Over 29,000 pirated Xbox 360 games confiscated in UAE store raids

As part of ongoing efforts to reduce the spread of pirated Xbox 360 games and support the region's legitimate resellers, Microsoft Gulf today announced that UAE authorities confiscated over 29,000 pirated copies of Xbox 360 games in a series of 21 coordinated raids on reseller stores in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

[ClownBelt]

Only 29000? Other Asian countries will make UAE a heaven for legitimate resellers.

[theKiller]

and even the rich dont bother to buy a full price tag while they can do much more with that money!!

in general the developing countries have lower income but the young still want to play so what to do? they pirate!! piracy is in every where in the world specially the poor countries!!

what MS is trying to do is pathetic!! if 360 is no pirated then nobody will buy it except very few rich spoiled kids!!

arabs dont look at gaming other than a children's play thing, they wont spent too much money on children play things unless the family are rich and the kid is spoiled.

[TD_RJ]

"arabs dont look at gaming other than a children's play thing, they wont spent too much money on children play things unless the family are rich and the kid is spoiled."

Not all arabs think like that.
Arabian gulf countries are really into gaming , there are even a lot of sites that support gaming here in the middle east.
It's just our governments that are not taking it seriously and most countries here ban games for no reason. ((/)_-)
Believe me us Arabs are into gaming it's just no one is showing some support and helping us out. >.>;;

[dabri5]

There is never ever a good reason to pirate. I will never understand how any one can get mad about a comp taking action through the proper authorities to stop it.

[RageAgainstTheMShine]

its just like pulling the blades of the grass but never the roots.

the only way to stop piracy is in the likes of what the PS3 has done.

i know nothing is unhacable but at least Sony has kept the pirates at bay for a record breaking 3 years.

[wxer]

you PPL do know that MS dose know about this
but their are not doing anything

once they sued a rich guy with a lot of companies
because some of his employees were using a pirated copy of windows XP now you telling me that they didn’t know about this which is a far more bigger problem ?

now im sure that they wont do anything because that well effect their sales
what helped the PS2 to sell in here (UAE) is that the games are cheap (pirated) and there is no online
MS is trying to do the same thing since almost no one gives a fuck about online here ( will almost )

you can get an XBOX game for like 3$ (10~15 AED)
same with the PS2 pirated of course
and PS3 games sell on full 60$ price tag (225~250 AED)

THAT’S A BIG DIFFRENCE

take in mind that in here video games are considered for kids only
and 80% of the gamers in here are KIDS

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Tell that to the PSP, where piracy is killing the platform. So yeah, using piracy to push your console isn't necessarily wise if your attach ratio goes significantly down. I don't think companies rely on that method to gain useless market share.

[TengkuAmir10]

Lol. Tell me about it. In the country I live which is Malaysia, 90% of gamers buy pirated. That's why there's not even 100,000 PS3 owners in Malaysia. The one who can afford a console buys a 360 because they get to play unlimited games. I bought PS3 for the opposite reason though. I don't want my friends to feel the enjoyment I feel while playing my game. LOL. I have tons of PS3 games. But to think of it, they don't even have a LIVE account to enjoy ONLINE experience so why should they buy original?

Another factor being that parents in Malaysia are so F-ing stingy. But you also can't really blame their parents because the price of 1 PS3 game here is RM200(67dollars) average while you can get a pirated copy of XBOX 360 games for RM15(5 bucks? I dont know). Come to think of it, it is overpriced in a way. ASIA should really take action against this problem though. It's ruining the 360 developers and not to mention, this problem is heavily ruining our world economy.

[RageAgainstTheMShine]

That is why I love my PS3 its fresh. its something totally new, its unique, it eformed my gaming habits and perception, its gives you a sense of pride knowing you enjoy your games legitimately and everything is fair and square, you get what you pay for in the truest sense of the word, and you feel no one is cheating no one with any pirated games.

I am glad Sony has a legitimate PlayStation Store in our country.That is a landmark in video gaming history- meaning it has succeeded in its fight against piracy. to be able to set up proper business in a land infested by piracy since the 1980s. Only Sony PlayStation.

PS3 it only does anti-piracy!

This is one of Sony's many innovation and contribution to the video games industry since the Compact Disc and PS1 Memory Card.

We are very fortunate Sony entered the video game industry.

[king123]

I don't know about that
I mean I live in Kuwait and like 80% of xbox gamers don't have pirated copies

[DelbertGrady]

I'm amazed over how it's possible for them to sell pirated games in reseller stores to begin with.

[rroded]

Microsoft is partnering with local government to promote respect for intellectual property rights and the culture of innovation.

wonder how much cash they spent on the ol royal family ta get em to do this raid...

[GAM3R7l]

...an ignorant fantroll.

[Baka-akaB]

i am pretty sure that as a local merchant , i can petition the local police to raid your place , if i got proofs you sell stuff you stole from me too ...

Nothing to be so paranoid and feel "oh my god it's big brother and 1984!" about .

[lonix]

about the intellectual property of others. when they steal their code!

[wissam]

In Middle east. they pirate every thing. and there is some new hack allow you to download your game into x360 hdd. and play them without the disk.

[Cartesian3D]

I live in iran.. yes pirate games are every where.. you CANT find a 360 here without modification and pirate games.. seriously you cant!

I only have a PS3 , and buy new games around 120(release date or even earlier) to 70$ (1 or 2 week after release) to 40(year later..)

people here cant afford these kind of stuff with those prices..(may be about 10 percent can )

[kingdavid]

I thought games were sposed to be cheaper in Asia to combat piracy rates. Or does that only apply to East Asia?

[Baka-akaB]

i feel for you guys , as here new games cost roughly 120-125 dollars and used ones 55 .

Still not a valid excuse imo . it only allow the official market to screw everyone a whatever prices they want , since "if you can't afford it , you still got the black market"

[LightofDarkness]

Ha, they probably just wandered around Deira for an hour with some big black bags and just shovelled them in :p

[ashe]

yea i live in iran too and buy pirate games like a cake
i love pirate game because its very cheap .

[crematory]

i envy xbox360 owners, i have a friend he has most of my games i own on ps3 but when i see him spending only few bucks comparing with the hundreds i spend get me really nervous

i think i should buy moded one for multiplatform games

[AK46]

@ crematory

Be a leader not a follower. Some of the small devs are busting their butts off, to get the game to you. Game publishers can afford to take a hit, but not those game developers.

[kewlkat007]

Didn't expect that...

[kingdavid]

You know Brazil is really rich too..

But there is a massive discrepancy in that country between being rich and poor. You're either filthy rich or filthy poor.

[wazzim]

Hurr hurr

[krishnabloodsoul5]

They should come to my country and then my city....they'll probably recover over ten lakh+ pirated 360 games.:P

[despair]

my country also it'll be a mountain of pirated 360 games, I don't know a single person who has a non modified x360...well maybe 1.

[bjornbear]

REPURCHASES!! awesome =)