Nintendo Blames Poor Sales on Piracy
I would blame shitty games myself, but that's just me.
Hey, so you couldn't bother to fucking read. Let me help you out. Two sentences in. I know, tl:dr. Here you are." So hardware sales are down because of piracy... Sure. "
" The company has convinced eBay and Amazon to stop carrying the R4 chips that allow the use of homebrew and pirated software on the Nintendo DS and recently settled a million-dollar lawsuit against an Australian man who put a copy ofSuper Mario Bros. Wii online for download."
When the DS and Wii can be hacked using SD cards, pirating becomes very attractive. Nintendo shot themselves (and their third-party support) in the foot by having poor security.
That is rich most people who are in the market for a new DS are going to hold out for the most up to date hardware. The just announced the DSi 3D so why the hell would you buy a regular DSi or DSi fatty.
I cant believe this excuse from the suits @ Nintendo they are so full of shit. Couple that with the fact that they have sold MILLIONS of DS(s) of course your sales figures have dropped everybody already has a flippin DS.
Their strategy so far has been to flood the market with new DS hardware revisions and Color options 24/7. That well is guaranteed to dry up after a period of time regardless of how easy it is to pirate on their systems.
" That is rich most people who are in the market for a new DS are going to hold out for the most up to date hardware. The just announced the DSi 3D so why the hell would you buy a regular DSi or DSi fatty. I cant believe this excuse from the suits @ Nintendo they are so full of shit. "@Dysnomia said:
"Please read the actual article before posting sir. "
@Dysnomia said:" @Elazul said:
Hey, so you couldn't bother to fucking read. Let me help you out. Two sentences in. I know, tl:dr. Here you are." So hardware sales are down because of piracy... Sure. "
" The company has convinced eBay and Amazon to stop carrying the R4 chips that allow the use of homebrew and pirated software on the Nintendo DS and recently settled a million-dollar lawsuit against an Australian man who put a copy ofSuper Mario Bros. Wii online for download." "
" @Elazul said:
" So hardware sales are down because of piracy... Sure. "Please read the actual article before posting sir. "
Wow, I don't know which response is dumber, the whole "LOOK AT ME I'M A TWELVE YEAR OLD BOY SO I'M FUCKING ANGRRYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!1!!!111" thing or the pointless, hypocritical internet snobbery of the second post.
In any case, I actually DID read the article. My point is that console manufacturers always have to deal with some amount of hardware piracy and emulators, and blaming them for your sales dropping by nearly 50 per-cent in a couple of months makes no god damn sense.
Being a European, I fucking love that the sales drop. The crap you serve isn't worth the increased price we get with the Euro, nor the price you ask in America!
To top it off I recently bought an Acekard so I take it Nintendo isn't doing it's job well either... eBay and Amazon aren't the problem, they are means for the REAL supplier to offer their product on another medium.
"in a recent Asahi Shimbun report, it claimed that "magic computer" devices like the R4 are responsible for a slide of nearly 50 percent in Nintendo's sales in Europe."" @Elazul: Just so you know, it's not about hardware or emulators, it's about software piracy. "
Unless I'm mistaken, the R4 chip counts as hardware.
It wouldn't be a stretch to say that piracy has hurt their hardware sales. Piracy reduces the amount of decent games released for it per year, and that decreases the odds of having enough interest to upgrade ones DS. Mario Clock didn't exactly light the world on fire after all.
" When the DS and Wii can be hacked using SD cards, pirating becomes very attractive. Nintendo shot themselves (and their third-party support) in the foot by having poor security. "I'm pretty sure a lot more than just handheld systems can be hacked with SD cards. Nobody shot anybody in the foot. This is just the way shit happens, unfortunately.
Okay, let me clarify. I meant piracy through hardware, not building a counterfeit DS in your garage out of twigs and duct-tape." @Elazul: The R4 is a flashcart that enables you to download and play pirated copies of DS games. Nintendo sells DS games, therefore when people pirate them instead of buy them, sales decrease. It's not a hardware/emulation issue at all. "
I know you're trying to save it saying what you meant with this and that in later posts but that sentence has no room for varying interpretations. It's a very simple one. Hardware sales down. Because of piracy. That is not in any way implied in the article. Nice try, but ryanwho was right here. Read before posting." So hardware sales are down because of piracy... Sure. "
" I thought DS piracy had been going on for ages. Why should it count for such a sudden drop now? "This is the bit I don't get. It isn't like piracy has become easier recently, as far as I'm aware. Even if Nintendo is just spewing excuses, the fact that sales dropped that dramatically in only one region is an intriguing statistic.
Perhaps instead of helping fight it, they helped make it more popular, when news broke out of the R4 sellers and what not getting lawsuits. I don't have a DS but I hadn't heard of R4 or other particular cards before that. Sure I knew it's possible to pirate stuff but not exactly how. Maybe it was the same for others." @Jimbo said:
This is the bit I don't get. It isn't like piracy has become easier recently, as far as I'm aware. Even if Nintendo is just spewing excuses, the fact that sales dropped that dramatically in only one region is an intriguing statistic. "" I thought DS piracy had been going on for ages. Why should it count for such a sudden drop now? "
Anyway, my guess is it's a combination of different factors. Piracy, oversaturation, and the pricing of the products.
I'd believe it, but I don't know why they suddenly started complaining about it. Especially after HeartGold and SoulSilver so successfully blocked out a good deal of chips from running the game well, including the R4. In fact, a lot of recent DS games seem to block out the R4 pretty well.
Also it's funny, the chip pictured in the article is actually a faked clone chip of the R4. There's a ton of those too. Piracy of piracy... I bet it stings for them. Also the DS homebrew scene is such crap, that noone can even use the homebrew "excuse" when buying one.
" That, and bad games. You can't blame it on piracy alone. They just aren't putting it out there. "We are talking about the DS in this conversation. The DS has arguably the best lineup of games this generation. It isn't a matter of bad games.
" @Gspoon said:Ok I missed the last line of the article and assumed it was referring to both hardware/software sales it was a simple mistake." @ryanwho: I did boss "No, because you're talking about hardware and the article only mentions software. So you didn't read. Or you read, then imagined an additional paragraph up and responded to that. "
" @damnboyadvance said:There's nothing really new out that people genuinely care about." That, and bad games. You can't blame it on piracy alone. They just aren't putting it out there. "We are talking about the DS in this conversation. The DS has arguably the best lineup of games this generation. It isn't a matter of bad games. "
The only game I can think of that was recent was WarioWare DIY.
" @AgentJ said:Oh yeah, cause no one cared about Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver or anything :P" @damnboyadvance said:There's nothing really new out that people genuinely care about. The only game I can think of that was recent was WarioWare DIY. "" That, and bad games. You can't blame it on piracy alone. They just aren't putting it out there. "We are talking about the DS in this conversation. The DS has arguably the best lineup of games this generation. It isn't a matter of bad games. "
Piracy is the worst and most overused excuse for poor sales on anything. Good games that have a broader commercial interest sell well (as Agent J points out). Niche games sell okay and crap games don't sell (with exceptions - like Just Dance). Make a good game, market it well and it will generally sell well. As long as companies delude themselves and feel sorry for themselves instead of constructively working towards sales, they will never get it.
The DS is coming to the end of its life, so some sales drops are inevitable. The ratio of crap to good on the Wii is not balanced.
That is one reason but apparently Nintendo suck at Anti-Piracy measures and they know loyalist will buy anything with a big ed N on it." @Gspoon: ...because you can easily play hacked games on them. Duh. And yeah, it's great that the 3ds is coming out soon, but honestly that will probably be hacked within the first month as well. It's a valid problem. The real issue is, do you care or not? "
I am sure It will be hacked in no time. Even if they shut down the R4 completely dose not matter it has been eclipsed by other card for a long time anyways.
I dont care one way or the other I gave my ds to my brother after he broke his. The only thing that still gets me is the "lost sales bit"
" @Elazul said:Okay, that seriously was a genuine mistake. I meant to write "sales are down because of hardware piracy", NOT the other way around. I will admit that I screwed it up because I was rushing to get first post, but I DID read the damn article.I know you're trying to save it saying what you meant with this and that in later posts but that sentence has no room for varying interpretations. It's a very simple one. Hardware sales down. Because of piracy. That is not in any way implied in the article. Nice try, but ryanwho was right here. Read before posting. "" So hardware sales are down because of piracy... Sure. "
Were you, the last two generations (if you were born at the time) saying shit like "apparently Sony suck at Anti-Piracy measures and they know loyalist will buy anything with a big SCE on it"? Stop using circumstancial random bullshit to fuel your console wars people. The DS has a great library of first & 3rd party games, many not so successful and many very successful. Piracy is a factor, but not the defining one I'm sure." @Mesoian said:
That is one reason but apparently Nintendo suck at Anti-Piracy measures and they know loyalist will buy anything with a big ed N on it. I am sure It will be hacked in no time. Even if they shut down the R4 completely dose not matter it has been eclipsed by other card for a long time anyways. I dont care one way or the other I gave my ds to my brother after he broke his. The only thing that still gets me is the "lost sales bit" "" @Gspoon: ...because you can easily play hacked games on them. Duh. And yeah, it's great that the 3ds is coming out soon, but honestly that will probably be hacked within the first month as well. It's a valid problem. The real issue is, do you care or not? "
This is such bullshit and Nintendo knows it. You want to know why the Wii is suffering from poor software sales? It has the lowest attach rate out of all consoles that's why. Nintendo shot itself in the foot by marketing the Wii to an audience that is not interested in picking up the latest and greatest games each month, rather they want the Wii for things like Wii Fit or Wii Sports, both of which end up being the only games some people buy for the system.
I'm so tired of companies using piracy as a scapegoat for their own shortcomings and mistakes.
Lowest attach rate? Again, this is a DS focused article, are you saying there are less games bought for DS than on PSP, or what?"This is such bullshit and Nintendo knows it. You want to know why the Wii is suffering from poor software sales? It has the lowest attach rate out of all consoles that's why. Nintendo shot itself in the foot by marketing the Wii to an audience that is not interested in picking up the latest and greatest games each month, rather they want the Wii for things like Wii Fit or Wii Sports, both of which end up being the only games some people buy for the system. I'm so tired of companies using piracy as a scapegoat for their own shortcomings and mistakes. "
But since you likely also didn't read the article, and are talking about the Wii as other ignorami in here, where do you get your stats?
The most recent I can find is this, which is quite old, and while the Wii was certainly behind AT THE VERY END OF THE GRAPH, it was not by any significant amount. Of course, with such an insane install base it's obvious some people weren't going to be dedicated gamers, just like not every PS2 owner was.
So, were you saying this shit for the PS3 in the first whole 25 months of this generation then? In the end, the software sold is pretty good.
But if you have a new source that shows the Wii fell way down or something, consistently of course, I'd like to see it and get informed. Still, shot themselves in the foot? Do you realise how succesful they are? Last gen they were a distant third place and were still rather profitable, what do you think they do now they're almost as succesful in the home console space as they tend to be in the handheld space, which is, unrivaled? I'd love to shoot myself in the foot like that...
" @damnboyadvance said:You know, for as much as it reeks of blatant fanboyism, I can't disagree with that statement very much. You can't really say that the DS has a bad catalog." That, and bad games. You can't blame it on piracy alone. They just aren't putting it out there. "We are talking about the DS in this conversation. The DS has arguably the best lineup of games this generation. It isn't a matter of bad games. "
If we are talking about the Wii however... My opinion differs and I will leave it at that to prevent this thread from turning into some sort of retarded flame war or debate.
" @Gspoon said:Were you, the last two generations (if you were born at the time) saying shit like "apparently Sony suck at Anti-Piracy measures and they know loyalist will buy anything with a big SCE on it"? Stop using circumstancial random bullshit to fuel your console wars people. The DS has a great library of first & 3rd party games, many not so successful and many very successful. Piracy is a factor, but not the defining one I'm sure. "" @Mesoian said:
That is one reason but apparently Nintendo suck at Anti-Piracy measures and they know loyalist will buy anything with a big ed N on it. I am sure It will be hacked in no time. Even if they shut down the R4 completely dose not matter it has been eclipsed by other card for a long time anyways. I dont care one way or the other I gave my ds to my brother after he broke his. The only thing that still gets me is the "lost sales bit" "" @Gspoon: ...because you can easily play hacked games on them. Duh. And yeah, it's great that the 3ds is coming out soon, but honestly that will probably be hacked within the first month as well. It's a valid problem. The real issue is, do you care or not? "
I am not trying to pour more fuel on the bullshit known as the "console wars".
I was referring to the possible reasons behind the constant flow DS revisions. The big red N remark was a joke so don't get too butt hurt about it. Nintendo has had bad luck with piracy on Wii and much more so on the DS line because of poor their Anti-Piracy measures. Thats another possible reason behind a new ds line. I never said any thing about their games although they have no quality control to speak of.
EDIT
I know that almost all other systems have had their share of bouts with piracy but this is a post about Nintendo.
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