Submission + - ESA's 2009 Annual Report (theesa.com)
eldavojohn writes: The Entertainment Software Association has released this year's fiscal report (PDF) putting out their numbers to level the finger at new targets. Following up on last year's published report, this year's report has a whole bunch of new numbers to ponder. Like the top five P2P Game Piracy Countries: Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and Poland. And their anti-piracy program has this big block quote, 'Chief among this year's actions were five separate law enforcement raids against game pirates in California, resulting in the seizure of several thousand games and dozens of modded consoles, and the arrests of five individuals.' But don't worry, they've expanded to other countries, 'The ESA sent takedown notices to ISPs covering more than 45 million instances of infringement of member company games in more than 100 countries worldwide.' 45 million takedown notices in the 2009 fiscal year is pretty impressive, more than one per second! They strive to show they are actually doing things like endorsing 43 bills aimed at regulating content or controlling access to video games ... with not a single one of them making it into law. They did put some into effect at the state level--mostly making it a crime to sell mature games to minors. You can also find their activities localized to you as this report has sections arranged by state and country. Conspicuously absent this year are any global numbers of what piracy cost the entertainment industry so unfortunately Ars Technica will have to find someone else to audit although Venture Beat has good breakdown.
