Nintendo joins US govt's crusade against piracy in China

by James Ransom-Wiley { Apr 10th 2007 at 2:59PM }

Nintendo has pledged its support of a US-led stance against China's burgeoning ~~military budget~~, er, counterfeit video games market, according to a company presser today. With few government restrictions holding them back, pirates plundered an estimated $762 million worth of booty in China last year. And these scallywags aren't your typical kid brothers burning DVDs in the basement and exchanging them for lunch allowances in the cafeteria. No, this is well-organized crime, which has accounted for the more than 7.7 million counterfeit gaming products seized during the past four years -- and only a single criminal prosecution brought against the more than 300 Chinese factories and retailers dealing in this illicit trade. To avoid punishment, an operation need only keep its pirated stock below a certain threshold and do away with bookkeeping.

The rampant piracy, which affects hundreds of companies in the games industry, has prompted the US Trade Representative to seek formal consultations with China regarding the government's failure to meet World Trade Organization obligations concerning intellectual property protection. Nintendo has chipped in, providing evidence of piracy in China and other countries during the annual "Special 301" investigation. In turn, the US Trade Representative will use this evidence to push China to comply with global standards. "Progress must be made," urged an unusually stern Nintendo.

Tags: china, counterfeit, government, illegal, nintendo, piracy, pirate, wto

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Grindstone @ Apr 10th 2007 3:10PM

Their government is so corrupt, it'll take +$700 million to get them to even budge on the matter. But, at least it is out there now.

sheppy @ Apr 10th 2007 3:21PM

Well, it WAS the introduction of modded Wiis to the Chinese marketplace that allowed Wii to undergo a demand resurgance....

Colin @ Apr 10th 2007 3:22PM

762 million dollars in booty, that sounds like my cup of tea. Heidi Fleiss, eat your heart out

Draco @ Apr 10th 2007 3:36PM

This probably has something to do with the fact that Wii games are being distributed on DVD's now and their chance of being pirated has gone from negligable to probable.

tc @ Apr 10th 2007 3:37PM

Love that picture.

shase @ Apr 10th 2007 3:40PM

one would think the Wiis are affordable enough to not be modded on.....

Anyway, in china the electronics are pretty expensive compared to how much a person makes. Last time I visited(2000) Windows cost over 1000 Yuan ~ 120 USD. Back then 1000 yuan is like an average person's salary for a month (maybe a little less) versus 10 yuan on the street. People at chinese mcdonalds made 8 yuan an hour which is like 1 dollar.
So it was basically like "do i spend a fortune on a legit item which probably no one cares the legitimacy (assuming the people you hang out with are around same status) OR i pay considerably cheaper for a pirated item which nobody cares?

"Among differently educated people, the group enjoying the highest incomes in the capital city in 2004 were master's and doctorate degree holders.

Their average annual income was 23,600 yuan (US$2,900) per person, according to figures released by the bureau.
"
So Wii in china is probably 250$ US which translates into a month's worth of salary for an EDUCATED person. Now with a couple of games that becomes close to 2 months of salary.... i can see why they mod an apparently "cheap" system...

Neal @ Apr 10th 2007 3:55PM

Eh, who cares.

Liqwid @ Apr 10th 2007 4:01PM

Wow... I'd be rich in China...... *takes money out of bank and moves

sheppy @ Apr 10th 2007 4:02PM

Taken from Gamasutra...

Wii Piracy Means Price Hike?

"On a different note, I recently visited my local game shop and noticed that the price for Nintendo's Wii consoles have gone up over the past months, with imported hardware units appearing unofficially in Shanghai after the console's launch in November 2006.

While prices for Wii started at 3000 Yuan ($388) for these imports when the console was launched, prices soon decreased to around 2100 Yuan ($271) for the Japanese version of the console. However, in the last month, prices for Wii consoles skyrocketed, back up to almost 3000 Yuan again.

According to the local shop, the new consoles are equipped with mod chips that can play both US and Japanese back up copies of the games. With pirated Wii games selling for only 10 Yuan ($1.30) per game, demand for Wii consoles rose sharply, warranting the price hike. (The price of the mod chip is also likely factored in to some of the increase, of course.)"
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13369

Draco @ Apr 10th 2007 4:04PM

only problem with that plan liqwid is that you can't buy yuan, I don't think.

a couple friends of mine taught ESL (English Second Language) down in china and told me they lived like kings on the hundred or so $ a month they were paid in yuan, (I beleive the rest of the cash stayed in Canada because of the trade limits)

Gavin @ Apr 10th 2007 4:04PM

What is truly hilarious about this news is that Nintendo's repeated selling of games at highly inflated prices is probably the biggest argument for pirating games.

Gavin @ Apr 10th 2007 4:06PM

Old games...I meant them reselling old games, such as for the Gameboy and Virtual Console. They sqeeze more blood from a turnip than even EA Games could ever hope to.

Zamfir @ Apr 10th 2007 4:20PM

Nintendo must protect those profits!

mike @ Apr 10th 2007 4:44PM

the funny thing is that all these anti-piracy people see each sale as lost profit. This is not true at all. Lets take that $762 million in lost revenue like they claim. According to chinas population, that equels out to more then $500 000 a year per citizen. So if piracy did not exsist, do the movie companies think they would of sold $500 000 worth of dvds per citizen in China? Theres no way that would happen. People in China will buy a movie because it costs $1. If they could not pirate and had to pay $25 for the movie, they would not buy it. That 767 million number is probably closer to around $50 million worth of sold pirated software. And thats $50 the industry would probably never get because they would not be willing to sell at $1 per disc.

Its the same as me downloading an copying 1000 dvds. According to the industry, I robbed them of $25 000 worth of movies, but the fact is I only have 1000 movies because I can get them free. If I could not get them free, I would only own like 10 or 20.

itguy07 @ Apr 10th 2007 4:57PM

China has around 1 Billion people. So that $762 Million is less than $1 per person.

Mr Khan @ Apr 10th 2007 5:05PM

Nintendo should be working with the Chinese government on this instead, what with the half-assed Socialism, if Nintendo got a deal with the government there could quite literally be a Wii in 1/3 of Chinese homes

That would pretty much wrap up the console wars right there, even if they were all forced to buy it as the only affordable, non-pirated console

Plus Nintendo could get the Chinese gvmt to execute all pirates

:P

LaughingTarget @ Apr 10th 2007 5:57PM

China has 1.2 billion people, so it is $0.63 per person.

Anyway, we're also forgetting that China exports a lot of its pirated properties (Hong Kong and eBay anyone?), meaning it isn't just China buying all this stuff, it is also people in more wealthy nations who are just cheap. Remember, Canada does outdo China in piracy.

Stick_Man @ Apr 10th 2007 6:20PM

Damn China's awesome. I was gonna rant about thier economic abilities and blah blah blah. but the most i can come up with is "Damn China is Awesome" they really are when you stop and think about it.

Aaron Walker @ Apr 10th 2007 7:09PM

Eh, it's just our government coming to aid the big corporations again. I don't hear any of them saying they won't sell their products in China until the piracy stops. Just like always, the big corporations say jump and our politicians say - how high?

I know, the people who paid a smidgen of attention in a basic economics class will try to argue that the "piracy" in China affects the prices every where else. So? Some prices are already too high if you ask me (PS3 anyone?)

I don't buy half the stuff I might because I either already can't afford it because the price is too high, or I refuse to pay that much for something because the price is too high.

If the Chinese government or people aren't concerned enough to do anything about this, why should big US (and Nintendo America) corporations be allowed to pressure our elected officials in America to do anything about it?

idioteraser @ Apr 10th 2007 7:21PM

The Chinese goverment is quite frankly very corrupt so I wouldn't be surprised if they were bribed to look the other way.

After all the pirate products are being made in factories that should tell you the scale of the piracy and the money it makes the pirates. This isn't small scale piracy it makes the criminal organizations hundreds of millions of dollars in China alone. So a few bribes to certain goverment officals and the inherent Chinese attitude of not listenting to other nations makes the piracy flourish.

Without goverment corruption and lax laws most of the piracy would be stamped out.

Also most Chinese wouldn't know a legit product if it hit them in the face. They don't know the difference. Ever seen the wrongly translated stuff that is sold in China? You would think the Japanese translated stuff was done by English Masters.