Piracy of Mac games has been a hot topic for journalists of late (see: MacCentral, MacGamer (parts 2 and 3), and the Pioneer Press). While the general consensus is unanimous and remains unchanged from previous decades -- piracy is illegal and hurts many a companyis bottom lines -- what seems to make the Mac games market more unique is its niche factor. Simply put, Mac gamers are a relatively small number, as are Mac games as a whole.
"Piracy threatens the viability of the computer-game industry," MacSoft CEO Peter Tamte has told the various publications that covered the subject recently. Tamte has taken the somewhat unique position of going on record to announce that more copies of Halo, its latest release, have been pirated than purchased. The blockbuster game, which should have arrived on the Mac more than two years ago before prior to Bungieis acquisition by Microsoft, finally debuted on December 11. Tamte stakes his claim according to numbers MacSoft has tracked on various file sharing services, which suggest that "hundreds of thousands" of copies have been pirated.
The two other leading Mac game publishers, Aspyr Media and MacPlay, echo what Tamte says. All three publishers are also currently looking into employing more robust anti-piracy techniques in future titles.
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