These days games makers are just as vulnerable to piracy as the film and music industries. Richard Brass downloads the worst cases of software theft, and asks if it isn’t just a matter of changing attitudes.

They love their crime at Rockstar Games. The creators of the hugely successful Grand Theft Auto video games have turned fascination with criminal activity into a goldmine. And they make a very healthy living encouraging their customers to try their virtual hand at all sorts of illegality.

But while guns and killing may be jolly good fun as far as Rockstar Games are concerned, software piracy is no laughing matter. When the latest version of Grand Theft Auto turned up on the Internet shortly before its scheduled release date last October, Rockstar wasted no time in notifying the authorities and setting out to track down the culprits. Anyone thinking about downloading the game could be in no doubt that, while they might not be the victims of a Grand Theft Auto-style drive-by, they would certainly be getting a visit from Rockstar’s attorneys.

Rockstar was not alone. A few days earlier, a pirated copy of Microsoft’s Halo 2 video game had also started circulating on the net, weeks before the due date, triggering a similar panicky campaign by the software giant to find out who was responsible. But huff and puff as they might, games makers are just as vulnerable to pilfering as  anyone else and, like everyone else, becoming more so. They’re in good company. Mass legal actions by the film and music industries get plenty of coverage, but advances in both technology and the skills of users are keeping the pirates a step ahead of the corporations, however ferocious their attorneys.

It’s a tough spot for companies. They need new technology to compete, but new technology brings risks and the hackers and pilferers will find new ways to get through the tightest security.

And it’s not just electronic media that is being hit by the growth in piracy. Those with a nose for an opportunity will have put a big red ring in their calendars around July 16 2005, the day on which the sixth volume of the wizardy adventures of Harry Potter is due for release. Illegally purloined copies of the fifth book popped up all over the world before its release in 2003, and no number of threats of supernatural punishment from JK Rowling and her publishers are likely to stop it happening again.

It’s a tough spot for companies. They need new technology to compete, but new technology brings risks and the hackers and pilferers will find new ways to get through the tightest security. Bringing in the attorneys scares off a few and works when they catch the culprits. But plenty still see the reward as being well worth the risk.

The one area where companies can make a difference is attitude. In 2004 computer forensics firm, IBAS, questioned 400 business professionals about their attitude to IP theft. They found that nearly 60% regarded stealing IP as no more serious than slightly exaggerating an insurance claim to cover the excess charge, and that nearly 70% admitted to having stolen some form of corporate IP themselves. People don’t really think IP theft is a crime.

If it’s attitudes that need changing, games makers like Rockstar are in just the right place. Faced with criticism over the violence in their products, some games makers have been heard to argue that they offer a harmless outlet for destructive urges. In which case, the solution to the problem is right there. As soon as ‘Grand Theft IP’ appears on the shelves, we can all sit back and watch the pirate figures plunge.

This article first appeared in IP Review, issue 10

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