According to GamesIndustry, Nintendo has seized some 30,000 illegal piracy devices so far in 2008. It was recently reported that Nintendo is actually suing importers of devices like the popular R4 in Japan, with the help of over 50 game publishers.
“Nintendo takes a global approach to piracy and has pursued the illegal game copying devices in 11 countries this past year,” Nintendo said in a statement.
“Nintendo has worked with enforcement officials in Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and the US, seizing close to 30,000 infringing game copying products, as well as taking actions against those distributors and manufacturers.”
30,000? Is that a lot? Is that a number to brag about? Hell, there’s probably more than 30,000 R4-like devices in some major American cities.
It sounds like they mean business, though When we look at monthly sales numbers, it seems like Nintendo is doing fine for software sales. But that doesn’t mean that the software developers aren’t hurting, and while we know Nintendo can afford a hit to the pocket book, some of the small software guys can’t. Because of this, they’re now taking serious action to put the clamp on DS piracy.
“Nintendo and software manufacturers are suffering tremendous loss caused by the import and distribution of such devices,” said the firm.
“Nintendo and software manufacturers have determined that the spread of such devices in the market would hinder sound growth and development of the entire computer game industry and will therefore continue to take strict legal measures against any game copying devices that operate like the R4.”
