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Banned! Suck It Pokemon Pirates

Banned! Suck It Pokemon Pirates

Some people just can’t wait for a new game to come out, can they? We don’t know how the game originally got out (probably a naughty warehouse or retail worker), but a few people have been gleefully playing pirated copies of Pokemon Sun & Moon before its Friday launch date. Some of these dipsticks even thought it’d be a good idea to connect their pirated games to the internet early. Nintendo noticed, and now they’ve been banned not only from taking Pokemon online, but from using any Nintendo online services with their 3DS. Yep, they can’t even go to the eShop in order to actually buy the game they pirated.

Now, these bans may seem like a counterproductive move for Nintendo, at least at first. Don’t companies want to turn pirates into customers? That’s hardly going to happen if they’re effectively out an entire 3DS as a result of their cyber-swashbuckling antics. Perhaps, then, Nintendo doesn’t actually want these folks as customers at all?  How does that make sense? Well, let’s take a look.

I know a lot of pirates think of what they’re doing as a victimless crime. They just want to try before they buy, they weren’t planning on buying anyway, etc. etc. etc. But in this connected world, pirating games – especially those that haven’t even been released yet – has consequences way beyond that $40 you didn’t give Nintendo. Pirates have a tendency to link spoilers and other information out ahead of time, spoiling the game experience for others (now, The Pokemon Company has spoiled so much of Sun & Moon themselves that I’d say that’s not as big a deal in this case, but…). In addition, when they run around social media bragging about having a game early, it inspires other people to take the pirate’s way out, too. It gives off the impression that there aren’t any consequences for stealing a game.

Well, Nintendo made sure there were some consequences this time, and some of these pirates have the gall to whine and scream online about it. Sorry, folks, but Nintendo has made a gamble. It’s betting that it loses less money by not having a pirate as a “customer” at all than it does by allowing said pirate’s influence to spread unpunished all over the ‘net. It’s a gamble that makes sense in my book. Nintendo gave us a demo, so we can try before we buy. It charges a reasonable price for a copy of Pokemon , and it doesn’t load the games down with microtransactions and DLC. You pay once to get a game that lasts a very long time. All those excuses that pirates like to use melt away in this case; the only reason to pirate Pokemon Sun & Moon is because you’re an impatient jerk who likes stealing games.

Banned! Suck It Pokemon Pirates

Yeah, I’m calling pirates jerks. Their actions are quite unfair to people who actually buy all their games. I know, it sucks to not be able to afford the games you want on release. I can’t afford to buy all the games I want at launch right now because their prices have spiked in Canada over the last couple years. But if you care about gaming, you’ll wait for a sale, not steal your games outright. We’ve all got problems and budgets to keep, so keep the rest of us company as a not-so-wealthy gamer who would rather be patient than cheat the industry that makes the games they love.

If you pirated Pokemon Sun & Moon and got banned from Nintendo’s online services, well, you got what you deserved. If you’re going to cheat and steal, you should at least accept the consequences when you’re caught. Nintendo would rather wipe pirates out as customers entirely than have them running around the internet bragging about their ill-gotten goods. Meanwhile, the rest of us will be enjoying our legitimate copies of Pokemon Sun & Moon in just a few days, with the added satisfaction of knowing that people who stole the game instead aren’t being rewarded.

Image Credit: Ry-Spirit

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