Sony Corp., one of the largest videogame developers and console manufacturers in the world, said that Internet piracy has now grown into uncontrollable proportion to the point that it has become the Playstation Portable’s (PSP) biggest problem.
“The growing problem of piracy has become the PSP system’s biggest problem. It affects everyone, from the biggest developers to the smallest videogame publishers,” said Rob Dyer, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s senior VP of publisher relations.
Now, Sony is arming itself against piracy as it gathers hundreds of videogame developers to educate them about a new technology that would hill them prevent attacks from pirates 30 to 60 days after the release of products.
“We want to have an industry-wide protection of the games that are being released in the market. At least 30 to 60 days of protected shelf life will be a good showing for the videogame industry,” he said.
According to Sony, download of pirated videogames accounts to more than 24 percent of the overall data being shared by users in peer-to-peer file-sharing websites.
“Even the Humble Indie Bundle, which cost a penny for a collection of five indie games, is now being pirated. No one is spared,” he added.
Dyer pointed out that the last time a PSP game made it to the Top 10 sales chart was during the launch of Dissidia: Final Fantasy in August.
He said that sales have been hurting the company for the past several quarters due to the proliferation of piracy on the Internet and other unchecked or unlicensed stores.
“We are alarmed with the declining sales of our major titles like Gran Turismo, Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines, and LittleBigPlanet. All these games have made their mark in the past but piracy has left us vulnerable in our coming titles,” he added.
“Piracy is killing forthcoming titles. We are not getting the full-line support of the industry in North America. Unlike in Japan were games are being protected by a tougher piracy law,” Dryer added.