy-rate--comments.

The content of this paper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

but most believe that more realistic number is around 70%,29 if not lower. Certain titles,
however, can have a very high piracy rate.30
2. Video Games for Consoles

In comparison to PC games, console

console-based
based video games typically suffer a much lower
31
rate of piracy. For example, a simple comparison of piracy rates of the same titles on multiple
platforms consistently shows that piracy in the console territory is not as widespread as in PC
camp.32 A recent 2011 report about the most pirated video games, TorrentFreak a weblog of
breaking news about everything BitTorrent contained the following passage: PC games are by
far the most downloaded titles, with on average mo
more
re than three times the number of downloads
compared to Xbox 360 and Wii releases. . . . The platforms that are not mentioned, such as the
PS3, get considerably less downloads and are excluded for that reason.33 The actual numbers, of
course, are console specific,
pecific, and some consoled suffer much higher piracy rates.34
Consoles, of course, are not exempt from piracy
piracy,, but they do require an extra step which
typically is not necessary with a PC. Most of the consoles must be modded or otherwise hacked
in order to accept a pirated game35 but the hacking requires a fair bit of technical knowledge,
and sometimes even hunting down relatively sketchy hardware modifications
modifications.36 The PC, on the
contrary, typically provides the player with a download
download-and-play
play simplicity with minimal
technical knowledge.
Some commentators also advance cultural differences in PC v. console piracy: computer
gaming grew out of hacking and sharing data, whereas console gaming from the outset was
29

Kyle Orland, Why Arent Console Piracy Rates Higher?

Higher?, GAMETHEORY (Aug. 30, 2010),
http://gametheoryonline.com/2010/08/30/console
http://gametheoryonline.com/2010/08/30/console-piracy-pc-game-pirate/.
30
Ernesto, The Most Pirated Games of 2011
2011, TORRENTFREAK (Dec. 30, 2011), http://torrentfreak.com/top-10-mosthttp://torrentfreak.com/top
pirated-games-of-2011-111230/;; Ghazi, supra note 16; Kris Graft, Machinarium Dev Saw up to 95% Piracy Rate,
Rate
GAMASUTRA (Aug. 5, 2010),
amasutra.com/view/news/29768/Machinarium_Dev_Saw_Up_To_95_Piracy_Rate.php.
amasutra.com/view/news/29768/Machinarium_Dev_Saw_Up_To_95_Piracy_Rate.php
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29768/Machinarium_Dev_Saw_Up_To_95_Piracy_Rate.php
31
For a great account of the demise of Sega Dreamcast console see xiaopang333, Piracy Killed the Dreamcast. . . or
Did It?, XIAOPANGS GAME BLOG (May 2, 2008), http://xiaopang333.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/piracy
rdpress.com/2008/05/02/piracy-killed-thedreamcastor-did-it/.
32
Ghazi, supra note 16.
33
Ernesto, supra note 30.
34
See, e.g., Kat Bailey, Sony Calls PSP Piracy Rates Sickening
Sickening, 1UP.COM (Apr. 22, 2009),
http://www.1up.com/news/sony-calls--psp-piracy-rates; Andy Chalk, 90 Percent of American DS Owners Play
Pirated Games, ELSPA Says, THE ESCAPIST (Jan. 31, 2008), http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/81081-90http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/81081
Percent-Of-American-DS-Owners-Play--Pirated-Games-ELSPA-Says.
35
See, e.g., Miodrag Kovacevic, A Brief
rief Overview of Console Piracy
Piracy, DELTAGAMER (Nov. 27, 2011),
http://deltagamer.com/20973/a-brief--overview-of-console-piracy; David Kushner, Games: Console Makers Fight
Back Against Piracy, WIRED (Apr. 19, 2010, 12:00 PM),
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/04/pl_games_bootleg/.
36
Orland, supra note 29.

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based on a commercial business model.37 The more likely answer and the one that surely
bolsters the cultural argument is that the focused effort of the console maker/publisher to
combat pirates follows the vested interest of the maker/publisher itself. Both Microsoft and Sony
have gone after not only manufacturers and distributors of cracked software and hardware, but
the players using modified consoles as well.38 In the PC world, however, there is simply no
single centralized force that would protect PC as a platform every game developer and
publisher
isher is pretty much on his or her own.
3. Mobile Game Apps

The mobile space has not avoided videogame piracy. There is no reliable piracy statistic
on the Android platform as Google does not provide one, but it would be safe to guess it would
be no less than console games rate and likely even as high as PC games. Piracy rate for popular
titles such as Angry Birds would easily be somewhere around 80-90%.39
There is some difference in platforms, however it seems that most piracy-related
piracy
complaints are coming from Android marketplace
marketplace,, and not as much from iOS space.
space A possible
explanation here is the cultural factor bolstered by the overarching vested interest. Android
space was designed as and based on open source project, which certainly helped Google
penetrate as many devices as possible. Thus, Android and Google Play is practically designed
for piracy40 where users expect many apps to be free and where no hardware tampering is
required.41 On the contrary, iOS space is much more protective of its content people are used to
pay for Apple products because of its highly proprietary nature
nature.. In addition, running
runn
an illegal
app on your genuine Apple device does require some tampering also called jailbreak42
although it is much less difficult than modding a console.43

37

Id.
Daniel Terdiman, Report: Microsoft Bans 1 Million Xbox Live Players
Players, CNET (Nov. 11, 2009),
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10395265
10395265-52.html.
39
See, e.g., Matthew Lynley, Cloud-Based
Based Video Games Will Put Pirates out of Business, GAMESBEAT (July 14, 2011,
12:33 PM), http://venturebeat.com/2011/07/14/cloud
http://venturebeat.com/2011/07/14/cloud-gaming-piracy/; William Usner, Dead Trigger Goes Free-ToPlay Because 90% of Android Users Are Pirates
Pirates, GAMING BLEND (June 24, 2012, 02:42 AM),
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Dead
//www.cinemablend.com/games/Dead-Trigger-Goes-Free-Play-Because-90-Android-Users
Users-Pirates44969.html.
40
Matt Gemmell, Closed for Business, MATT GEMMELL (July 23, 2012), http://mattgemmell.com/2012/07/23/closedhttp://mattgemmell.com/2012/07/23/closed
for-business/.
41
Marin Perez, Android Piracy Rates
ates Unbelievably High
High, THE FULL SIGNAL (July 23, 2012, 1:38 PM),
http://www.thefullsignal.com/products/12190/android
http://www.thefullsignal.com/products/12190/android-piracy-rates-unbelievably-high.
42
See iOS Jailbreaking, WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_jailbreaking (last modified Apr. 30,
30 2013).
43
Eric Ravenscraft, Just How Bad Is App Piracy on Android Anyway? Hint: Were Asking the Wrong Question,
Question
ANDROID POLICE (July 31, 2012), http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/07/31/editorial
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/07/31/editorial-just-how-bad
bad-is-app-piracyon-android-anyways-hint-were-asking--the-wrong-question/.
38

The content of this paper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

The mitigating factor with mobile game piracy is the games relatively low price. Many
of the games are even released as free to play (F2P), where the player downloads and plays a free
copy, but some features of the game (e.g., weapons, locations, equipment) are locked and could
onlyy be purchased. Another factor is interoperability: while most mobile devices operate on
either iOS or Android platforms, a particular game may not be available on a specific device.44 In
some instances, there have been even reports of pira
pirates who helped to get
get the word out for a
mobile game that eventually went from zero to thousands of daily downloads through legitimate
online outlets within mere months
months.45
D. Foreign Markets

Pirates operating in foreign countries pose much greater risk than those in the United
States laws differ from country to country, and so differs the enforcement. To get an idea of the
extent of the problem on the international scale (since a high piracy rate in a small country can
still result in smaller losses than a lower rate in a much larger country46), Table 1 shows a
breakdown of piracy losses by country:
Table 1: Video Games Piracy Losses by Country
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Country
Italy
China
Spain
South Korea
Russia
Mexico
Taiwan
Brazil
Sweden
India

Market Value (million)

817
589.9
510
461.9
282.1
273
202.9
159.3
135.3
129.9

Source: International Intellectual Property Alliance, 200

2009.

44

Stuart Dredge, How Big a Problem Are Pirated Mobile Games?, POCKET GAMER (Apr. 17, 2007),
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Mobile/feature.asp?c=2783
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Mobile/feature.asp?c=2783.
45
See, e.g., Seth Coster, How Piracy Saved Our Dying Mobile Game
Game, GAMASUTRA (Feb. 8, 2013),
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/SethCoster/20130208/186329/How_Piracy_Saved_Our_Dying_Mobile_Game.p
hp.
46
Crime Statistics: Software Piracy Rate (Most Recent) by Country
Country, NATIONMASTER.COM (2007),
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_sof_pir
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_sof_pir_rat-crime-software-piracy-rate (listing piracy rate for software,
including video games, for almost all countries of the world). The piracy rate is the total number of units of pirated
software deployed in 2007 divided by the total units of software insta
installed,
lled, which does not reflect the value of the
projected loss. Id.

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A very helpful breakdown by country is made in a recent report of the Office of the
United States Trade Representative.47 The report, which lists countries that could have done
more to protect intellectual property rights and implement anti
anti-piracy
piracy measures, places reviewed
countries on either a priority watch
atch list and a watch list; a number of countries (this year it is
only one country Ukraine) is designated as priority foreign countries those with the most
egregious [intellectual property rights
rights-related]
related] acts, policies and practices with the greatest
great
adverse impact on the U.S. products, and that are not entering into good faith negotiations or
making significant progress in negotiations to provide adequate and effective [intellectual
property rights protection.48
While Ukraine may not be the great
greatest
est threat to video game industry due to its relatively
small market share, many countries that made the priority watch list or watch list pose
significant threat to video games and videogame piracy in those countries is rampant.49
Entertainment Software Association (ESA) commented on those country placements supported
by the game industry as follows:
Spain will be subject to an [intermediate review] to determine whether Spain should be
returned to the Watch List for falling short on commitments made in 2012 to improve
mechanisms to address rampant online piracy.
Russia is to be retained on the Priority Watch List. During 2012, Russia led all other
countries in peer-to-peer
peer piracy of ESA member game titles, highlighting the need for a
legal framework to address online piracy problems.
Brazil is to be retained on the Watch List. During 2012, for a second year in a row,
Brazil ranked second in the world in peer
peer-to-peer
peer piracy of ESA member titles, but it has
not put in place needed online remedies nor pr
prosecuted
osecuted any site operators for copyright
violations.
Mexico is to be retained on the Watch List. Deficiencies in Mexicos copyright laws
combined with a lack of enforcement of its existing laws have allowed hard goods game
piracy to flourish while cont
contributing
ributing to online piracy problems. Mexico is urged to pass
legislation outlawing the trafficking in circumvention devices and technologies and to
take serious steps to address growing online piracy.50

Of course, there are many factors that result in high ppiracy rates. In China,51 for
example, video game consoles are banned outright
outright.. This, however, does not stop gamers
from playing, and many bring their consoles from overseas, or purchase at gray goods
47

301 REPORT, SUPRA NOTE 19.

Id. at 5-7.
49
See id. at 28-56.
50
ESA Applauds Administration for International Copyright Protection
Protection, ENTMT SOFTWARE ASSN (May 1, 2013),
http://www.theesa.com/newsroom/release_detail.asp?releaseID=199
http://www.theesa.com/newsroom/release_detail.asp?releaseID=199.
51
See generally Frank Lin, Piracy in China: Identifying the Problem and Implementing Solutions
Solutions,, 14 CURRENTS: INTL
TRADE L.J. 83 (2005).
48

The content of this paper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

markets. Most games are pirated because they are simply unavailable through legitimate
stores, and with the ease of Internet download may be copied relatively cheap.52 In some
other countries mostly African there is simply no potion for gamers to pay online for
a copy of the game they would like to purchase.53
In Russia and many other countries as well video games are expensive,
expensive and
54
most people simply cannot
not afford them. In addition, however, there are multiple layers
to the problem of being safe havens for pirates relative ease to hack a console and to
t
burn copies of a game (both console and PC)
PC), complete lack of enforcement (that
that allows
official retailers pirating games from official copies to sell them at a much lower price, as
well as breaking
reaking street dates by releasing games much earlier than requested
ted by the game
publisher), and anti-industry
industry mentality either because the industry is too greedy, or
simply to let the stupid Americans pay for the games.55
Nevertheless, if left unaddressed by local governments, videogame piracy will be
hurting game developers and publishers around the world regardless of whether
someone pirates a game because they want to, or because they have to. Whatever pirates
motivations
ions are, lost revenue is lost revenue.
II. Possible Solutions

The solutions to video game piracy are many; some effective and some are not. Some
solutions are legal establishing clear legislative framework and implementing consistent
enforcement; some are business offering games as F2P and receiving revenue through in-game
in
purchases, or offering open pricing the player pays what he player thinks the game is worth.
Other solutions are technological (known as DRM) making illegal copies unplayable, or
protecting physical medium from copying, or even requiring the players to keep the video game
always online so the server can continuously verify the authenticity of the copy. Many other
solutions are political, cultural, psychological etc. Of course, it can take a large amount of time to
discuss all of them in this short paper. Thus, it appears to be moree beneficial to sample a few of
them in three major categories: (1) legal, (2) business, and (3) technological.

52

See Eric Jou, Bootleggers Explain Why Theres So Muc

Much Video Game Piracy in China, KOTAKU (Mar. 4, 2013, 7:45
AM), http://kotaku.com/5988244/bootleggers
http://kotaku.com/5988244/bootleggers-explain-why-theres-so-much-video-game-piracy
piracy-in-china.
53
See. e.g., Crime Statistics, supra note 46 (comments below).
54
See Timur Seyfelmliukov, Welcome to
o Russia, Where Most of Your Friends Are Video Game Pirates,
Pirates KOTAKU (Oct.
29, 2012, 9:15 AM), http://kotaku.com/5955739/welcome
http://kotaku.com/5955739/welcome-to-russia-where-most-of-your-friends
friends-are-video-gamepirates.
55
See id.

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The content of this paper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

A. A Legal Solution: Anti

Anti-Piracy Laws and Enforcement
1. Legislative Framework
1976 56
In the United States, anti--piracy laws are based on provisions of Copyright Act of 1976,
and, to some extent, Trademark Act of 1946
1946.57 Copyright infringement is the unauthorized
without copyright holders permission - use of copyrighted material that infringe copyright
holders exclusive rights58 to reproduce, distri
distribute,
bute, display, or perform a copyrighted work or
any part of it.59 The remedies provided are injunctions,60 impounding and disposition of
infringing articles,61 damages and profits,62 and costs and attorneys fees.63 The Copyright Act
also provides for criminal penalties for willful infringement for commercial gain.64
The trademark law is also very important in video game industry.65 A trademark a
brand name allows consumers distinguish goods or services of one sel
seller
ler or provider from
those of many others. Thus, developer names, console names, as well as video game titles,
title are
typically trademarks. While with the widespread use of the Internet trademark infringement is
usually left to the physical counterfeit copies
pies of a game, it is still being used by many large

56

See 17 U.S.C. 501-505 (2011).

See 15 U.S.C. 1111-1125 (2011).
58
Exclusive rights include the following rights:
(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other
transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion
pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;
(5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and
pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or
other audiovisual work, to display the copy
copyrighted work publicly; and
(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a
digital audio transmission.
17 USC 106.
59
See 17 U.S.C. ch. 5 501-513.
60
Id. 502.
61
Id. 503.
62
Id. 504.
63
Id. 505.
64
Id. 506(a).
65
See generally PAUL R. PARADISE, TRADEMARK COUNTERFEITING, PRODUCT PIRACY, AND THE BILLION DOLLAR THREAT TO THE U.S.
ECONOMY 154-59 (1999).
57

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companies such as Nintendo, Sony, and Electronic Arts etc.66 Typical remedies include
injunctions,67 damages,68 and destruction of infringing articles.69
Another important law is the Digital Millennium Copy
Copyright
right Act (DMCA),70 which was
signed by President Bill Clinton in October 1998. The main reason of the law was to impose
stiffer penalties on online pirates, which is achieved by adding serious fines and criminal
penalties for anyone who circumvents the technology that preve
prevents
nts copyright infringement.
infringement
According to the law and its anticircumvention provisions, any attempt to bypass a copy
protection technology may be actionable and result in severe penalties.71
No Electronic Theft Act of 199772 is another law designed to fill the gaps in statutory
copyright protection and anti-piracy
piracy legislation. Before this act people could distribute video
games by giving them away for free a loophole authorized by United States v. LaMacchia.
LaMacchia 73
The act provided for criminal prosecution under copyright laws in specific circumstances, even if
no profit was ever made. The penalties were also raised: statutory damages were increased by
50%; maximum penalties included five years of incarceration and up to $250,000 in fines.
On the international scale,
ale, the most important document
documents are Trade-Related
Related Aspects of
74
75
Intellectual Property Rights ((TRIPs) and the Berne Convention. The United States
participates in both of these (both documents have overlapping provisions76),, and thus the U.S.
copyright is enforceable in over 100 countries who are also signatories to these agreements.
TRIPs specifically provides for protection of software (including, of course, video games),
games) and
its provisions require the members of the Agreement to provide comprehensive protection
pro
of
intellectual property across the globe
globe.
66

See, e.g., Frequently Asked Questions

Questions, NINTENDO ANTI-PIRACY.COM, https://ap.nintendo.com/faq/ (last visited May
5, 2013).
67
15 U.S.C. 1116 (2011).
68
Id. 1117.
69
Id. 1118.
70
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Pub. L. 105
105-304, 112 Stat. 2860 (1998).
71
See generally Corinne L. Miller, Comment, The Video Game Industry and Video Game Culture Dichotomy:
Dicho
Reconciling Gaming Culture Norms with the Anti
Anti-Circumvention Measures of the DMCA,, 16 Tex. Intell. Prop. L.J.
453 (2008).
72
No Electronic Theft (NET) Act of 1997, H.R. 2265, 105th Cong. (1997).
73
United States v. LaMacchia, 871 F. Supp. 535 (D. Mass. 1994). The court ruled under the laws effective at the
time that copyright infringement for non
non-commercial
commercial purposes could not be criminally prosecuted. Id.
74
Agreement on Trade-Related
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Apr. 15, 1994, 1869 U.N.T.S. 299, 33 I.L.M.
1197 (1994).
75
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Sept. 9, 1886, as amended Sept. 28, 1979,
828 U.N.T.S. 221, available at
http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/treaties/en/ip/berne/pdf/trtdocs_wo001.pdf.
76
Article
ticle 10.1 of the TRIPS Agreement provides as follows: Computer programs, whether in source or object code,
shall be protected as literary works under the Berne Convention (1971)
(1971). Agreement on Trade-Related
Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights art. 10.1,, Apr. 15, 1994, 1869 U.N.T.S. 299, 33 I.L.M. 1197 (1994)
(1994).

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The content of this paper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

While there is arguably a somewhat effective anti-piracy

piracy legislative framework, the
Congress recognizess a continuous need to improve it to account for Internet piracy.
piracy On of such
77
bills was a controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). This bill was introduced to combat
online copyright infringement and online ttrafficking
rafficking in counterfeit goods; its provisions included
ability to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with
infringing websites, to bar search engines from linking to infringing websites, and to require ISPs
to block access to infringing websites.78 The bill has received an extremely vocal protest from
both the public and the Internet companies as being too broad even libraries had concern they
would be exposed to liability under the new law.79 The bill did not pass and is currently stalled
with no prospect for moving forward.80 Other similar bills also had the same fate.81 These recent
lawmaking failures clearly show
how that while news laws are necessary, they should be carefully
drafted and embody a balanced approach to the interests of different stakeholders.
2. Enforcement
Enforcement of the copyright is typically on the copyright holder.82 Many companies
typically monitor the Internet for online activity regarding their games (e.g., with Google Alerts
or periodically checking online forums), some especially in other countries where physical
copies are still commonplace occasionally visit
sit gray markets and retailers to see if anything
catches their eye. As soon as the violation is identified, a typical first step is to send a seize-andseize
desists letter in hopes the piracy will stop. If there is no response and the infringement is
ongoing, the next step would be a consideration to institute a lawsuit and request an injunction
and damages.
A specific mechanism, of course, depends on who is the copyright holder, who is the
infringer and where the infringer is located, the extent of infringemen
infringementt and losses. Since a
copyright in the United States is typically enforced through a civil lawsuit, it might be a
considerable cost for a small indie developer; a larger company would likely file a suit for a local
(i.e., U.S.-based) pirate who is able to affect
ffect the revenue stream significantly. A smaller
77

Stop Online Piracy Act, H.R. 3261, 112th Cong. (2011).

See generally Jeffrey A. Lindebaum & David Ewen, Catch Me If You Can: An Analysis of New Enforcement
Measures and Proposed Legislation to Combat the Sale of Coun
Counterfeit Products on the Internet,, 32 PACE L. REV. 567
(2012).
79
Mahakali Overdrive, SOPAs Assault on Libraries, Students, and the Global Flow of Knowledge,
Knowledge DAILY KOS (Jan. 18,
2012, 4:37 PM), http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/18/1056117/-SOPA-s-Assault-on-Libraries
Libraries-Students-andthe-Global-Flow-of-Knowledge.
80
Bill Summary & Status, THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.3261:
bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.3261: (last
visited May 5, 2013).
81
See, e.g., Annemarie Birdy, Copyright Policymaking as Procedural Democratic Process: A Discourse-Theoretic
Discourse
Persepctive on ACTA, SOPA, and PIPA, 30 CARDOZO ARTS & ENTMT L.J. 153 (2012); Mike Belleville, Note, IP Wars:
SOPA, PIPA, and the Fight over Online Piracy
Piracy, 26 TEMPLE INTL & COMPARATIVE L.J. 303 (2012).
82
See 17 U.S.C. 411, 501(b) (2011).
78

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company or a larger company,, for a smaller violation would likely settle for a legal demand
letter written by a lawyer hoping it will have some effect.
In case of criminal infringement, however, the eenforcement
nforcement is through the federal
83
government and its agencies. Anyone including the copyright holder as well as a third party
may make a report to FBI, USCIS, or any other enforcement agency to enforce a copyright and
stop an infringing violator.84 In some instances, the federal investigators even conducted sting
operations.85
Around the globe, however, some countries have sophisticated anti
anti--piracy laws and
enforcement mechanisms, and some dont. In Russia, for example, there are laws
law against piracy,
butt they are rarely enforced. China is another example where enforcement could have been
better. Some countries, nevertheless
nevertheless,, has recently stepped up their efforts and revised anti-piracy
anti
86
laws; one would only hope an effective enforcement of these laws would follow.
B. A Business Solution: Open Pricing and F2P

The open pricing approach has long been used in music industry, the most well-known
well
87
example being Radiohead. In 2007 the band released a new album exclusively online and
allowed their fans to set the price paid.88 Although no figures were released by Radiohead, one
study estimated that 38% of users paid for the album, and, factoring in those who downloaded
the album
um for free, the average amount paid was $2.26.89
In video game space there ha
has been a number of experiments with open pricing,
pricing most of
90
which proved successful. A Humble Bundle is a limited time release of bundled DRM-free
DRM
downloads of independently published games with no set price, with the minimum being one
cent; the stated goal of $1 million was successfully exceeded.91 The bundle was purchased
138,813 times with an average price
rice paid of $9.18.92 An interesting caveat is that while the open

83

Id. 506.
See, e.g., Filing a Complaint with the IC3
IC3, INTERNET CRIME COMPLAINT CTR. (IC3), http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx.
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
85
See Jason Ankeny, Feds Seize Android App Marketplaces Applanet, AppBucket in Piracy Sting,
FierceMobileContent, FIERCE MOBILE (Aug. 22, 2012), http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/feds-seizehttp://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/feds
android-app-marketplaces-applanet-appbucket
appbucket-piracy-sting/2012-08-22.
86
Anti-Internet
Internet Piracy Law Adopted by Spanish Government
Government, BBC NEWS (Jan. 3, 2012, 2:06 PM),
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16391727.
87
Moshirinia, supra note 18, at 39-40.
88
Id. at 40.
89
Id.
90
See generally id. at 41-44.
91
Id. at 41-42.
92
Id. at 42.
84

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price strategy generated sufficient revenue, the bundle itself was widely pirated.93 Despite the
success in this particular instance, however, the open pricing model will suit only a limited
number of game developers users would prefer to pay for an established game developer name
and for a well-regarded
regarded title that user feel personally connected to.94
A better solution to piracy and certainly having an advantage over traditional open
pricing model is the free to play (F2P) release. F2P refers to any video game that has an
option of allowing its players to download and play it for free.95 Thus, it is in essence an openopen
price model or variation of it, - but the choice of the user about how much to pay for the extras
or the in-game
game equipment/weapons only begins after the game is played for some time and the
player is sucked in into the gaming experience. This model has been effectively utilized by a
large percentage of PC and mobile gam
game developers.96
C. A Technological Solution: D
Digital Rights Management

There is a large number of technical ways to prevent piracy of a video game both
hardware- and software-based.97 Digital Rights Management (DRM) is an overarching concept
that includes
es any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that are not desired or intended
by the content provider.98 It has become an industry standard aided by multiple laws and
regulations granting special protection to DRM.99 The DRM methods range from conventional,
non-game-based
based such as entering a serial number from an included manual, to highly
sophisticated software detecting an illegal copy
copy.
There is, however, a significant backlash in the gamers community.100 Some DRM
implementations,, while being a great idea in principle, makes playing even a legitimate copy a
hassle. For example, Electronic Arts Spore DRM greatly limits the number of installations
possible, essentially turning legitimate purchases into long
long-term rentals, while Ubisoft forces
players to be constantly connected to its servers in order to play.101 Steam an online

93

Id. at 42-43.
See id. at 44.
95
See Free-To-Play, WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-to-play (last modified Apr. 17, 2013).
96
See, e.g., Kyle Orland, Ubisoft Boss: Free
Free-To-Play a Natural Reaction to High Piracy Rates, ARS TECHNICA (Aug. 22,
2012, 1:03 PM), http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/08/u
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/08/ubisoft-boss-free-to-play-a-natural-reaction
reaction-to-highpiracy-rates/.
97
See generally Ginger Myles, V1N3: Preventing Piracy within the Video Game Industry
Industry, INTL DIGITAL MEDIA AND ARTS
ASSN (Mar. 11, 2013), http://idmaa.org/?post_type=journalarticle&p=695
http://idmaa.org/?post_type=journalarticle&p=695.
98
Digital Rights Management, WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management (last visited May
4, 2013).
99
See, e.g., Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Pub. L. 105
105-304, 112 Stat. 2860 (1998).
100
See, e.g., Moshirinia, supra note 18, at 34-38.
101
Houghton, supra note 1.
94

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distribution service, - onn the other hand, was embraced by gamers due to secure downloads,
permanent product registration, and download-anywhere philosophy.102
The DRM criticism made some developers to move away from it
itss traditional forms,
forms and
some are utilizing non-invasive
invasive DRM that simply detects an illegal copy and notifies the game
developer if the game copy was pirated
pirated, so further steps could be taken. Others employ
endogenous DRM a piracy deterrence method that uses in
in-game
game elements to degrade the
103
experience of users who run unlicensed copies. Such include whimsical obstacles, redacted
game elements, and triggering of ddeliberate crashes.104
D. Two Case Studies

Videogame distributors and publishers alike recognize the importance of combating

piracy by any means. Some focus on a particular approach, most combine a number of them to
increase effectiveness. A few, however, ha
have
ve made headline by introducing innovative
approaches to combat videogame piracy not by developing new DRM that inhibits legitimate
players freedom even further, but by innovative measures
measures.. The examples below are the value of
services Valve provides for Russian gamers, and an educational crusade a small indie game
developer decided to undertake.
1. Valve in Russia and the Value of Customer Service

A great example of how a game company can operate a successful business in Russia
Rus
one of the places in the world where piracy is a way of life is the strategy implemented by
Valve for its Steam distribution system
system. Valves CEO, Gabe Newell, said:
The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. Its
It by
giving those people a service thats better than what theyre receiving from the pirates.
For example, Russia. You say, oh, were going to enter Russia, people say, youre
doomed, theyll pirate everything in Russia. Russia now outside of Germany is our
o
largest continental European market. 105

According to Mr. Newell

Newell, there are a couple of factors that come into play here. One is
that they learned over the years that piracy is not a pricing issue, but a service issue.106 Pirates
102

Id.
Moshirinia, supra note 18, at 49-50..
104
Id. at 34-38. See also infra Part II.D.2.
105
Todd Bishop, How Valve Experiments with the Economics of Video Games
Games, GEEKWIRE (Oct. 23, 2012, 9:17 AM),
http://www.geekwire.com/2011/experiments
11/experiments-video-game-economics-valves-gabe-newell/ (interview of Gabe
Newell with Ed Fries).
106
Id.
103

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may provide free video games, but they are lacking services that valuable to the gamers:
gamers [I]t
doesnt take much in terms of providing a better service to make pirates a non-issue
issue.107 Another
factor is timing.108 The quicker one gets the game out, the less
lesser the chance is it will be pirated.
In Mr. Newells words: [P]eople
eople who are telling you that Russians pirate everything are the
people who wait six months to localize their product into Russia
Russia.109
2. Game Dev Tycoon and the Power of Education

A very interesting development has recently shaken the world of video game pirates.
While this is not really a preventive or enforcement approach, but rather an ultimate prank one
game developer pulled on pirates, it is worth mentioning.110
On April 28, 2013, the Greenheart Games, a small indie game studio, released its first
title Game Dev Tycoon after two years of development
development.111 The mobile game, available for
multiple operating systems, is a simulator that takes the player back to the 1980s with the
challenge to become a market leader by releasing new and innovative games.112 The caveat here
is that in addition to a legitimate copy that was put on sale in the App Store, Google Play etc.,
etc. the
company also posted a copy on a well
well-known BitTorrent website. Almost immediately thousands
of people downloaded the torrent copy only to find out that it was modified cracked by the
authors. A few hours into the gameplay the player receives a message that the games he or she
developed are heavily pirated, which leads to rapidly decreasing funds. This incurable
situation leads to a quick bankruptcy that ends the game.113
The game made many of those who downloaded an illegal copy upset some of them
voiced their complaints on that very BitTo
BitTorrent website; apparently, pirates
pirates ruined their perfect
114
plans of becoming the next virtual game dev tycoon. Interesting thing is that the download
rate of the illegal copy almost matched the storyline within only one day after the game
release there were 214 downloads of the genuine version, but 3,104 downloads of the cracked
copy (6.4% and 93.6%, respectively).115 Another interesting twist is that the game was taken
107

Id.
Id.
109
Id.
110
Many other game developers also tried different tactics to get back at video game piracy most of the time
making the illegal copy unplayable, frustrating the user. See, e.g., Kyle Nazario, Six Hilarious Ways Game Designers
Are Screwing with Pirates, CRACKED.COM (Apr. 22, 2011), http://www.cracked.com/article_19162_6-hilarious-wayshttp://www.cracked.com/article_19162_6
game-designers-are-screwing-with-pirates.html
pirates.html.
111
Ernesto, Game Pirates Whine About Piracy in Game Dev Simulator
Simulator, TORRENTFREAK (Apr. 29, 2013),
http://torrentfreak.com/game-pirates--whine-about-piracy-in-game-dev-simulator-130429/.
112
Id.
113
Id.
114
See id.
115
Id.
108

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down from the BitTorrent website and is no longer available there considering torrent websites
virtually never respond to legal take
take-down notices and virtually never take anything down.116
The authors of the game both versions noted that they originally wanted to simply put
a notice in the cracked copy that the copy was illegal, but then decided that they didnt
didn want to
pass up the unique opportunity of holding a mirror in front of [the users] and showing [the users]
what piracy can do to game developers.117
Clearly, the Greenheart Games chose an interesting and unconventional approach to
educating its user base about the dangers of piracy. Arguably, this also could be a very effective
one. Hearing about the harm piracy does to video game market is one thing; experiencing it
yourself is quite another. While the game does not make you lose real money, the time and effort
invested is still something measurable no one wants to lose to pirates.
III. Conclusion

Piracy in video game industry has taken root aafter

fter the movies and the music. Despite the
late start, however, it has quickly become a global and expensive problem. With the advent of
the Internet, piracy rates rose unbelievably high close to 90% for popular titles. The sales lost
to pirates, of course, are lost revenue for game developers who might not have sufficient funds to
continue development.
The United
ited States, as well as most of the other countries, recognizes the inherent harm
that piracy brings to the video game marketplace. Both the United States and the international
community created legislative framework to advance anti
anti-piracy
piracy efforts, although
althoug enforcement in
some countries could have been more efficient. This problem is also exaggerated by multiple
other layers pricing v. income in many countries, cultural differences, etc. Many game
developers also embraced other solutions business, technical,
ical, etc. Many employ some form of
DMR to prevent copying, some experiment with different pricing models.
Although some say that piracy will never stop, it certainly may be minimized. A wellwell
balanced approach including different aspects of targeting pira
piracy
cy could yield positive results. On
international level, a healthy collaboration among governments would certainly drive piracy rate
down. On the consumer level, learning about players needs and wants could be extremely
valuable in defeating piracy as it was already shown by Steam. One only hopes
hope others would
follow the suit.
116

See Stacey Cowley, Video Game Studio Pirate

Pirates Its Own Game With an Ironic Twist, CNNMONEY (Apr. 29, 2013,
3:27 PM), http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/29/technology/innovation/game
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/29/technology/innovation/game-dev-tycoon-piracy/
piracy/.
117
Ernesto, supra note 111.

18