Dear Future Gamer,

I am writing in response to 'Anon’s' letter about software and music piracy in FG18. I joined the games industry just over six months ago after a good 12 years in the music business and I can say with some authority that music piracy is as big a problem as games piracy.

You only have to go to a local record fair to see the amount of bootlegs (unauthorised recordings) and counterfeits (poor copies of the original recordings) to see how widespread the problem is. Furthermore, in countries such as Russia, China and the whole of 'Eastern Europe' badly made, poorly recorded bootleg CDs account for (in some cases) up to 90 per cent of all sales.

I find it very hard to accept your comments about not knowing anyone who's copied a music CD. Are you telling us you've never taped an album from a friend?

Compared to the music industry, the videogame business is 'new-born'. The price structure and the 'rules' dictating the prices of games is constantly changing with budget PC titles soon being released at £1.99 ! I believe Sony’s Platinum PS range has opened up much more potential for value for money, with so many quality titles available for £19.99.

Let's not forget the hundreds and thousands of pounds it takes to record an album or the three-four years it takes to make a game.

Both the music and games industry employ thousands of people across the world. Bootlegging is theft in the same way that stealing clothes from C&A is. Lost revenues from 'stolen' goods have to be accounted for, keeping the mark up on goods higher than they need to be. If you bootleg music or games then in a way you are making a contribution to keeping the prices at that level.

Harvey Lee (product manager, Gremlin Interactive)

FG: Thanks for that Harvey. I never said I hadn’t taped an album from a friend – I have, but not for many years. Not because I’m whiter than white but because I’m not big on buying music. They tend to make up the majority of presents at Xmas and on birthdays etc. I know there’s a huge amount of music piracy that goes on – I well remember the ‘Home Taping is Killing Music’ stickers that used to be over everything. And I agree, piracy is theft and is often used as an excuse, whether it’s entirely valid or not, to keep games prices high. The introduction of cheaper ranges must surely go some way towards stamping out games piracy. And just as a side note, the clothes industry has its fair share of designer label pirates too. What a corrupt world we live in, eh?