Piracy Steals 95% of Microsoft's Revenue in China

[FalloutJack]

This is not actually something I have an argument about. However, I fully believe that we should force China, at gunpoint, to take all of their lousy fucking STINK BUGS back.

 

[Necrofudge]

That seems like a stupid assumption.
"We're selling less games in China so it MUST be because of piracy!"
Really? That whole 95% difference in sales is caused solely by file sharing?

Plus, just because they can afford a PC doesn't mean they can afford a good one. Maybe they're just buying a cheap computer to do basic tasks instead of a giant gaming rig.

Connecting their ability to buy a computer with their ability to buy games they might not be able to run seems like flawed logic to me.

 

[Chad Brumfield]

In other news, researchers have found anyone who was surprised by this story may be some form of plant or mineral. Or they may just watch too much reality TV.

 

[bob1052]

And then you realize that all of these numbers are pointless because they are theoreticals.

95% of that 95% probably would never have purchased a product in the first place, so the number is bloated to the point of insanity.

The amount of illogical hypocrisy in your statement is really quite amazing.

 

[duchaked]

...yup! that's Asia for you haha
where piracy is its own little market big time

Aren't we like billions of $ in debt to China anyway? I think of this as a small way of paying them back

Oh man, what if it's all part of the plan? China rolls up in a few years time, ready to screw America over and start WW3... by taking all their money back and leaving America broke so they can swoop in and steal their country!

But then Microsoft is all like "Actually, you owe us freaking billions for all the games you pirated from us, bitches." Yes, that's right, Microsoft saves America, and therefore saves the world.

I think I just wrote the plot to the next Call of Duty.

no...no...NO WAY! are you sure you can't stick an evil Russia in there somewhere??

edit: I'd play that!

 

[Kopikatsu]

The cost of living is much lower in China, but real wages are much lower as well.

Yeah...I know. I mentioned the average joe's salary in the post ($3,600 a year, whereas I make $48,000 a year), but also that the new computer for him would cost 2.78% of his total income, but my computer only cost 1.5%. But the cost of living is significantly lower, so I would imagine that it evens out a bit.

Just going on those numbers, I would have to agree with the 'If you can afford the hardware, you can afford the software.'

 

[Ytmh]

On piracy and why free software has a hard time:

http://autotelic.com/windows_is_free

I mean I'm all for piracy as it's the logical extent of the technology we've developed. But, unfortunately, it also screws up actual free software which is a goddamn shame.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

COMMUNISTS DON'T DESERVE COMPUTERS!

Naw, I'm just F'in with yah....

But in all reality- China does have a lot of people... I don't want to know how much that 95% comes out as...

But hey, if they were apple, 100% would be pirated!

Maybe Microsoft should get us out of debt...

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

must be something to do with the communist mindset.

 

[Trogdor1138]

That seems like a stupid assumption.
"We're selling less games in China so it MUST be because of piracy!"
Really? That whole 95% difference in sales is caused solely by file sharing?

Plus, just because they can afford a PC doesn't mean they can afford a good one. Maybe they're just buying a cheap computer to do basic tasks instead of a giant gaming rig.

Connecting their ability to buy a computer with their ability to buy games they might not be able to run seems like flawed logic to me.

I agree with this. There's no evidence to any of these claims here, it's all just baseless assumptions.

Also, maybe some countries aren't as privileged as some other places, did some of you people ever think of this? Sometimes it's the only option.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

And then you realize that all of these numbers are pointless because they are theoreticals.

95% of that 95% probably would never have purchased a product in the first place, so the number is bloated to the point of insanity.

The amount of illogical hypocrisy in your statement is really quite amazing.

Agreed. You can sum up what was said as "They made up numbers, I made up numbers. Only thing is, mine are right."

OT: A computer is a luxury item, so the "too poor" argument does not really work. Also, isn't there free software that they could legaly be using, or am I not remembering correctly?

 

[marurder]

Many Chinese people are extremely poor and don't even have electricity or a phone.

I will give you the benifit of the doubt and assume that's sarcasm. But it is completely untrue.

The ones that have PC's are likely either scraping by with 5th hand hardware and should use Ubuntu linux. But there is a rich super elite that simply pirates because "why not?". Those should pay. Would not do much for MSFT's bottom line, but still.

Actually most PC's are relatively modern or not too old. Most homes have the ABILITY to have internet but are not connected. Most internet plans here are UNLIMITED and comparatively cheap (100USD for a year).
There are several websites where people can find/download games, music, software for free. Most movies are streamed and rarely will a person download an AVI here. The movies are normally dubbed or have Chinese subtitles added, so there is no need for a Chinese person to buy DVD's on the street if they have internet. Banned movies can also be found this way (Ref; Brokeback Mountain - it wasn't allowed to air in the cinema here but many people just watched it on the net)

It's a cultural thing here - why pay if we can get it for free?
Not saying it's right, not saying it's wrong. Just the way it is.

 

[viranimus]

There's a lot of chatter in the software industry about the effect piracy has on companies' bottom lines, but most spokespeople are pretty vague when comes down to actual numbers. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, however, recently explained that piracy had drastically reduced his company's earning in China: Microsoft's revenue in China is 95 percent less than in the United States.

..........Wait.... WHAT?!!?!?!

So Microsoft is using the "Every instance of piracy is a lost sale" logic and sending it into overdrive by assuming that China is naturally going to buy microsofts hardware on par with what Namericans buy, and that because the numbers dont add up it must mean PAYERATS.

Dear Microsoft.

A: If someone is willing to pirate something of yours, If there is no option to pirate the chances are still next to zero that they would buy it.

B: Thinking China should be buying Microsoft products at the same rate as they are sold in North America/ EU is delusional and childish. You have people on your payroll whos job it is to handle your numbers. If they put forth this notion that China's sales should be equivalent to the North American sales, you need to fire them now for either lying to you or being too stupid to do their job correctly.

 

[player3141]

I really hate pirates, if it weren't for them I could enjoy a game or install a program without TONS of DRM. Then again, I also hate companies for thinking that DRM will hurt pirates, even though it only hurts consumers.

 

[Gladiateher]

YAR HAR FIDLEDEEDEE, IF YOU LOVE TO SAIL THE SEA YOU ARE A PIRATE!

 

[Baresark]

The cost of living is much lower in China, but real wages are much lower as well.

Yeah...I know. I mentioned the average joe's salary in the post ($3,600 a year, whereas I make $48,000 a year), but also that the new computer for him would cost 2.78% of his total income, but my computer only cost 1.5%. But the cost of living is significantly lower, so I would imagine that it evens out a bit.

Just going on those numbers, I would have to agree with the 'If you can afford the hardware, you can afford the software.'

The point I was making is that the priorities for monetary allocation are completely different than your's are. Most money goes into savings which accounts for their rise as a competing currency to the US Dollar. No matter how you work your percentages, it's too expensive for the majority of people, so there is a higher occurrence of piracy because the need for recreation matches the US, if not surpass it. On release, the Chinese version of Windows 7 basic went for $59, almost half as much as the US version. Yet there income is far less than 1/2 that of the average American. So, it's still too expensive.

In terms of actual income, 57 million people in China make less than $125 per year. The working force is 780 million (the social bread winners), that is 13% of the work force that would have to pay almost half a years annual salary just to buy Windows 7 for their computer. It goes up from there, but the numbers are pretty depressing across the board. So, we have the lowest earners who have zero hope of having a computer. then there is the 4.2% that is unemployed.

The majority of the high earners are in Beijing (the new business capital of the world), but that isn't most of their population, which constitutes rural farmers. It's the ridiculous incomes in Beijing that throw all the other numbers off. So, yes, it's still too much for a great number of people to buy a copy of windows legally.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Actually Poverty, poor education, and other social issues steal Microsofts profits.

Piracy is just the symptom to the disease.

But whatever.

Of course, there's the counter-argument that PCs are too expensive for most Chinese consumers. Ballmer dismissed this claim by saying, "if you can [afford a PC], you could afford the software" and further argued that the country's massive amount of privacy was the result of the government's apathy towards IP protection.

If you can afford a PC you can afford software, if you can afford software you can afford accessories, if you can afford accessories you can afford a desk, if you can afford a desk you can afford a house, if you can afford a house you can afford a car.

Somewhere in there you can afford groceries, and clothing, and water.

I'm being silly and skewing his point but it was a dumb thing to say. Can and Could are flimsy ass words that beat around the bush of the problem.

It's a bit of a daft thing to say on MS's part , as if you can only just afford a PC, you can afford a free OS, and leave MS completely out of the loop.

 

[Poisoned Al]

Wow, a communist country not giving a crap about copyright law! Stop the presses!

 

[Waaghpowa]

Actually most PC's are relatively modern or not too old. Most homes have the ABILITY to have internet but are not connected. Most internet plans here are UNLIMITED and comparatively cheap (100USD for a year).

...100 bucks a YEAR!? I pay 50 bucks a month, and I live in Canada...

Anyway. Yes, culturally the Chinese are rather strict as to how money was spent in the sense that you shouldn't pay for things that are unnecessary. Being of Chinese descent, first generation in Canada, My family is still heavily old world culturally speaking.

 

[Commissar Sae]

China pirated disneyland, why is anyone actually surprised they would pirate software.