Mobile Game Developers Denounce 3G.cn for Piracy
Sina Games, 3/27/08
A group of nine mobile game developers - including China Wireless Arts, Hakuna, 8me8, HuaYiTianXin, MIG China, Sina Mobile Games, Palmtech, Sotodo, and Asionsky - has issued a statement accusing free WAP site 3G.cn of piracy and threatening to take legal action. A summary of the game developers' statement reads as follows:
A number of channels on the portal 3G.cn contain large amounts of pirated content. Take the gaming channel as an example: the 3G.cn game channel contains a total of 7,499 download links for mobile games. At a conservative estimate, upwards of a million files are downloaded from the site every day; at RMB 5-10 per download, this translates to between RMB 5 and 10 mln every day, or revenues of RMB 1.5-3 bln per year from downloaded game content. By comparison, China's legal mobile gaming market was worth only RMB 400 mln in 2007.
It appears that all of the games offered on 3G.cn are pirated, as they are openly described as "cracked versions" and frequently come with files explaining how to use the bundled cracking software.
The majority of domestic mobile game developers do not report their incomes, but the cost of development for high-quality gaming is extremely high. Incomplete figures show that of the mobile game developers extant in 2003, 80% have vanished or closed down.
We will remain silent no longer. Let us take action and use the law as our weapon in defending our own rights.
Keywords: China Wireless Arts Hakuna 8me8 HuaYiTianXin MIG China Sina Mobile Games Palmtech Sotodo Asionsky WAP portal litigation IPR infringement 3G.cn free WAP law mobile gaming piracy Sina WAP wireless
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