The widespread piracy problem in the gaming industry has always been a huge problem for most of the professionals in the business. But enormity of it (piracy) is being felt more brutally than before by those who actually sweat and (almost) cry tears (of blood) just so they can find a good idea and a backer (or a financer) for the games, develop it and advertise it, more so because of the fluctuating economies, especially by one of the biggest game producers of all, the super power nation, United States.

But why is it that gaming piracy is so hard to control, more so, to eradicate?

Gaming piracy problems in the United States is not actually focused on the production of illegal games in the country, as officials are very hard on those who try to smuggle in or produce pirates while in the United States, (Author’s Note: Although some might disagree or argue about this fact, but believe me, try going to some Asian Countries, where you can actually order fake DVDS to your homes, or even hear a local vender shout “DVD! DVD!” as he passes your house) that concerns the nation is that China (and other Asian) is not at all making much (if there is any) effort to stop piracy.

In China, there are so many underground piracy lairs that it is hard to keep track, it makes it even harder for officials (not necessarily Chinese ones) to check these lairs because they are so hard to ambush or enclose, as the dingy areas are protected by very small yet intricate and numerous pathways.

In these illegal pirating companies, CDs and DVDs can be easily produced in numerous numbers of hundreds, to even astounding thousands, in just a few minutes! As compared to the more tame numbers of original, legitimate publishers, were the materials are copied to a tame maximum per day, pirates aim to produce more in the price of less, sacrificing everything else.

Although the dirt cheap prices might be good news for those gamers who are in the more budget constricted side, but take heed, these CDs and DVDs are SURE (with no exaggeration) to ruin your machine (be it a PC or a Wii or XBOX 360, etc.) because of the many defects that it has. Mostly due to the fact that the materials used for creating the CDs or DVDs are of bad quality, as the surface is easier to get scratched an deteriorate, as compared to the premier materials used by most legal software publishers. Secondly, the production of pirated goods itself is quite ghastly, as the workers, as you might expect, are wearing sweaty, or no shirt at all, while they are loading and wrapping the CDs and DVDs.

The huge impact of the piracy in the industry has resulted to so many ruined lives, more than one can imagine.

There are so many companies laying off their workers because of the losses in their companies, and they are cutting off resources big time.

But there is one good thing happening in some of the Asian countries that are very pirate supporting nations.

One of the biggest improvements can be found in the Philippines, despite the fact that it is one of the poorest nations in Asia, if not the developing world.

The Optical Media Board (or OMB) has been on the rice, stopping piracy centers and aggressively hunting those who aim to produce pirated goods, especially the big producers of pirated software. A couple of years ago, you can easily buy heaps and heaps of pirated CDS in Chinatown or some other place somewhere in Manila (the capital of the Philippines) . But not anymore. Nowadays you really need to look hard in some parts of the dingy malls so you can purchase a fake CD. According to the board’s website:

“  Upon service of the order, 537 sacks containing various pirated optical discs with an estimated street value of P144,644,500.00 were seized. The enforcement operation was perfectly timed because said items were still stacked in cd spools with the cd labels still in huge boxes and were just about ready to be shipped to various erring distribution centers.”

Php144,644.00 would only translate to a few thousands of dollars ($3250 to be exact), but imagine it if the government bodies in China and Korea are forced to act as this small, underbudget agency did, in the same regular basis, the industry companies would earn the money it deserves, and there would be no more mass layoffs in the near future.

Sadly, we can only hope.

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