Piracy Responsible For 50% DS Software Sales Drop In Europe

According to a report [via MCV UK] on the website for Japan’s Asahi Shimbun tabloid, comments from Nintendo Co. Ltd. indicate that DS flashcarts such as the R4 are responsible for a nearly 50% drop in DS software sales throughout European territories. Annual losses, according to Nintendo, are “in the region of trillions of yen.”

While no names were mentioned, the report reveals that in June 2009, the company monitored 10 websites, based outside of Japan, that allowed visitors to illegally download ROMs. Just during that single month, they discovered that software had been pirated a total of 238 million times. On average, that amounts to $10.7 billion in lost revenue.

In Europe, the number of illegal downloads were found to be greatest in Italy, followed by Spain, and then France. Compared to Europe, the effects of piracy in the U.S. and Japan were relatively limited, resulting in an 11% and 7% drop in sales respectively.