TIGA Piracy Survey

November 10, 2009

TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, today released the results of a snap survey on piracy.

The TIGA Piracy Survey compiles feedback from TIGA members and is designed to provide TIGA, the development community and Government with information on how UK developers view the piracy and its effects on their business.

TIGAs Piracy Survey demonstrates three principal findings:

Firstly, the majority of video games developers (60%) see piracy as a problem for their business and most also see this as a constant or increasing problem for their business going forward (90%). However most developers view the actual threat of piracy to their business survival as low (60%) with only 20% ranking the threat as medium and only 10% considering the threat to be high (10% had no view).

Secondly, when asked about the Governments plans to tackle piracy through slowing down or cutting off the broadband supply of pirates, developers had mixed opinions, with 50% agreeing this was a good idea and 50% disagreeing.

Finally, developers are pragmatic and proactive in finding solutions to deal with the threat of piracy. 50% said they are considering different ways of doing business as a consequence of piracy, with 75% of that 50% citing digital distribution, subscription based services and/or ad supported free games as the ways they would or could change their business models.

Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO stated: The results of the TIGA piracy survey clearly demonstrate that UK developers are taking the initiative when dealing with the issue of piracy and looking for new ways of delivering content and communicating directly with their consumers. Developers are not complacent in dealing with this problem and are mostly seeking to find solutions for themselves rather than simply relying on the Government to solve the problem of piracy. This is testament to the pragmatic approach of the industry.

Ends

Notes to editors:

Full Results summary:

Q1: Is piracy of videogames a problem for your business?

Response: 60% responded Yes, 30% responded No, 10% responded Dont know

Q2: Do you agree or disagree that people who persist in illegally swapping copyrighted files of music, films and games on the internet should have their internet connection slowed down and ultimately severed if they ignore the warning letters to stop?

Response: 50% responded Yes, 50% responded No

Q3. In relation to your business, is the problem of piracy increasing, decreasing or constant?

Response: 10% responded Increasing, 10% responded decreasing, 80% responded constant

Q4. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is scarcely noticeable and 10 is imminent threat to business survival, where would you put peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing?

Response: 60% responded 2 or 3, 20% responded 4 or 5, 10% responded 8 and 10% didnt respond

Q5. Is P2P something you expect to be a threat in 5 years time?

Response: 50% responded Yes, 50% responded No

Q6. What practical steps can you as a business take to ameliorate any impact of (P2P)?

Response: 40% didnt respond, 50% (or 83% of those who did respond) indicated they would Change their business model, predominantly citing Digital distribution, Direct customer relations and Good value and service as the key steps. 10% responded greater piracy control through Government schemes.

Q7. Are you considering different ways of doing business as a consequence?

Response: 50% responded Yes, 30% responded No and 20% responded Dont know

Q8. If yes to question 7 please specify.

Response: Of those that responded 75% stated Digital Distribution, subscription based services and/or ad supported free games, 25% indicated they would work with publishers to address this.

Q9. Is Digital Rights Management an irrelevance, a solution or a problem?

Responses: 50% responded An Irrelevance, 30% responded The Solution, and 20% responded The problem