Video Games Piracy in Poland over Decades

From 1980s’ to 2020’s

Abstract

The article presents the history and present of video game piracy in Poland. This practice is almost as old as the games themselves. In Poland in the 1980s, it was very common, e.g. due to the lack of official distribution of western games. In the following decades, computer piracy was penalized, but the scale of the phenomenon did not decrease. However, its character has evolved – bazaar trading has been replaced by the Internet and file transfer via various means (peer-to-peer, hosting and others). Despite the fact that game developers and publishers have been trying to prevent illegal copying of their products for years, pirates are constantly trying to break security methods. The study was created mainly with the use of an Internet and archival query allowing to reach old information about the phenomenon.