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.
I bet all of the homos on 2ch blamed ‘foreigners’ for the leak.
It’s probably actually “Iro ni idenikeri …” btw.
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 .
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.