Study: Software piracy on the rise, but so are sales

Joystiq!

Please READ the reports you are reporting on. It helps.

One of the major purposes of the report was to study the effect of WIPO and other international copyright treaties to determine whether or not they effect piracy.

The report found that despite WIPO piracy either increase or decreased since it was ratified but both increases and decreases were under 10%.

28 countries that imposed WIPO experienced a drop of only 4% or less. 14 countries that imposed WIPO showed a decrease of just over 5%.

Only 3 countries experienced a 10% or more drop (what the reports considered substantial). 8 countries experienced either no change or INCREASED rates of piracy after WIPO.

And an global increase of 4% with a 14 percent increase in software sales suggests no correlation between piracy and software sales. You said that in your article and then ignored it. What's even more astonishing is that not only is there an increase in piracy but also an increase in open source (free) software - which the report suggests holds 15% of the market. Despite that software sales INCREASED by 14%.

On what planet does that data lead you to conclude that piracy is a "bigger problem than any of us could have thought".?

I live in dominican republic, here you get pirated games, programs and DVD movies in every corner, the case here is that a normal game for Wii/X360/PS3 costs around 100 US dollars that is a lot money to pay for games, thus forcing the majority of gamers to opt for pirated games.

WELCOME TO THE END OF THE COMPUTER AGE! MUHAHAHAHAHA!
*dances*

arrrrrggggh

I pirate some and buy some. I'm sure I still have a higher attach rate for my consoles and pc than your average non-pirating family.

That pic looks like it's from Square One TV or some other 80s edutainment program.

how can they reduce piracy in countries like here in Brazil, where taxation is nearly (did I say nearly? I mean COMPLETELY) obscene?
while PC games have decent pricing, compared with the US, it's still too expensive, since our purchasing power is very low.

AND, there's our society, who still believes video games are supposed to be for children (even though we do have a ratings system here, used for movies, television and video games)

The correlation is between poverty and piracy. China has been loosening its iron grip on the market, allowing more people to start getting spending cash. Wealthier nations don't have the same piracy problems. The answer to piracy is to liberate markets from central planners. Why fight pirates when you can grow your customers instead?

When I was in 6th grade my Computer Science teacher actually made us watch that video in class.

It made me want to get Oregon Trail, but I didn't have any money. So I never got Oregon Trail :(

Even though the US only has a 20 percent piracy rate (which is the lowest in the world), Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of the BSA, says that figure is a lot worse considering we buy more software than any other country.


HUUHHH? Isn't that the point, we buy more software so we have a lower piracy rate?