Piracy could lead to Renegade Kid pulling support

It has recently been reported that a couple of hackers have broken into the 3DS, allowing them to run custom code on the device. They claim their motives are good — getting around the 3DS region lock for example — however games developers, as you can imagine, are less than pleased with the news.

In a recent blog post Jools Watsham, co-founder of Renegade Kid, the developer behind the hit 3DS eShop title Mutant Mudds, claimed that illegally delving into the guts of the 3DS opens up the door to piracy — something that could damage the industry and support for Nintendo's handheld.

If piracy gets bad on the 3DS, we will have no choice but to stop supporting the platform with new games.

Watsham rubbished the claims that people try hacked games before they buy them and pointed to the damage that was done to DS game sales:

Piracy on the Nintendo DS crippled the DS retail market, especially in Europe. We’ll never know how/if Dementium II landed in as many hands as the first game, Dementium: The Ward, due to the rampant piracy at the time. Dementium: The Ward sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide, which is a great success for an original mature-rated title on the DS. Recorded sales of Dementium II are less than half that. We’ll never truly know why that was so, but many seem to believe that piracy had a lot to do with it.

Renegade Kid is clearly worried about the impact piracy can have on the sales of games, but Watsham feels Nintendo is in a good position to combat it:

The good news is that Nintendo has the ability to put up a good fight against pirates due to 3DS system updates and such. Let’s hope this is enough to stop piracy. Time will tell.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you see hacking as a good or a bad thing? Fire-off in the comments section below.

[source joolswatsham.blogspot.co.uk, via tinycartridge.com]