Fight against piracy is possibly one of the oldest battles in the video game industry. It seems that when it comes to hacking games that have just arrived at the market, the problem is usually identified easily, however, when it comes to retro games, everything becomes more confused for some consumers.

There are many devices with emulators in the market In recent years, Nintendo has been one of the companies that has been most belligerents with this topic, ending Rom’s’s websites and even forcing destroying the files stored outside them. With a growing interest in the retro video games and the fashion of classical video game reissues, such as Nintendo Classic Mini: NEW or the recent Game and Watch of The Legend of Zelda, many manufacturers have put in the market Retro and Arcade Consoles A Low price with emulators Prepared to download Rom’s or even with pre-installed games.

Given the possibility of these products as an ideal gift for this Christmas, the Spanish Association of Video games (DEVI) has issued a statement warning about the use of illicit copies of video games in emulators. The video game industry calls on the importance of respecting copyright and promoting the development of the legal offer of content in Spain avoiding infractions of intellectual property rights as, for example, the use of devices Emulation to play with illicit copies of video games.

It has been the Director General of DEVI, José María Moreno, who has alerted the consequences of the use of these devices: The elation of the technological protection measures established on any device, including video game consoles, or a video game to proceed to Emulation is an illicit civil and even criminal.

DEVI recalls the importance of respecting copyright DEVI has also spoken of video games that have ceased on their commercialization, those known as ‘ abandonware ‘, remembering that, Rarely are constituted as Such, since the disappearance of the companies that were originally owned by the Software does not free the works from rights, which usually end up in the hands of third parties. About the penalties, DEVI has remembered that the infringing the ownership rights of the holder of a video game, as well as who elbows the technological measures of protection, can be confronted with pain of six-month prison for four years and fine from twelve to twenty-four months.

The confusion when consuming retro products and bad practices by companies and players has raised concern about the preservation of the legacy of video games.