Dissidia: Final Fantasy Downloaded Illegally Over 5 Million Times

CESA, short for Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association, has been tracking illegal downloads of top selling handheld games. Out of all the titles – DS and PSP – Dissidia: Final Fantasy was downloaded the most.

According to their data, the PSP game was downloaded 5,281,223 times. CESA estimates a loss of 30,631,093,400 yen ($335 million) in sales. The dollar amount is questionable due to used game sales, price drops, and people who would never have purchased Dissidia anyway. In spite of those factors that number is still staggering.

[More PSP piracy figures at the link]

[seij555]

And people get on Sony's ass when they remove OtherOS to prevent piracy like this. 350 million dollar loss for a game, holy shit!

[Optical_Matrix]

Exactly. I don't know why Sony is getting sued. If goons are going to exploit hardware this is exactly what happens. For the good of the industry, things like OtherOS removal should be more common. I HATE piracy

[Nugundam0079]

Get off your soap box-There is no way that you have NOT stolen anything in your life.

[Da One]

stop trying to use it as an excuse please.

[hay]

I estimate there's around 1-2 mil actual damage in sales, with average price of 30usd that's still around 60mil... That's huge...

[deafwing]

no wonder they can't make a buck ...

[AC130-Gunship]

Bestbuy's version exclusively came with a calendar pack for 2009-2010 (7mos still left in 2010). The graphics on calendar cards are awesome, also there is case that doubles as stand to display your cards (4x8). Dissidia was regularly priced at around $45.00 for PSP at Bestbuy. I was there to get Demon's Souls but couldn't pass up $20.00 for Dissidia.

However, illegal downloading does put the OtherOS controversy into some perspective.

[Noctis Aftermath]

Even though the numbers are bogus, no doubt they still lost a lot of sales, i hope that there will be more piracy prevention mechanics in place for the PSP2(as long as they don't place to many restrictions).

[Brickedsoles]

Pirates wouldnt have bought the game anyways.

[Eamon]

sigh, yet more propaganda by a huge cooportation.

Remember, this was just simply the number of times downloaded. That doesn't show the exact number lost.

Because a huge majority of the downloaders would not have bought the game anyway.

[asyouburn]

then you shouldn't "play it anyway".

[kratos123]

wow you trully are a idiote
if they didnt have any interest in the game why download it
support the makers be buying the game instead of stealing it

[evrfighter]

it's funny how Sony sees these downloads as lost sales. 90% of those downloaders would have never bought the game ever.

it would be some good pocket change if they figured in the other 10% however. just not as much as they're thinking.

[dizzleK]

and metal gear, resident evil, etc will sadly meet the same fate.

"people who wouldn't buy it anyway". maybe i'm silly but i wouldn't waste the bandwidth on games i don't care about. if they're interested enough to dl it they're obviously interested in it. cheap f*cks who can't even spring $5 for a rental.

[ChronoJoe]

It is mostly people who wouldn't buy it anyway, or at least not new. Sorry to break that to you. Plus a lot of piracy comes from locations where they don't even get PSN services or retailers.

As well as people who run it within PSP emulators, rather than the system itself, thereby requiring the ISO. Either way, they wouldn't buy it anyway.

[IrishAssa]

I did buy this game but I have pirated a few games that I wouldn't buy.

[jc48573]

understand why companies seldom to develop games for the psp. Games are expensive though, so you really can't blame entirely on piracy. I missed the days when games used to be 50 bucks a piece, which also means that you will be seeing some games being sold for 40,30,20 and even 10. I seriously don't believe that portable games should cost more than 30.

[asyouburn]

but i've never stolen one. gaming is a fun habit, but if you cant afford it, GTFO, regardless of how much you as an individual think it should cost.

[Rocket Sauce]

I bet you'd steal a few Rolexes if they were as easy to steal as PSP games.

[Quagmire]

Truth be spoken

[unworthyBOZO]

That really sucks.

[COINTELPRO]

Well, I live on Somalia so there's no Gamestop here. I saw a link to download and I took it. There's also no gasoline over here, so if I see a fricking oil tanker you can bet your ass I'm gonna call my gang and hijack that SOB. Game on gentlemen.

[RememberThe357]

Oh well, keep up the hustle. Remember to scream Thug Life when you ride.

[cyberwaffles]

lmao @ Remember

[koehler83]

A pirate from Somalia.. who knew?

[Jack-Pyro]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Oh and be careful jacking those oil tankers....the last guys to do that...what happened to them again? something about Navy Seal snipers? *shrug*

[MajestieBeast]

Go choose a hobby that doesnt cost money then.

[cyberwaffles]

you're right, such as raking leaves, moving furniture, cutting someone's lawn, shoveling snow, and then boom...you have money to buy your game and then some!

i honestly don't see a reason why a person can't buy game. if it's a kid who is too young to work at a regular job; go out and do oddjobs around the neighborhood. you can get easily over 50-100 bucks a day if you do few lawn work or some other type of oddjob.

if you're a teen or adult that works but don't have to worry too much, or if at all, any expenses, then you should definitely be able to buy games.

if you're someone who is working very hard just to maintain paying out expenses, well then you should put your life into perspective and worry about bigger priorities than gaming. it's not right for someone to compromise another person's job by stealing their product.

and as for pirates go, none of them would do it if they were part of the process of making a big budget game. the workload is very strenuous, unless you're creating shovelware, and they deserve every cent that a title is worth. i really like what fontaine says about parasites in bioshock, it's very true.

[-Gespenst-]

You seem to underestimate the temptation surrounding piracy, it's often very difficult to bring oneself to do things honestly when the dishonest way is far easier and brings instant gratitude.
I'm not defending it exactly, but it's not something that you can just stop; especially on the internet. This article should tell you that: A recent, fairly sizeable game downloaded well over five million times? That would suggest to me that a lot of people cave in to piracy.
Of course I'm no altruist, I'm guilty too. Haha, in fact, this article has made me want to download this game! I did want to buy it but my psp's long broken...

[tdrules]

Yet no one is screaming PSP GAEMING IZ DYING

Double standards N4G?

[Corrwin]

So the "Try before you buy" excuse shouldn't apply to many of these idiots.

[kraze07]

I bought my copy of Dissidia so I'm not one of the contributers. I'll also buy my copy of Phantasy Star Portable 2 when it's released in the west. PSP games are high enough quality that they shouldn't be downloaded. I can't really say the same for the DS though. There are plenty of great games on the DS but the amount of shovelware released for it is astounding.

@tdrules: Obviously PSP gaming isn't dying if 5.2 million people downloaded the game. High piracy =/= Dying platform.

[Are_The_MaDNess]

got it on my pspGO and i love it, and i payed for it n the PS Store
i used to pirate every game i had, not anymore tho i have changed
just look at my steam list
http://steamcommunity.com/p...

oh yeah, its a lot (187 to be precise) X/

[cyberwaffles]

damn, makes me feel really bad for all the years of countless piracy i did when i was younger. and even then, i wasn't pirating current or even last gen games; they were usually psone or snes roms and emulators i dabbled with. every once in a while i got a game on the ps2 that wasn't being produced anymore, but still, it was wrong.

hopefully if sony does create a new handheld it will be piracy-proofed like the ps3.

[Are_The_MaDNess]

thats the pspGO (well i think it is still piracy-proofed (at least it was))

[kerrak]

You know, the one stated by pirates themselves: "piracy doesn't hurt good games"

According to vgchartz this game sold 1.7 milion units. psp is usually undertracked and they don't track downloads, so it could be in the 2 milion mark.

This game is easily in the top 10 both in quality terms, brand power, marketing push, and good reviews among all psp games titles ever.

5 milion downloads obviously doesn't equate to 5 milion unsold units, but surely somewhere between the 0,5 and 2 milions. Add to this the amount of 2nd hand sold units, rinse and repeat for each and every psp game and tell me this doesn't hurt the industry and more importantly, the legit gamer.

[Slient Knight 9]

quick question people, could Sony release psp games that are playable on ps3 i think theres some like that but not all, can anyone confirm this for me.

would love to play mgs peace walker on my ps3.

[Greek God]

we wouldnt need a psp then...
but i think you can somehow play Resistance Retribution on the ps3 somehow linked with the psp...
just google it buddy

[darkdoom3000]

Yeah, making them playable on Ps3 would be a surefire way to kill off PSP.

But on the other hand... If all PSP games would be playable on ps3, then it would get more sales. = more developers making psp games... what to do?

Ah well. I have a PSPgo anyway. so i can just hook it up to my tv and sync with my dualshock. basically have a homeconsole.

[Demons Souls]

Nobody should give S-E any money for all the garbage they pushed out this gen (not to mention all of the horrible decisions they've made).

[xg-ei8ht]

Drop the price of games to begin with.

See if that works:)

[Knightofelemia]

Its amazaing these guys who tracked it did nothing. Things are only going to get worse when EA enables they pay service on used games.

[wicko]

Sorry but these statistics are BS. The first being that all of those downloads were illegal. I own a legitimate copy of the game, purchased new, but I have also downloaded the game, at least the undubbed version. That is completely legal in Canada. I know I'm in the minority of people that do this, but it goes to show there might be legitimate reasons for dl'ing it.

Not to mention that I seriously doubt their numbers are accurate, there are so many torrent sites out there that require registration, so unless they have an account, they've just estimated.

Lastly, this point has been mentioned so many times but once again ignored. Not every pirated copy is a lost sale. Whether it be people like me that wanted to use the undub version, or those that demo'd the game and either bought it because they liked it, or stopped playing because they hated it. Theres people who would never buy it in the first place because they're cheap bastards, those that wanted a digital copy on their memory card for their modded psp for various reasons (less battery usage, faster loading, etc), those that download the latest torrent to boost their ratio.. there's plenty of reasons.

[tigertron]

Maybe Square-Enix should remake FFVII properly and regain the money they lost to piracy.

[coolasj]

"propagation" is. i truly think its a problem when at my high school theres a group of 7-10 kids in a group ALL playing pirated games of Dissidia and offering me every day if they want them to hack mine for me.

i think thats a problem.

[darthdevidem01]

Not only this game FF13 has been downloaded over 2 million times for xbox 360.

PS3 games can't be pirated

[Meryl]

I know it's disgusting, both games should not be pirated
george hotz pay attention this is why hacking consoles is bad for the industry

[e-p-ayeaH]

The US or JAP version? cause if it is both is way more than that belive me.

[Unicron]

The people condoning this disgust me.