Worldwide PC Software Piracy Grows to 41 Percent

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Worldwide PC Software Piracy Grows to 41 Percent


A new study by the IDC [http://www.bsa.org] says an astounding 41 percent of all PC software installed worldwide has been pirated.

The 2008 mark is up from a rate of 38 percent in 2007, marking the second year in a row the worldwide piracy rate has grown and coming despite a drop in piracy in more than half of the 110 nations studied. Only 16 countries in the study actually experienced a increase in piracy but the overall rate is up because the PC market itself grew fastest in countries that suffer from the highest levels of piracy; in China and India, for instance, the rate of software piracy has actually declined since 2004 but the explosive growth of the PC user base in those countries has resulted in an increased in the regional, and thus worldwide, piracy rate.

The BSC puts the estimated retail value of the pirated software at $53 billion, an 11 percent increase over the previous year and the first time "revenue losses" to software companies has broken the $50 billion mark. The report estimates that for every $100 of software sold through legitimate channels, another $69 is pirated.

The worst offenders include Georgia, which brings a mind-boggling 95 percent piracy rate to the table, followed by Bangladesh, Armenia and Zimbabwe with rates of 92 percent and Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Moldova, each with a not-even-remotely-respectable rate of 90 percent. At the opposite end of the scale, the United States has the lowest rate of piracy at 20 percent, Japan and Luxembourg come in at 21 percent, then New Zealand at 22 percent and Austria at 24 percent. Despite that, BSA CEO Robert Holleyman told Reuters [http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE54B0UD20090512?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews], piracy remains a major problem in the U.S. because more software is sold there than in any other country in the world. "The U.S. has the highest single dollar loss," he said.

In spite of the rampant piracy, worldwide PC software sales experienced healthy overall growth in 2008, up 14 percent over the previous year to a total of $88 billion. The Business Software Alliance's full report on worldwide PC software piracy in 2008 is available here [http://global.bsa.org/globalpiracy2008/studies/globalpiracy2008.pdf]. (PDF format)

via: GameBizBlog [http://www.gamebizblog.com/gamebizblog/2009/05/41-of-pc-software-is-pirated.html]


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oliveira8

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Feb 2, 2009
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Ah so thats the real reason Russia invaded Georgia! To fight piracy!!! Oh oh oh!

(too soon?)
 

antipunt

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Jan 3, 2009
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"The worst offenders include Georgia, which brings a mind-boggling 95 percent piracy rate to the table"

OK I have to admit. -THAT'S- pretty crazy
 

HobbesMkii

Hold Me Closer Tony Danza
Jun 7, 2008
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Ah. Interesting. The poorest areas of the globe are the ones experiencing the most piracy. Makes a heck of a lot of sense, doesn't it? Although, one has to wonder if markets for these games even exist in a lot of those countries... I mean, do you think EA's really concerned over how Spore does in Bangladesh, Georgia, or Sri Lanka? I didn't either.
 

Sevre

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Apr 6, 2009
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HobbesMkii said:
Ah. Interesting. The poorest areas of the globe are the ones experiencing the most piracy. Makes a heck of a lot of sense, doesn't it? Although, one has to wonder if markets for these games even exist in a lot of those countries... I mean, do you think EA's really concerned over how Spore does in Bangladesh, Georgia, or Sri Lanka? I didn't either.
Yeah I was in India last December and I went to a shop to see only pirated games, I don't think anyone cares though.
 

Woe Is You

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oliveira8 said:
Ah so thats the real reason Russia invaded Georgia! To fight piracy!!! Oh oh oh!
Russia is almost as bad as China as far as piracy goes.

As in probably 90% of all software over there is pirated.
 

paketep

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Jul 14, 2008
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Yeah, sure. Like the BSA is anything close to trustworthy.

They just invent the numbers they deem more useful and go lobby with them, just like the RIAA.
 

AlgorithMan

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Jan 29, 2009
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"All FOSS Users and non-upgraders are Pirates!" - Thats basically what the BullShit Alliance says... Their Calculation goes like this:
> piracy = software necessity per PC (estimate) * number of PCs - sold software
> (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Software_Alliance#BSA_annual_software_piracy_study)

as you can see, if they raise their estimates of "how much software a PC needs" just a little, they skyrocket the piracy... also they don't consider people using older versions of software, so all in all their piracy report means nothing more than "we would have wanted to sell THIS much more software!"
 

Andy_Panthro

Man of Science
May 3, 2009
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More random figures from the Institute of Estimated Statistics.

Did you know that 73% of statistics are made up on the spot?
 

Lord_Panzer

Impractically practical
Feb 6, 2009
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harhol said:
In spite of the rampant piracy, worldwide PC software sales experienced healthy overall growth in 2008, up 14 percent over the previous year to a total of $88 billion.
But... but... but... piracy is killing PC gaming...

...isn't it?

I mean...
...those evil pirates...
...murderers...
...ruining our industry...
...selfish...
...unpatriotic...
...freedom-hating...
...communists...
...sense of entitlement...
Surely you must be being sarcastic. I mean, piracy IS killing PC gaming. Look at that growth! It's only 14%! Were it not for those baby eating, animal killing, Captain kidnapping, oxygen wasting sacks of rotting flesh, it'd be 15%!! Or maybe even 16!

/more obvious sarcasm.
 

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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paketep said:
They just invent the numbers they deem more useful and go lobby with them, just like the RIAA.
That's quite the statement. May I ask what you base it on?

Also, folks, do bear in mind that this is all PC software installed, not just games. Games are a part of it but nowhere near the total.

But hey, your "sarcasm" is cute. Keep flinging that poop. ;)
 

scotth266

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Jan 10, 2009
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Malygris said:
Also, folks, do bear in mind that this is all PC software installed, not just games. Games are a part of it but nowhere near the total.
I was actually assuming this. Considering I know a bunch of software pirates who all have cracked copies of XP, I have to say I'm not suprised by the figures.

Well, except that North America's percent of it all is so low.
 

Asehujiko

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Feb 25, 2008
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Funny how every console dev claims that pc gaming is dieing even though it only saw growth so far.

Also, where's the crytek guy loudly proclaiming that pirates outnumber legitimate users 20:1 now?
 

Playbahnosh

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Dec 12, 2007
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harhol said:
Oh please, if anything software is more pirated than games. When was the last time anyone paid for Photoshop or Cubase?
...or any OS for a home PC, that did not came pre-installed? The day I pay $150 extra just to be able to use my computer is the day the sky falls down and DNF is released.

And what's with that percentage? 41%? Compared to what exactly? There is simply no way to know how many pirated copies of software are in existence, so what in the living Hell do they base this number upon? Sales predictions? Heh, I predict that piracy will even rise despite (or more likely, because of) their actions to prevent it.

On the other hand, I don't see them major software and game developers dying of starvation or living in junk-shacks. If anything, they could build houses made of cash. So, sorry, but I'm not ready to shed tears for the poor software tycoons just yet. Call me when piracy rises to 150%, then I'll consider it...