Report: Most Pirated Japanese DS and PSP Games

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According to the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) of Japan, Pokemon Platinum is the most pirated Nintendo DS game in the country. CESA's numbers put the title at 2,071,006 illegal downloads. On the PSP, Dissidia: Final Fantasy holds the honor with a whopping 5,281,223 downloads.

It is unclear where this data comes from, but I am guessing it only includes publically accessible BitTorrent trackers and peer-to-peer networks. In reality, the numbers are likely higher.

Across both platforms, the titles most downloaded are "hardcore" games or games that appeal to everyone. Partial lists of the most downloaded games can be found at Siliconera for both the DS and PSP.

CESA does provide an estimate for lost revenue based on the illegal downloads, but converts 1:1, assuming that every download represents a lost sale.

Sony recently attempted to fight piracy with the PSPgo, which largely flopped. Nintendo has been vigilant in going after companies manufacturing or selling hardware needed to play illegal DS games. Expect Nintendo's 3DS and Sony's rumored PSP2 to ramp up the copy-protection.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 9, 2010 12:08 PM

    In before piracy apologists.

    • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      June 9, 2010 12:34 PM

      I don't question that piracy happens, nor that it is a problem.

      I get pissed that everyone keeps trying to say that one DL is one lost sale, and assign a dollar value accordingly

    • reply
      June 9, 2010 12:47 PM

      In before those who accept the publishers number unquestionably.

      We have no information as to how or where the data is collected but it's safe to assume they are likely too low?

      • reply
        June 9, 2010 12:55 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          June 9, 2010 1:15 PM

          There are even distribution methods that don't fall under torrents/P2P networks, but that's besides the point. The publisher has come up with numbers without providing their methodology or analysis - or at least it's not linked to here. The RIAA and MPAA do the same thing.

        • reply
          June 9, 2010 1:20 PM

          Or is likely that they just made some large number up of what they think their sales were expected to be vs what it was. Trying to cover their asses to the higher ups. "we only sold 13 million, but it could have been 18m!"

          How do we know they even track all public trackers and p2p networks. They might have just looked at one of the most popular trackers with a hundred thousand downloads and said, "hey there's got to be at least 50 times this many"

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            June 9, 2010 1:36 PM

            I think they hitted the numeric keyboard with their heads, they looked at the number, and said, oooh so that is the number of pirated copies

    • reply
      June 9, 2010 1:16 PM

      [deleted]

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