What IS Video Game Piracy in 2026?
Video game piracy especially during the PS2 era, one of the most popular video game consoles of all time was very rampant in countries that did not have an official distributor. I still stand by what Gaben said all those years ago. The summary is that piracy is not because of a pricing issue or because people do not want to pay for a product. It’s because the service that’s supposed to provide said product plainly sucks or does not exist. In the simplest terms, if a country would like to play a game, but the game is not distributed in the country, they will go through great lengths to make sure they can play it, even through unofficial channels and means. What most people on the otherside immediately conclude is that people are too poor or hate big AAA companies that they would rather steal from them. What they fail to see is that piracy in general is more of a hassle than just buying from official channels. Illegally downloading a game already comes with risks — how do you know the installer or files inside it is not malware or a virus? On top of that, the file size usually means you’ll need to store it even after installing it or uninstalling it if you want to play it again some other time, and that’s not even including the time needed to download it the first time or after the fact.
Pokemon, a game that is currently distributed globally, surprisingly back then wasn’t so accessible outside of official Nintendo-distributing countries. This means people who were able to watch Pokemon anime and wanted to play the game would have to buy pirated copies of the game. Nintendo was clearly furious about this and took measures to prevent future titles from being pirated. Many games do the same by introducing anti-piracy checks and bricking the game intentionally if it was discovered that it was pirated. Think of the Batman Arkham games where a section that teaches you how to glide as Batman refused to allow you to glide, making you fall to your death, putting the player in a loop of death and continues and making it impossible to progress past that point, effectively making the game unplayable. As Gaben said, the best anti-piracy technology is providing a better service. It’s the reason why although PC games were widely pirated, it’s also why Steam is the go-to storefront and why people flock to buy their games on PC via Steam. Steam’s steps to buy a game, download, and install it is very easy, and Steam is famously known for its seasonal sales and publisher/developer sales. October being associated with Halloween, and Halloween being associated with spooky/horror games for example, Resident Evil will have a big sale soon.
Recently, a Tekken 6 PC Recomp Package was released. Simply put, the recomp allows Tekken 6 to be playable on PC. In the simplest way to explain, it’s essentially a way to emulate Tekken 6 on PC like other console emulators. It is essentially useless on its own — you still need a copy of the game. I myself still have a copy of Tekken 6 on PS3 and Tekken Tag 2 as well on PS3, but the reason I haven’t touched this recomp is simple — I’m not interested. This does raise the question though that the gaming community at large has been very vocal about — isn’t this piracy? Emulation is commonly associated with piracy, but in of itself, emulation is not piracy. Being able to play classic NES, SNES, even N64 and Gamecube games on your switch for example is a form of emluation. All those copies of those games are accessible through legal channels and official services, so it is not piracy. Emulation usually requires you to recompile an official console’s system files and also getting a copy of a game you want to play copied to your PC so you can run it through an emulator. Why do people do this? Usually it’s because they’d like to play games they used to be able to play and still own, but no longer can because the distributor no longer makes the console, parts, etc. Imagine if you would like to play MGS3 from the PS2. Before MGS Delta and the Master Collection, most likely you had to emulate it. Old consoles are not easy to find. They are considered a collector’s item so it costs a premium to get one most of the time. If you have an original copy of MGS3 on the PS2, then running it through an emulator isn’t really piracy. Sony doesn’t provide the service any more of being able to play on PS2, and Konami at that time did not make the master collection, so fans had to find other usually unofficial means to play them. This usually ment emulation. Unfortunately, since anyone can copy a game into a useable file on PC, this means they can also export and upload these on the internet and distribute it for anyone and everyone without ever owning an official copy of the game. That right there is the piracy part of emulation. Realistically people would never resort to this if Sony provided a way for people to play old PS games on their current console, or if Konami ported the game to modern consoles, which they did. Capcom is popular for porting old titles in collections like the Capcom Fighting Collection, and the recent MVC Fighting Collection. All these old fighting games by Capcom, playable on modern consoles complete with multiplayer support as well. No need to emulate, much easier to do, and they still get to make money from their own products, so it supports the company and its developers. This is something that clearly, the recent Tekken recomps have shown — their is a demand for old Tekken games to be playable in modern platforms, but if Bandai Namco refuses to address it, people will go through great lengths to be able to do so.
From the perspective of Japan however, it is plain and simple — it’s stealing and essentially piracy, no matter how you look at it. This very rigid perspective caused friction and unfortunately now there is a big commotion going on between the global and JP playerbase/fanbase of not just Tekken but the gaming community. While it’s not as simple as just one factor, it is hugely affected by one factor — cultural differences. In the West and several parts around the world addressing an issue or problem that a company refuses to address or solve is something within your right as a customer or consumer. Sticking with the video game example I presented before, let’s take another game — classic RE titles. People already owned classic Resident Evil games on GOG. Capcom didn’t release these on Steam for some reason, but only did so recently. People did not even hesitate to buy it a second time on Steam because it’s far more convient to have their games in one library. As a metaphor, think of it as clothes in a closet. It’s convenient if all of my favorite clothes were in one closet so I don’t have to open another one just to get it. For fighting games, it’s far easier to coordinate with a friend if I wanted to fight them in MVC2 on Steam instead of asking them to get something like Fightcade or another emulating software since everyone who has a PC most likely has Steam installed, especially if they play games.
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If you ever tried to tip in a restaurant for a great service in Japan, you would be seen as extremely rude since it can be seen as a message that you are not being paid enough by your boss for your service. Odd, and borderline ridiculous, right? That’s Japanese culture for you, it’s different, and that’s fine. In other countries like the US for example, tipping is practically mandatory and obligatory. Good service deserves a good tip on top of their salary. Odd, and boderline ridiculous, right? Sound familiar? That’s the point of cultural differences, what is fine for one culture can be seen as absolutely not fine for another. There are mutual moral grounds of course like obviously challenging someone to a fight on the street like it’s Yakuza is not ok regardless if you are in Japan or the US. What is sad and honestly infuriating is that both sides of the argument refuse to understand the differences of their own culture. Japan will see what other countries outside are doing such as watching anime that is not shown outside of Japan through non-official/pirated/illegal streaming sites as a crime. Countries outside of Japan on the other hand will see the Japanese community as bootlickers to big corporations, when Japan as a culture is very biased to conformity and is in many aspects and black and white. Moral gray areas are a possibility and seen as virtuous in some cases, but in Japan, not so. When the global side try to explain the situation about Tekken 6, many (mind you, not all) JP users disregard it and brand the global community at large as straight up criminals and morally deprived. Even when a few people in the JP fanbase and playerbase sympathize and even share in the frustration of some gaming companies refusing to make their older games more accessible, the global community in the same light will brand the JP community as a hole as bootlicking corporate shills.
Bloodborne is pracitcally the icon of players begging a company to make a game accessible so they do not have to hassle themselves with emulation or paying a premium for a working PS3 console and a PS3 copy of Bloodborne in 2026. Many arguments from the JP side have argued that playing Tekken 6 in this manner hurts Bandai Namco because you are not playing the latest title — Tekken 8. I disagree. Many streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ offer old fan favorite movies, tv series, etc. Does that mean I hurt any future Star Wars movies if I keep watching episodes 1–6 and nothing else? If anything, it sends a message to Disney what kind of Star Wars experience their fans want. Tit for tat. If companies want our money, they must provide something we want. If they provide something we don’t want right now, we most likely will go back to older titles we like. Final Fantasy and the RE playerbase is no exception to this. With many people arguing about FF7’s remake, the OG is literally there on multiple platforms for you to enjoy if you don’t like the remake. ALL of Resident Evil’s numbered titles from 0 are available on Steam right now. RE4 OG has been ported so many times it makes Todd Howard blush and think of where he can port Skyrim again. From a spectator’s perspective, if it’s the Japanese way to accept what corporations provide and not complain about it, then I’ll let them deal with it the way they want to. They must however accept this is not the way in some countries outside their own, and sometimes it’s because of culture AND history. Demanding that a form of authority do better for its people may seem unreasonable, but for some, it’s a historical aspect. In turn, what countries outside of Japan should do as well is extend the same respect I’m sure they wish Japan and the Japanese community could grant them in terms of video game service and company views. If Japan is content with Bandai Namco refusing to port older Tekken games, that’s ok. They must however understand that others especially those outside Japan won’t be content and will complain until they are heard or else they will continue doing what they are doing now until Bandai Namco cannot ignore them. It also does not help Bandai Namco’s case that Capcom is just one company that has been porting their older games via collections, remasters, or remakes for easier accessibility in modern console era. Please try to understand that most gamers outside of Japan would LOVE to give Bandai Namco money to be able to play old Tekken games on PS5, XBOX, PC, even Switch 2, if they made a port of it. Before you ask us to just play the newest game, Tekken 8, you are missing the point, and if you really believe that playing old games will hurt the company and the newer titles, I should hear you complain about Capcom releasing yet another collection, and Konami for releasing TWO master collections for MGS1–4 + Peace Walker, just to name a few. Your own companies know about the demand for older games, yet Bandai Namco, at least for Tekken, somehow refuses to see this. For the community outside Japan, if the day comes that we do get a port of older Tekken games because Bandai Namco cannot ignore us, that is the best way to deliver a message instead of hurling insults at the Japanese community because their culture is different. It’s one thing to find culture of another country weird, but I bet you wouldn’t express that in any tangible way while you are a tourist in said country. At best, the locals will glare at you, and at worst you get jail time, your visa gets revoked, and you can never visit that country ever again.
At the end of the day, what really caused this whole issue to be blown out of proportion is a mutual failure of understanding from both sides. Disagreeing doesn’t mean you cannot understand or even respect the other party’s views, especially when the other side is still trying to be as reasonable as possible.
