Sony's David Reeves Points Gamers At Bittorrent

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Sony's David Reeves Points Gamers At Bittorrent


So you live in a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL_region] CEO David Reeves is here to remind you that Bittorrent is your friend.

Folks in Australia and New Zealand say they're always getting screwed when it comes to new game releases. Just listen to them whine about how they still haven't got Rock Band [http://www.rockband.com], and what it's going to cost when it finally arrives. Of course, living all the way down in the bottom corner of the world like they do, crammed in there between Hawaii and the Orkneys, it's really no mystery why they're always behind the times. Fortunately, Reeves sympathizes, and he has a plan.

New Zealand gaming site ButtonMasher [http://buttonmasher.co.nz/2008/07/29/david-reeves-on-pal-and-bittorrent/] had a bit of a talk with Reeves at E3 this year, and asked him about the long delays gamers Down Under have to put up with while waiting for the latest and greatest new releases. "I think honestly you will continue to do that because I don't think that the localization is controlled enough in the U.S.A. to be able to put it into New Zealand," Reeves said.

But all is not lost! "We are a PAL market and we are going to do it in PAL and we are going to do it properly," he continued. "You can wait for it and you can have it in good quality, you know you can get the stuff from Bittorrent if you want to and download PSP [http://www.us.playstation.com/PSP/About] games, it's up to you."

The interesting thing, aside from the fact that engaging in software piracy is apparently now "up to you," is that while speaking at the DevStation conference [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/84611] in June, Reeves referred to piracy on the PSP as a problem, saying, "We know about it, we know how it's done." But is it really all that bad in his eyes? Reeves also admitted to the audience that piracy "sometimes fuels the growth of hardware sales," and while he added that "on balance" the company is unhappy with piracy, it does raise the question of whether Sony is willing to live with - or even tacitly encourage - some low-level copying if it means increased growth for the PSP in underserviced markets.

While no company would ever admit to anything but a zero-tolerance position against piracy, the bottom line is and will always be market share and profit. Given the region's historical difficulties with both lengthy delays and ridiculously high prices when games finally do arrive (a Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5030323/we-hope-this-australian-rock-band-pricing-isnt-real-yet-fear-it-is] report recently suggested that when Rock Band comes out in Australia, a full setup including instruments will retail for around $400 AUD - that's almost $380 in real American money) a little bit of strategic eye-aversion should come as absolutely no surprise at all.


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ElArabDeMagnifico

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Dec 20, 2007
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Who knows, pirating and importing may get more games in New Z. and AU because the companies will think "Hey those Aussies don't have any games, so they steal ours! Give them some for ****s sake!"
 
Dec 1, 2007
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So internet piracy is now exactly like the war on drugs. It's evil and immoral and wrong until you can use it yourself, then all ill-will is forgotten until it stops being useful.

Sometimes I think if we could just get George Bush to admit he did blow and loved it the entire world would spontaneously become utopia
 

HobbesMkii

Hold Me Closer Tony Danza
Jun 7, 2008
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Errr... The Orkneys? Like... the Scottish Islands? I mean, I get Hawai'i, and I get the joke (Haha, there's an Ocean! How can they be crammed in there, heheh, island nations...) but what do the Orkneys have to do with it. How about "East Timor"?
 

stompy

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Jan 21, 2008
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This idiot doesn't realise that our net is shit too, so massive files are a no go as well (at least, for me).

Oh, and before ElArab replies (and I mean this in no disrespect), but I prefer capping to paying extra. I tend to exceed my download limit, and I'd rather not pay more for the net than I already need to.

Anyways, as I was saying before, screw illegal downloads. It could introduce viruses and other nasties into my system, not work properly, wasting my download, and I don't want to mess with my console's warranty. I'm fine with playing old games.
 

Jumplion

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Mar 10, 2008
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I think sony should really just keep quite, they don't exactly say smart things sometimes.
 

stompy

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Jan 21, 2008
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Jumplion said:
I think sony should really just keep quite, they don't exactly say smart things sometimes.
Hmm, perhaps they should start training all employees on PR eh? /jk
 

sharp_as_a_cork

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Oct 12, 2006
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I suggest The Australians do what I do: go play PC games- no conversion needed, job done.

I did just buy a 360 for Rock Band, though... and I'm going to buy RB in the US next time I'm there because it costs the equivalent of 400$ here in Israel.
 

Pastey Old Greg

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Jul 2, 2008
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"sometimes fuels the growth of hardware sales,"

Sweet, go tell that to the developers, and see how stoked they are about your hardware sales.
 

ElArabDeMagnifico

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Dec 20, 2007
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stompy said:
This idiot doesn't realise that our net is shit too, so massive files are a no go as well (at least, for me).

Oh, and before ElArab replies (and I mean this in no disrespect), but I prefer capping to paying extra. I tend to exceed my download limit, and I'd rather not pay more for the net than I already need to.

Anyways, as I was saying before, screw illegal downloads. It could introduce viruses and other nasties into my system, not work properly, wasting my download, and I don't want to mess with my console's warranty. I'm fine with playing old games.
I don't think I'd use the net if I had a download cap - actually I don't think I even could use it :|

Still, the pirated copy is usually shit anyway so long story short, "you get what you pay for" and I'd buy the (expensive) games as well.
 

mark_n_b

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Mar 24, 2008
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sharp_as_a_cork said:
I suggest The Australians do what I do: go play PC games- no conversion needed, job done.
Sounds to me like someone doesn't know what localization really means or the release delays in PC titles either.

But enough with the side notes. Piracy is a part of the industry, and there is a lot of money in it, until publishers shift their distribution / pricing schemes to appeal to the market that piracy does it will never disappear. It is possible but it means a huge change in a lot of things, it would take me pages to explain. How localization protocols are handled is just part of it.

Reeves does make a point in his implication that piracy boosts industry. Let's look at some parallel examples.

Anime is an industry built on piracy. Fansubbers illegally copy, modify and distribute television programming, which feeds a fan base that eventually buys franchise merchandise and published "legit" DVDs which expands the market by introducing it to a less net savvy group.

Photoshop has no copy write protection and so every kid and their dog can track down a copy and use it at their leisure. Know because of popular knowledge of the software it becomes a digital design industry standard, later comes tablet tech, and every kid and their dog needs to try and get one.

I have downloaded several arcade cabinets and consoles worth of video games on the torrents. Because I am such an avid gamer who loves the medium, I have spent thousands of dollars to create my personal video game collection which includes multiple consoles, over two hundred legally purchased games and other relevant technology. I am also a trained Game Designer that feeds content back into the industry and culture. Without a mechanism of exploring this world when my financial means could not afford it, I wouldn't have ultimately put this much back into it.
 

CrystalShadow

don't upset the insane catgirl
Apr 11, 2009
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Is this the same Sony that got into legal trouble because one of their European tech support centres was doing most of it's work using pirated software?

Stories like this are more common than you'd think...

Edit: OK, seriously, this is getting rediculous. Could someone explain to me why I fall for this so often? Old threads are so easy to miss on this forum somehow.