Nintendo: eBay and Amazon pact failed to slow R4 sales
- 19 February, 2010 17:07
- Comments 11
Nintendo’s deal with major online merchant sites to stop selling R4 chips has done little to dampen the rampant piracy of games on the company’s handheld console.
R4 chips can go into a Nintendo DS cartridge slot and allows illegally downloaded games to be played on the portable gaming device. In May 2009, eBay and Amazon agreed to change their user policy to prevent the modified chips being sold on their respective websites.
But Nintendo Australia managing director, Rose Lappin, said the arrangement hasn’t made much impact on the games piracy front.
The company has seen a steady decline in DS game sales since the introduction of R4s and with the two big online players out of the picture, smaller online retailers are trying to cash in on the modified chips.
“It hasn’t really reduced [the sale of R4s],” Lappin said. “In fact, we have seen the upswing of R4s, particularly in Australia.”
The DS range of handhelds, including the standard DS, DS Lite and DSi, has collectively sold over 100 million units worldwide. The popularity of the devices makes it an attractive target market for modified gaming chips imported to Australia.
Nintendo recently took RSJ IT Solutions, now called GearCentro, to the Federal Court where the IT accessories online merchant was ordered to cough up half a million dollars in damages for selling R4s on its retail website. The gaming corporation had sent out cease and desist letter to RSJ which were allegedly ignored.
Numerous cease and desist letters from Nintendo have been distributed to online retailers and while the company has no immediate plans for further litigation, it will continue to pursue parties that ignore the notifications.
“We do the right thing by sending out cease and desist letters and the last thing we need to do is spend all the time and money we’ve spent recently on legal cases,” Lappin said. “It is only if people persist in doing the wrong thing and sell illegal goods infringing our copyright, we will take action.
“We have been fighting piracy for 20 years and we are not prepared to lay down and allow it to happen because the cost is too great.”
Lappin noted third-party game developers such as Ubisoft, Activision and Sega, have also reported a sharp drop in DS sales.
There are no immediate plans to pursue individuals who own or have purchased an R4.
“We’re really trying to quash the sale of them and we’re not aware of any individual that have gone out to say they have bought one or have gone online to show it with all the games on it and so on,” Lappin said. “At this stage, we’re trying to go for the source and stop people from selling the chips."
The outcome against RSJ marks the second legal victory for Nintendo this year. Earlier this month, Queensland man, James Burt, was convicted of uploading a copy of the Nintendo Wii game, Super Mario Bros. on the Internet. He has been ordered to pay $1.5 million in damages.
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Comments
Camm
If game prices were not so outrageous in australia, maybe the levels of piracy wouldn't be so high.
Andrew Barfoot
Nintendo, if I purchased one of your game devices, what I do with it would be my business, not yours. Good for you if you put some licence rules on the package - who cares? Like 99.9% of purchasers, I would not ever read that paperwork. If I buy, it is MINE and no longer yours. I do what I want with it. If you don't like it - bad luck.
Jacko
same game, price is halved in Asia than in AU, what the hell is that?
Father Flynn
I dont understand why Nintendo are heavily advertising the "R4" brand when the "M3 Real" is such a superior product.
Its not fair. Sales for the more reliable and feature rich M3 Real have suffered because of it. With Nintendo throwing its marketing muscle behind the R4 it is selling so well as young children are convinced it is "the one to get" due to its famous noteriety of being a platform to share games. It appears everyone is doing it - so hey dont miss out. Where as the smaller but better educated hard core gamer community who use the technology for backing up their games and to create home brew apps still seek out the M3 Real as the product of choice.
Klive Parker
Hear Hear Camm, if ds and psp price were reasonable there wouldn't be any market for these kind of things. If the big companies like sony and nintendo want to be greedy and charge 60-80 aus dollars for 100 MB games well then they deserve what they get!
stupid
i bet theres not a judge sitting in any court in australia that hasnt "illegally" video taped a tv program either
Jabba Jabba
piracy rates are directly linked to game pricing....
pharohbender
you wanna sell games make it as cheap as an r4 chip, stop being so greedy and people will purchase 3-4 games every month for a couple of dollars hey why not use a download method and sell r4 chips yourself Nintendo so people don't have to use cartridges waste of plastic if you ask me, go green go r4 ;)
look at steam they sell games on special 4.99 i already bought one its great for all you people try TRINE on steam, you don't have to spend a fortune for entertainment 5 bucks a game you'll make a killing Nintendo. 1.5million in compo you could have got more for selling games at a cheaper rate.
TheDude
Wow you people are stupid.
Buying a system doesn't make copyright infringement and piracy a-okay. They're not pursuing legal action because people are modding their systems; they're pursuing legal action because people are using those mods to pirate their software.
Also, games that go for cheap on Steam typically; a) Have been out for quite a while, and b) can be cheaper because it's through digital distribution. Yes, you're a cheap bastard who wants to pay less for things. Guess what; everyone would love to pay less, but that's not always possible. Games are a luxury item. If you can't afford them, you don't get to play them.
The Jolly Rodger
Ahoy Dude....Watch who you call stupido! App stores will be selling this level of game for less than $1. Apple waves bye-bye to Ninty... Bwa ha ha!
Meanwhile it's a very 'Australian' thing to share bro. So share the gift of games with your mateys. :)
Brad
Online distribution will be the future and is already being seen via Apple App stores.
Not so possible with PS3 sized games yet though. But for handhelds its perfect. Cartride costs are also high and they could chunk a lot from the costs.
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