Adult game maker Windmill was so infuriated by an early leak of its latest nondescript eroge that it has asked that Japan’s national high tech crime taskforce investigate, which could see the first ever prosecutions over eroge piracy.
The game in question, 色に出でにけり わが恋は / Iro ni Dedenikeri Waga Koi wa, was leaked onto P2P networks approximately a week in advance of its still pending release date.
Windmill soon issued a rather bombastic proclamation of its desire to bring the wicked perpetrators to justice:
Regarding the serious copyright infringement we have been subjected to
[…pleasantries as long as the actual announcement redacted…]
Recently a major incident of copy infringement befell our company. We are currently in discussion with local police and the National Police HQ High Tech Crime Investigation Centre as to what action can be taken in response.
[…]
Just who leaked the game is not known, but attention naturally focuses on an insider working in the distribution chain and releasing straight to the Japanese P2P networks.
Japanese police have yet to seriously prosecute any offences relating to eroge copyright violation, but that looks set to change if they get hold of the person responsible for the leak.
Of course, with the leak being for a minor title and coming only a week or so ahead of release, there are some who suggest Windmill might just be overreacting by calling in the national high tech crime taskforce (although lately they apparently have nothing better to do than monitor P2P networks), something which even major publishers seem not to be inclined to do.
Certainly, international publishers have long since become inured to much more damaging pre-release leaks, thanks largely to stores breaking release dates and the occasional infiltration of distributors by pirate groups – Windmill has little to complain about in comparison, not that it can be blamed for wanting to deal with the matter.
Even more puzzling is why Windmill would be so keen to publicise the fact that its game is now widely available on P2P networks, several days prior to the actual release…
A trial version is already out for those interested.
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I bet all of the homos on 2ch blamed 'foreigners' for the leak.
It's a trap!
It wouldn't make much sense for an insider to have leaked it. In the end, isn't that less money for the company and therefore less money for the leaker?
Not necessarily, especially if that insider is not paid off of commission.
Someone violated NDA, is all.
Windmill: They leaked our game.
Police: Okay do you have any evidence that could help us track down this person or group of persons.
Windmill: No.
Police: Well good luck with the release of your product we'll go back to policing important matters.
I am normally fine with copying whatever and letting people download it but this is some serious shit if the game got to the P2P before it was officially released.
I still don't get why people do it, is it for the fame of being the one that did it? Just because? I don't know. But it always starts a shitstorm and of course the owners don't go against the person that somehow managed to get the product that shouldn't be commercially available, usually an employee, no, they go for the entire online communities.
not to mention that nobody well-minded would do that in a small company, and hope to still have a job the next month
Why not make it freeware and so make a customer friendly advertisement. And not just call immediately the JSSDF of Internet.
Anta Baka !
"Why not make it freeware.."
Obviously because it's not meant to be free at the first place and they don't release any limited figures to sell along in bundle..
This happens all the time and the end result will be they don't catch the culprit.
Picture #2, the guy has girlier hands than the girl.
They should be pissed that us non japs only have the option of downloading pirate versions cuz no ones stupid enough to buy them outside of japan.
Good thing I haven't downloaded it yet. I was going to but sankaku complex might have saved my ass :p .
It's probably actually "Iro ni idenikeri ..." btw.
okay I can sympathise the anger of the company over the early leak. they live from this anyway. The only game that ever deserved to be pirated was Command and conquer 4 and all who played it will know why
Assassin's creed 2 also deserves to be pirated because Ubisoft is a scumbag company.
Same goes for every microsoft OS because you end up paying MS anyway via the windows tax on assembled PCs.
Eroge leakers home identified.
Nuclear launch detected.
Target annihilated.
Before the release or after the release, who the fuck cares. It was going to be uploaded one way or another.
Although in this case, they clearly were stabbed in the back by one of THEM. Because pirates can hardly genuinely steal software before it's released without the help of an insider.
Just another example, in a long looooooong list of examples, of how the digital industry either learns to live in the real world (the one where the internet rules), or suffer.
Although in this case, maybe they need to examine their distribution methods. Cause it is obviously someone they placed too much trust in.
Well, its not that hard for pirates to get early releases, all they need is to have someone at the publishing company (someone who does manual labour is enough) and when the game enters gold phase they just steal a copy and dump it ( that are the earliest releases). some of the groups have someone in a game reviewing company and thats how they get it (that releases are released 2-4 days before release date. and some of them have people that work in gamestores ( that are usuly released 1 day before or on the release date. ofc im talking about how the warez scene works. dunno abt the japs cause they are not in.
i highly doubt that developer is a pirate. but whatever, that is p2p and its public, so to catch them is easy as a pie. they should really get into the scene, dunno what are they waiting for.
Deception, treason, mystery, police investigation, ninja pirates and cute loli girls... all in the world of developing eroge
It doesn't even look that good. More of the same old stuff found in a gazillion eroge games.
Why try the trial version when you just can get the whole thing over the internet?
All the girls in the screenshots seem to have the exact same boobs. Size, shape, everything's the same. Kind of weird.
They seem to be using the same brand of hardcore push-up bras, too...
Even on the beach.
what about those in over seas? Surely they wouldnt go that far to get somebody there? Besides, if its a success im pretty sure it will boost in sales, like how P2P improves sales to music. Perhaps if they tried to market outside of japan they could get more money, but that would cause more implications...
This remind me of what happened to Halo ODST.
Or X-Men Origins (movie) beta release..
or Half-Life 2
I smells a conspiracy.
They probably planned the leak.
i would believe it to be a purposeful 'leak' if the game were incomplete somehow and they claimed a hacker or insider did it (to explain why it is incomplete). This action would spur people who downloaded the 'leak' to go out and buy the complete version. You get the same publicity, and make more money.
Or maybe they just didn't happen to think of that idea >.>
Still, my vote is it being an unintentional leak
No, it would spur people to DOWNLOAD the complete version. :P
Maybe they did For publicity.
No, they did it for lulz!
But, this sort of thing happens all the time though. Even with major gaming companies.
Valve anyone?
Well, it was just a fleeting thought. I didn't really pay much attention to it.
I'm just saying, it's a possiblity.
Afterall, what better way to bring some attention to your small-time company than to plan out some brilliant leak?
People would get interested, do some research, come across a game or two they might like, then buy it (or pirate it).
It could happen.
Sounds like they need to check inside their own ranks here vs blame P2P in general.
The Japanese government does not have the funds to have the police monitor all internet traffic heck even the US can't afford to do this.
They have far more pressing issues such the Yakuza,Chinese counterfeit goods,updating an over burdened transportation system, finding cheap energy,and how they're going to take care of the elderly.
like paying that korean dude for his 500+ children
That Korean faggot is easy.
Deport his ass, and throw a party afterwards.
@Char 13:23:
"...and how they're going to take care of the elderly."
Sunflower Retirement Home/Soylent Green Factory ?
You forgot import excess illegal Mexican immigrants from the US to work in nursing homes and factories.
Heck the US government actually would pay for their plane tickets to Japan.
They're hard workers and all the only issue they refuse to speak anything but Spanish.
At least they are not being xenophobic dicks.
Probably because it was leaked within Japan. Had it been leaked outside Japan first, who knows what would happen.
Hate to play the devil's advocate, but eh.
Those pirates are fast and stealthy...like ninja pirates...
dirty pirates, always playing dirty...
Awful game that had no chance of being popular anyways..
Just a shitty 3rd rate eroge maker whining..
Make one that's actually good like Alicesoft or the like and then talk..
100% a last ditch effort to get attention for their eroge probably.
There's a lot of high profile and very good games being released the last few days of April.
This piece of shit game with no work put into it has zero hope.
Yeah, and I blame them for pirating Rapelay...
Sounds like someone inside the company or a distributor is most likely responsible for the leak since it ended up on P2P before it was released.
They probably did it themselves so that they could get extra publicity by complaining about it. After all, the game would be put online eventually so they really didn't have anything to lose.
This has been done by musicians and whoever's connected to them.
They upload their new albums themselves, then they make statements where they scorn pirates for releasing the albums before their official release dates.
This would be the first time I heard of a game being leaked in order for it to receive some extra publicity.
Then they must have one brave and loyal worker if the person is willing to go to jail for some game publicity. That is if the police decide to seriously look into it.
Or Windmill is a small offshoot of some larger eroge company and released it onto p2p themselves. A smaller company winning its lawsuit would have a smaller reaction from the community but it would set a precedence for the bigger companies to sue.
I was thinking the same thing, unless there was a brilliant hacker involved...
@15:08 That's what people've been saying since the amiga days. First it was CD-checks, then a whole buunch of ineffectives, and now even Ubisoft's "you must be connected to the internet just to prove you are not a pirate" protection.
So long as the majority of the game code isn't moved server side and away from the customers, there worst that can happen is that one corp dies and another rises to take it's place.
Windmill 0 - Pirates 1
Soon to be Windmill 1 - Pirate Jail
Consel version you don't need the Internet.
It's their fault for making people wanting those games so much.
"A prosecution over eroge piracy"
Equality Now heads blows up! YEA~!
What's your move on this now bit*hes?
A combination!? deadly!!! XD
a company distribution ninja pirate hacker ^^
Arradozarr!?
Man, the pirates are getting more annoying lately. Sure,it's awesome, but if they keep doing this too early, it would go to hell one day.
@ Char 13:25 :
You're right. And, it might have been somebody who didn't like their job, working conditions and/or pay.
If their company goes bankrupt, they can get unemployment money from the government. That's not true if they quit or are fired.
Nah, it's easy. Just adopt a group of lolis from Cambodia.
Money and service, a sure double win.
Unenmployement moneyz? In Japan? Are you kidding? It's easier to get a fellatio from the Prime Minister than free money from the goverment.
@ Char 13:25:
Maybe they included a trojan in the version they (intentionally) released to P2P.
Better run that sucker inside a virtual machine with no network connections!
I think it can be a ninja who sneak into the company and steal a copy of it~
come on, can you blame him? the game looks too damn sexy to wait for a petty release date XD
Sadly...I AGREE! XDD
ninja pirates... is that the ultimate combination i wonder...
What about vampire werewolves?
Ninja Pirate Shinigami...
Don't involve shitty stuff into this.
Komachi Onozuka and Momo(not hinamori) are not shitty shinigami its the others that make them look bad
Just according to keikaku...
T/L Note: Keikaku means plan
that, my friend, is an oxymoron.