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Q-Games to stop developing for PSP due to piracy

20 October 2009 11:59 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 17 comments

Q-Games, developer of the popular PixelJunk series has said that they will no longer be porting games to the Sony PSP due to the rampant piracy on the handheld.

PixelJunk is an exclusive PSN series for the PS3, and one version, PixelJunk Monsters was ported to the PSP this year.

Founder and CEO Dylan Cuthbert says that anti-piracy measures on the PSP handhelds will not stop the unauthorized distribution of his game. Cuthbert was also "shocked" to read comments by users in chat rooms who openly admitted to playing pirated versions of the game.

"I don't think we'll port anything else to the PSP, we have to see how [PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe] does as there's a lot of piracy," Cuthbert said. "Because Monsters is such a good fit it is being pirated I think, maybe the pirates will buy the full version out of guilt?"

Adds Cuthbert in response to question of whether the company would add serial numbers: "Unfortunately the pirates could just hack those kinds of things out," and that "a PSP demo is in the works but I don't think it makes any difference to piracy."

"It was a shock to login to a [PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe] chat room and hear them talking about how they were all playing ripped versions."

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Discuss this article!
gldoorii (Newbie) 20 October 2009 12:45
Whine whine whine whine whine! They knew about piracy before the game was released. Don't bitch about it now. Funny how they don't say anything about people that game share and not buy the game. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 20 October 2009 12:46
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 20 October 2009 13:10
More like they can not continue to develop for the PSP and are blaming pricey for it instead of not being able to afford it. [ + quote]
emugamer (Member) 20 October 2009 13:58
Maybe people who bought it for the PS3 don't want to pay for it again for their PSP. I would totally do that if I had a PSP. [ + quote]
tatsh (Junior Member) 20 October 2009 15:15
All I can say is, LOL! Buy it out of guilt? F*** off more like. [ + quote]
MightyOne (Junior Member) 20 October 2009 15:23
My opinion: If its not available under piracy, there's a slim chance that 'pirate' will be running of to the store to purchase it. So many games suck and are overpriced that the industry has brought this upon themselves. There's a limit to how much bending over the consumer will do. "what goes around comes around" [ + quote]
ZeusAV (Newbie) 20 October 2009 15:25
Piracy has been cannibalizing PSP software sales for years now. I don't know why they're surprised. Despite the good games released for the system in the past few years, only the biggest names (FF, GTA) have been able to crack 1 million worldwide sales. Before Sony releases a PSP2, they seriously need to think of a way to make the system more resistant to piracy. Who's going to pay $30 for a game when it's so easy to get it for free? [ + quote]
CJ007 (Junior Member) 20 October 2009 17:13
They should also stop porting games to the DS, Wii and the Xbox360 because all this systems has been hacked. Why single out PSP. [ + quote]
inagasake (Member) 20 October 2009 17:55
Aren't the PSP-3000s unhackable? Those are the only PSPs (aside from the Go) that are in stores now. So I'd imagine that PSP piracy isn't as big of an issue as it used to be. Because if you buy a PSP-3000 now and can't play pirated ISOs off the memory stick, you're gonna have to buy the games. [ + quote]
TBandit (Member) 20 October 2009 22:24
i dont know about the 3000 series but i got a 3001 psp and i can run ripped games. i dont really like the games they relese for the psp though so i just run emulators on it. [ + quote]
clamUp (Newbie) 21 October 2009 2:01
A quick history of computers: First, the computer was invented. Five minutes later somebody copied something they weren't supposed to, which was then used to make computers more appealing. The two go hand-in-hand, one feeding off the other. It's been going on for decades. Developers knew this when they entered the software market. Trying to eliminate one aspect is naive, and just makes an overwhelming majority of people criminals in their own homes. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21 October 2009 2:11
ooZEROoo (Senior Member) 21 October 2009 2:02
*Originally posted by CJ007:* They should also stop porting games to the DS, Wii and the Xbox360 because all this systems has been hacked. Why single out PSP. Did you read the article? PSN exclusive only. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 21 October 2009 2:08
*Quote:* *Originally posted by CJ007:* They should also stop porting games to the DS, Wii and the Xbox360 because all this systems has been hacked. Why single out PSP. Did you read the article? PSN exclusive only. well then theres the reason they are not making money...limited market=less money. [ + quote]
nintenut (Senior Member) 21 October 2009 6:41
*Quote:* *Quote:* *Originally posted by CJ007:* They should also stop porting games to the DS, Wii and the Xbox360 because all this systems has been hacked. Why single out PSP. Did you read the article? PSN exclusive only. well then theres the reason they are not making money...limited market=less money. Sums it up nicely! [ + quote]
H08 (Member) 21 October 2009 22:08
Pixel Junk is one of the best selling games on PSN, So i think there doing ok money wise. [ + quote]
yeller (Newbie) 22 October 2009 9:15
Cuthbert was also "shocked" to read comments by users in chat rooms who openly admitted to playing pirated versions of the game. ------------------------- What rock was this CEO living under? [ + quote]
01STRUCK (Newbie) 22 October 2009 23:19
*Originally posted by ZeusAV:* Before Sony releases a PSP2, they seriously need to think of a way to make the system more resistant to piracy. Who's going to pay $30 for a game when it's so easy to get it for free? Or lower the price of the games.. $10-$15 games would sell sell sell.. I my self have bought 1 copy of the EA Battlefield series when they were new. now that they have been out and they are selling for $9- $20 I have bought 4 copies to run on my home computers so my kids can play against each other (Lan) I could not afford this when they were +$49 ea new. Plus If I didn't like them I was screwed and could not return them. A serious price drop could be a solution, it has been working for the consoles.. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 22 October 2009 23:23
*Quote:* *Originally posted by ZeusAV:* Before Sony releases a PSP2, they seriously need to think of a way to make the system more resistant to piracy. Who's going to pay $30 for a game when it's so easy to get it for free? Or lower the price of the games.. $10-$15 games would sell sell sell.. I my self have bought 1 copy of the EA Battlefield series when they were new. now that they have been out and they are selling for $9- $20 I have bought 4 copies to run on my home computers so my kids can play against each other (Lan) I could not afford this when they were +$49 ea new. Plus If I didn't like them I was screwed and could not return them. A serious price drop could be a solution, it has been working for the consoles.. The rub is they have to sell 1 million copies to break even on a AAA 50$ game, if they sold it for 20$ they would have to sell 3 million. I think its possible but at the same time you'd at least have to have an installed user base of 20-30 million in order for there to be a chance of that. Tho the worse the midcore games sale the more obvious they need to lower price. [ + quote]