The video game industry is constantly changing to meet new gamer demands and evolving hardware and game consoles. Console makers and software studios have asked for help in global anti-piracy efforts that yields mixed results.
In the past, Nintendo and other companies have called out China, Russia, Brazil, Korea, and scores of other nations accused of not doing enough to prevent and crackdown against piracy.
As piracy runs rampant, there are now more than 500 lawyers specializing in "video game, new media and interactive entertainment"" - and that number should only climb higher in 2011.
To combat piracy in 2009, Nintendo warned parents that cracked game console units may expose children to "unsuitable content downloaded from the Internet" that can be played on their game consoles.
Nintendo's veiled scare tactic shared a new strategy that called on parents to try to better monitor their children.
There are no easy answers in the effort to fight game piracy, but studios and console makers want to find effective strategies that are less intrusive. Ubisoft tried using always-on DRM to prevent game piracy, but ended up dropping the controversial effort as paying customers became increasingly annoyed. Meanwhile, utilizing DRM is a business decision, not necessarily an ethical decision, even with consumers more likely to pirate software than purchase it if it uses DRM.
Legislation against piracy would be the best solution, with a growing effort to work with government agencies aiming to punish pirates. New legislation and crackdowns will likely continue, even if these new aggressive tactics still don't yield positive results.
