Nintendo documents the worst countries in the world in terms of rampant Nintendo game piracy every year. And send the report the US trade representative. The countries include China, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Paraguay.
Missing from the list in my opinion Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East. Let’s be honest, software/game/movie piracy is still high here, in fact, I found this report (pdf) by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA). Let’s see what they say under “Entertainment Software”:
Pirated copies are sold openly everywhere. Businesses engaged in the sale of legitimate video game product are severely undermined by the ready availability of pirated game product in the market. Licensees report that there is a marked contrast between sales of entertainment software for platforms that have been hacked and those platforms that, to date, remain impervious to
hacking attempts.
Hacked platforms include the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft Xbox 360. Almost every Nintendo Wii sold in Saudi Arabia already includes a mod chip that allows you to play pirated Wii games. They are sold for usually 10-30SR ($3-8).
The Nintendo Wii systems sold in Saudi Arabia are either American or Japanese. There is no Nintendo “authorized dealer” in Saudi Arabia or the Middle East! Checking Nintendo’s list of distributors, Saudi Arabia links to Nintendo of Europe GmbH (a German only website!). I have tried to contact them, asking about their Wii distributor in Saudi Arabia. Their answer was:
Dear Mr. A.,
Thank you for your eMail which reached the German Communication Center.
First we have to inform you that the Nintendo distributors in the different countries are the responsible contact for the consumers of their country.
Unfortunately there is no special Nintendo distributor in your country at the moment. So we only can recommend you to inform you in the shops which sell video games.
We are sorry that we cannot give you any better information.
Kind regards,
Marco Marrero
“So we only can recommend you to inform you in the shops which sell video games” That didn’t even make sense! The high amount of Nintendo Wii/DS piracy in Saudi Arabia is Nintendo’s fault! The lack of an official Nintendo distributor in Saudi Arabia is only supporting the gray market and is not good for Nintendo!
Go ahead to Nintendo’s Anti-Piracy site and contact them. Or just send an email to piracyscene@noa.nintendo.com and tell them that their lack of official distributors in Saudi Arabia is not helping them.
