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ESA CEO speaks out about piracy, DRM

9 June 2009 22:56 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 17 comments

ESA CEO Mike Gallagher has spoken out this week about both piracy and DRM in the gaming industry, and GamePolitics has made a nice summary of his remarks.

In regards to piracy:

"Piracy is a scourge. Piracy is theft, plain and simple, of the intellectual property and the creativity and the energy of the investors in this industry and the artists who make the great games. Period. Okay?"

"It's a problem of such degree that it's between two and three billion dollars a year that it costs our industry in this country alone. When you look at piracy across all of entertainment, it's a much bigger number when you put in movies and look what it's done to the music industry. So, the going-in proposition has to be a recognition that piracy is wrong, it's illegal and it should be stopped..."

In regards to DRM:

"There are business models that say, 'You know, we're going to build our business model around giving it away for free and having the revenue come in in other ways.' We [in the video game business] do that too. We do that too. But for those companies who go forward, they're entitled to protect - using DRM - to protect their content. And I realize that it is a subject of some controversy with gamers and consumers because, like other similar types of devices, most often they negatively impact the law-abiding gamer.

"But it's one of those things that we have to be vigilant about. It's vitally important to preserve the ecosystem and the jobs in the industry and the next great game. If you don't make money off of the games that are made now you're not going to see the ones that come later like you saw at the press briefings already at E3."

Permalink to this article

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68 percent of American households are gamers (3 June 2009)

ESA criticizes 'gaming addiction' study (28 April 2009)

ESA of Canada wants stronger piracy laws (23 April 2009)

The ESA are fans of Pirate Bay decision (20 April 2009)

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DXR88 (Senior Member) 9 June 2009 23:30
*Quote:* ESA CEO speaks out about piracy, DRM. keep warming leather chairs because this CEO is clueless about "the industry" of "gaming" and how "DRM" clearly violates the Third Amendment, but hell what does he care he gets paid million to sit on his ass. [ + quote]
Blackjax (Member) 10 June 2009 0:27
*Quote:* they're entitled to protect - using DRM - to protect their content. And I realize that it is a subject of some controversy with gamers and consumers because, like other similar types of devices, most often they negatively impact the law-abiding gamer. Most often, most often, how about quite often you egocentric jack a$$. Thats not to say how often you rip off your customers with the over priced drivel that is regurgitated over and over and over again. DXR88 you had it half right he does sit on his arse, but the main problem is he doesn't realize he is sitting on his brain causing it to go numb in the process. [ + quote]
blueroad (Newbie) 10 June 2009 2:40
ive been thinking..why not get bleep innovative eh? take out a game..with DRM, or WHATEVER (havent thought this thru too much so bear with me) let it be playable for like 3 days for free. and if people like it let them download and pay for it-a REASONABLE PRICE .only problem is you want your money. thats the sole thing you care about. when you go to a video games store-not one of them chain stores but a local one, the owner of the store cares about u cuz ur a customer, but the company that made the game dont give a shyt..why? when you anwser me that ill stop dowloading what i like [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10 June 2009 9:11
beanos66 (Junior Member) 10 June 2009 4:41
*Quote:* ...and look what it's done to the music industry. Piracy has done less damage to the music industry than the gaming industry. Kids these days are not spending their money on music 'coz th're spending it on video games, and the proliferation of music video tv stations and dab radio stations means they don't have to [ + quote]
Adamontar (Junior Member) 10 June 2009 4:43
Piracy what piracy? The gaming and movie industry are still making billions of dollars profit. Look at microsoft they have made billions and still do. There are people out there who create sofware for free. Sometimes better quality then the payed versions. If I can say one thing there is not enough piracy. They are still making too much money. Billions. Mike Gallagher I hope you get cancer you deserve it. [ + quote]
KillerBug (Senior Member) 10 June 2009 5:06
"most often they negatively impact the law-abiding gamer" In fact, the law abiding gamer is the only one hurt by DRM...pirates download the games pre-cracked, with the DRM disabled or removed! Sometimes it is bad enough that I buy the game, then download the cracked version because it works better! On top of that, PC games make up only a small part of the market, far less than PS3 or XBOX360...and I have yet to hear of a way to get around the existing protection, so why bother with adding DRM problems? [ + quote]
ak472009 (Newbie) 10 June 2009 7:23
what about games that are overhyped and then turns out to be sore looser and what about my hardworking that i earned for? , you only look for your benefit why don't you look at mine [ + quote]
wiseguy0 (Newbie) 10 June 2009 9:57
The real bottom line is: I wouldn't pay for a lot of movies, games and music that I have. If it wasn't free I just wouldn't get it. So these companies aren't out any money. They assume if you have it you would have paid for it...wrong! [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 10 June 2009 10:34
Aliltte something that I wrote up abotu this. ================ Just because corporate can not find a way to directly sell things to them dose not make non profit "intellectual property/copy right" violations on the consumer level a crime worth dealing with. How many studios have gone down from mismanagement and not being able to gain or hell even maintain corporate interest to stay in business even if they have sold a hot title or 2(clover studios,ect), at the end of the day it dose not matter if a segment of the worlds population can not or dose not want to 'buy' media the vast majority has the sheepish consumer mindset ingrained into their skulls and they are the ones corporate tries to herd not the sub sect who wont buy or refuse to pay into a system that rapes the artist/content creator so the CEO's can stay in cocaine. The people should have the right to snub the status quo and get their informational/educational or inspirational/entertainment media without needing to be beholdant to tyrants of industry or insipid status quo's, with that said they should never be allowed to sell it(bootlegs/digital) without a proper license, tossing out free trading of info/media with illicit gains is tossing tub out with the water. You ever think if the system allowed for free trade and infinite contract like CP that corporate would be forced to put more effort into its re releases so it will gain more interest by everyone than shitting out a quick edit,a directors cut edit and extended edit and random anniversary crap, there comes a time when the consumers of the world should not have to be beholdant to a throughly broken and top heavy industry who's buys laws as so they can further their bottom line of incompetent upon the masses. Not to mention the whiners who think the content they made needs all kinds of anti consumer protection because they think they can make money from it someday, no no you wont the only way your going to strike it big is if its an other night sensation and some more cash than brains corp buys you out or partners with you other wise you have to deal with the real world if tis not making money get a new job. And yes you can claim the unwashed masses should get a job but their are more of them and corporate has more power than all of us(unwashed/content creators, not gen masses...for the most part) and is the one that is raping us not the other way around. At the end of the day intellectual property/copy right is self delusion over something that has been redone time and time again and even if it is new it fails to niches into the industry that can hide it for decades or simply dismiss it, what I am getting at with this final rant you can't steal words or a story or even visuals you can perhaps limit their sale but to make consumer side intellectual property/copy right infringement a note worthy civil crime(or otherwise) is a joke since corporate gets away with it daily rarely having to really suffer for their crime just pay the toll and keep on truck'in of which if done by consumers they would and are being steam rolled over because they don't have the millions or thousands to pay flagrant frees for misbehavior thats not even on the level corporate dose by oversight or greed, they are the professionals if they can't keep their act together the government should fine them millions when they cock up and misbehave as for end user crime bootlegging should be eqateable to drugs even if you run a web page we you are hiding income gained take the property if past 5 or 10K, between fines and seized property the system will balance itself out but with petty civil suits that bully the populace into random complacency nothing will change because the system remains broken... . In the end keep corporate out of out pants/bedrooms no matter what..... unless we are selling bootlegs out the window/pocket.... edit DRM is kinda a non issue(its easy enough to by pass) but since they've tried to make it a crime they have made it more of an issue, if can't can bypass it when it breaks then they have made a mountain out of an ant hill, if anything the more they try and "fix" things the worse everything gets... they need to lay off buying laws,ignore the gray sector but to update their protections by and get back into closing down any studio they can't bend over and milk to undeath........ We need a healthy gray divide between corporate and consumers without that gray aera to protect us theres nothing left to keep them from screwing us over more and because it takes effort the masses can not screw over corporate essentially making most CP/IP/DRM issues one sided.. edit TL : DR : you are whining about nature being unfair...... [ + quote]
Bigperm88 (Member) 10 June 2009 14:38
*Originally posted by KillerBug:* On top of that, PC games make up only a small part of the market, far less than PS3 or XBOX360...and I have yet to hear of a way to get around the existing protection, so why bother with adding DRM problems? What? The 360 has been hacked almost since launch to play pirated games. [ + quote]
DXR88 (Senior Member) 10 June 2009 15:03
*Quote:* *Originally posted by KillerBug:* On top of that, PC games make up only a small part of the market, far less than PS3 or XBOX360...and I have yet to hear of a way to get around the existing protection, so why bother with adding DRM problems? What? The 360 has been hacked almost since launch to play pirated games. PC market segment are almost in league with the Xbox360, save for a few exclusives every game i can think of has been released on PC. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 10 June 2009 15:47
The 360 pushes 2 or 4 times as many main industry times thus its a favorite and its easy to hack nature ignored, the WII is easy as well pop a 30$ drive in it and run any WII/GC backup of your legally bought games �. The PC game market is sunbed because PC gamers are more nit picky and easier to scape goat. [ + quote]
Interestx (Junior Member) 11 June 2009 7:36
They can dress it up however they like but sharing is not theft and never will be. They can also go f*ck themselves if they imagine anyone (sane & normal) is going to agree with their abuse of the law to pick on a few to be held up as examples and have their lives ruined by the 'entertainment industry' getting the courts to impose laughably disproportionate & ruinous fines. Sorry but your (often pi$$-poor) product really isn't worth that much outside of your ridiculous mind(s). If there's any actual crime being committed here it's the corrosion of the national psyche with the constant drip-drip of childish shallow and plain brain-deadening garbage the 'entertainment industry' largely spews out at us. No wonder some wouldn't give them a dime for it. [ + quote]
BigDDub (Newbie) 12 June 2009 15:16
*Originally posted by wiseguy0:* The real bottom line is: I wouldn't pay for a lot of movies, games and music that I have. If it wasn't free I just wouldn't get it. So these companies aren't out any money. They assume if you have it you would have paid for it...wrong! I absolutely agree. Then there's copying/downloading material you've already purchased. As far as I'm concerned, when I buy a CD/DVD/Game Cart., I'm purchasing the right to play/watch/listen to whatever it is. If I want to download a song I purchased to another device, it's my right. If I want to copy a game I've purchased onto an R4 or whatever, so as not to lose/break the original, I should be able to. Same with DVD's and movies. If I buy a game, and the cart. gets destroyed, why the hell should I have to buy it again? They won't replace it free of charge. So much for selling the 'intellectual property'! The way they want it, you're buying a 10� DVD for $30 bucks, and if you lose or scratch it, you have to buy another 10� DVD for another $30. By their logic, you ARE NOT buying 'intellectual property'! They can't have it both ways. Either their selling the intellectual property, or their selling the physical property. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 June 2009 15:24
DXR88 (Senior Member) 12 June 2009 15:30
*Quote:* *Originally posted by wiseguy0:* The real bottom line is: I wouldn't pay for a lot of movies, games and music that I have. If it wasn't free I just wouldn't get it. So these companies aren't out any money. They assume if you have it you would have paid for it...wrong! I absolutely agree. Then there's copying/downloading material you've already purchased. As far as I'm concerned, when I buy a CD/DVD/Game Cart., I'm purchasing the right to play/watch/listen to whatever it is. If I want to download a song I purchased to another device, it's my right. If I want to copy a game I've purchased onto an R4 or whatever, so as not to lose/break the original, I should be able to. Same with DVD's and movies. If I buy a game, and the cart. gets destroyed, why the hell should I have to buy it again? They won't replace it free of charge. So much for selling the 'intellectual property'! The way they want it, you're buying a 10� DVD for $30 bucks, and if you lose or scratch it, you have to buy another 10� DVD for another $30. buy their logic, you ARE NOT buying 'intellectual property'! They can't have it both ways. Either their selling the intellectual property, or their selling the physical property. that is exactly why there pushing for digital distribution, then you don't own any thing physical. its insane its like giving a law enforcement officer a holster with out a gun in it. or you get your driver license, only to find that there are no vehicles that you can drive. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 12 June 2009 15:35
*Quote:* *Quote:* *Originally posted by wiseguy0:* The real bottom line is: I wouldn't pay for a lot of movies, games and music that I have. If it wasn't free I just wouldn't get it. So these companies aren't out any money. They assume if you have it you would have paid for it...wrong! I absolutely agree. Then there's copying/downloading material you've already purchased. As far as I'm concerned, when I buy a CD/DVD/Game Cart., I'm purchasing the right to play/watch/listen to whatever it is. If I want to download a song I purchased to another device, it's my right. If I want to copy a game I've purchased onto an R4 or whatever, so as not to lose/break the original, I should be able to. Same with DVD's and movies. If I buy a game, and the cart. gets destroyed, why the hell should I have to buy it again? They won't replace it free of charge. So much for selling the 'intellectual property'! The way they want it, you're buying a 10� DVD for $30 bucks, and if you lose or scratch it, you have to buy another 10� DVD for another $30. buy their logic, you ARE NOT buying 'intellectual property'! They can't have it both ways. Either their selling the intellectual property, or their selling the physical property. that is exactly why there pushing for digital distribution, then you don't own any thing physical. its insane its like giving a law enforcement officer a holster with out a gun in it. or you get your driver license, only to find that there are no vehicles that you can drive. When things go fully digital hopefully they will do a wide licensing thing based off the profit made, if they get 30-60% of whats sold than anyone with a license can sell stuff for 1$ and still make a profit. [ + quote]
DXR88 (Senior Member) 12 June 2009 17:02
*Quote:* *Quote:* *Quote:* *Originally posted by wiseguy0:* The real bottom line is: I wouldn't pay for a lot of movies, games and music that I have. If it wasn't free I just wouldn't get it. So these companies aren't out any money. They assume if you have it you would have paid for it...wrong! I absolutely agree. Then there's copying/downloading material you've already purchased. As far as I'm concerned, when I buy a CD/DVD/Game Cart., I'm purchasing the right to play/watch/listen to whatever it is. If I want to download a song I purchased to another device, it's my right. If I want to copy a game I've purchased onto an R4 or whatever, so as not to lose/break the original, I should be able to. Same with DVD's and movies. If I buy a game, and the cart. gets destroyed, why the hell should I have to buy it again? They won't replace it free of charge. So much for selling the 'intellectual property'! The way they want it, you're buying a 10� DVD for $30 bucks, and if you lose or scratch it, you have to buy another 10� DVD for another $30. buy their logic, you ARE NOT buying 'intellectual property'! They can't have it both ways. Either their selling the intellectual property, or their selling the physical property. that is exactly why there pushing for digital distribution, then you don't own any thing physical. its insane its like giving a law enforcement officer a holster with out a gun in it. or you get your driver license, only to find that there are no vehicles that you can drive. When things go fully digital hopefully they will do a wide licensing thing based off the profit made, if they get 30-60% of whats sold than anyone with a license can sell stuff for 1$ and still make a profit. But they wont zippy there not that smart there a hungry monolithic empire that thinks the own every thing. like darth vader only 100x dumber [ + quote]