Computer Game Industry Launches Assault on Piracy

Yesterday morning, news came out that five British game companies are taking 25,000 pirates to court for illegally downloading their software from file-sharing services. The companies in question are Codemasters, Atari, Reality Pump, Topware and Techland and they have appointed Davenport Lyons defend their interests.

Considering that over six million people in UK are facing accusations of sharing games (and other files) illegally, it won’t be too hazardous to say that they have a lot to work with.

It seems that the action has brought a bit of splitting up even inside the gaming industry as some think that moving against their core market might result in undermining the entire market and that it would probably be wiser to come up with some other methods of fighting piracy (lowering prices, would be an idea, for instance).

Matt Phillips, director of communications of the BPI (formerly known as the British Phonographic Industry), points out towards what should be the focal point as he believes that "working with ISPs to educate consumers is a more effective way of combating illegal downloading" rather than going after file sharers.

This whole affair comes after the victory in the case against Isabela Barwinska, a British woman ordered to pay Topware £16,000 (US$30K) for having shared games illegally via the Internet.

Codemasters' Operation Flashpoint (photo) scored 691,324 illegall downloads in just one week, file-sharing monitor Peerland reports, while Topware's Dream Pinball 3D was illegally downloaded 12,000 times during its first 2 weeks since being available, according to Davenport Lyons. Only 800 original copies have been purchased during this period.

"Our clients were incensed by the level of illegal downloading," commented Roger Billens, a partner at Davenport Lyons. "Hopefully people will think twice if they risk being taken to court."