ELSPA distances itself from DS piracy report

ELSPA has told GamesIndustry.biz that a recent story about DS piracy in North America contains false quotes attributed to a company spokesperson.

The Sunday Post quoted John Hillier, manager of ELSPA's Intellectual Property Crime Unit as saying "In America, it's thought 90 per cent of Nintendo DS users are playing pirated games because of R4s," while discussing the notorious chip that allows easy piracy on Nintendo's handheld.

However, a spokesperson for ELSPA told GamesIndustry.biz that, "[John] didn't quote The Sunday Post on any figures whatsoever."

"ELSPA would certainly never presume to comment about America or anywhere else outside of the UK," added the spokesperson.

The report, said ELSPA, is a hatchet job consisting of facts from an article from Singapore, false quotes and a genuine conversation with Hillier on the availability of the R4 cartridge in the UK.

"The quotes from The Sunday Post were ascribed to his name from another article which originates from a website in Singapore. This, it appears, is where The Sunday Post first found out about the supposed R4 situation and for some reason unknown to John have quoted him on what this article said."

The spokesperson also stated that Nintendo views the reported facts in The Sunday Post article as completely false.

"As far as Nintendo are concerned, the facts are completely spurious."