My Thoughts on Video Game Piracy

Jacobo H.

Ah, yes, piracy! We’ve all done it before, from movies, shows, and in this case, video games! According to Interpol, “Digital piracy refers to the illegal copying or distribution of copyrighted material via the Internet.” This is the general definition of piracy and what comes to mind when you ask most people.

Now, I used to have the mindset that “Piracy is a crime and should never be done!” Now, I still sort of have this mindset, but it’s a lot different now. As game prices are rising, and well, let's not be ignorant here, everything is more expensive now. People are struggling to even afford their rent with these prices, so it can be hard to pay for these games. This is where piracy comes in! Most gamers, have resorted to the pirating way and have gotten their games for free!

I WANT TO SAY SOMETHING REALLY QUICK: I DO NOT PROMOTE PIRACY!! 

“Culture should not be only for those who can afford it, if you don’t have money, you can support it via word of mouth." This was said by Finnish game developer Arsi "Hakita" Patala, and I agree. While you should definitely try to support companies by buying their games, if you are struggling financially, go ahead, and pirate.

I want to add something else before finishing this, I pirate. I have over 200 gigabytes of pirated video games on my computer. ALL OF THESE GAMES ARE RETRO GAMES. RETRO GAMES CAN BE INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE TO BUY!!!!! For example, a copy of Earthbound for the SNES, can cost you $100+ because they are not manufactured anymore (this also means that the company makes no money from this game anymore). So yeah……..I pirate these old games, because this is kinda absurd. 

In conclusion, YAR HAR FIDDLEDEE VIDEO GAME PIRACY IS ALRIGHT WITH ME!! 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️