Useful Articles - Piracy in the video game industry

Illegal video game downloads 'Up nearly 20%'

PCGA 'PC game piracy is in decline'

Illegally downloading games is up 20% in five years

I found three more articles relevant to the industry I will be producing for, these, showing conflicting views on the market in terms of piracy.

The first article, found on DigitalSpy, compares the two below articles which argue whether PC game piracy is in decline or on the rise.

The BBC, reporting on the rise of piracy and the PCGA reporting that game piracy is infact in decline. The issue of PC game piracy is a big one in the industry, but I believe that with Digital Distribution and the ability to download 'demo's' of games, dominating the market at current, it will definitely fall in the future.

I think with the current economical climate, and with the 'at home', games and dvd's market doing so well, keeping an eye on the gaming industry and the introduction of new articles like this would be very useful thing for me to do and would greatly help both my understanding of the industry and may help influence my production.

Useful Article - New Technology

Download Distribution opening new doors for independent game developers

Whilst researching for my pre production, I stumbled across this article on Statesman.com, confirming my beliefs that Digital Distribution and handheld apps in the gaming industry are helping open doors for Independent game developers. 

The thing I found particularly interesting about this article is the statistics included in it, such as "11.2 million digital downloads of PC games were purchased online, according to technology research firm NPD Group. That's compared with 8.2 million "physical units purchased at retail" and this quote on the abundance of physical games "I think (packaged products) will always exist, until every last person is connected to the Internet," 

I think this article enforces my idea of having my game as a packaged, indie game, as well as advertising it to be offered through digital distribution.