Briefly mentioned within an article posted by TorrentFreak, which talks about “notorious markets” nominated by rightsholders as it concerns piracy sites, torrent sites, and hosting companies, is a recommendation by the ESA to classify the retro emulation device maker Anbernic as a ‘superfake’.
What Do We Know?
The article talks about an annual list of “notorious markets”, which are sites, users, and companies nominated by rightsholders seen as the current biggest threats to the gaming industry. This list is requested by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on an annual basis.
One such representative of these rightsholders, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), has provided several recent recommendations for this list. Among the usual suspects – including Denuvo cracker ‘voices38’, along with various torrent sites, cheat sellers, and illicit game-trading sites – is a mention of the retro emulation handheld maker Anbernic.
According to the recommendations put forth by the ESA, they are requesting the USTR to classify Anbernic as a ‘superfake’, which is a high-quality counterfeit product that is nearly indistinguishable from the authentic product it is attempting to copy. The ESA has nominated Anbernic because the company continues to sell handheld consoles with pre-loaded microSD cards full of pirated ROMs, which the ESA sees as the video game equivalent of a superfake.
What Does this Mean for Anbernic?
The recommendation that the ESA has made concerning Anbernic is simply that; a recommendation. The USTR could choose to not recognize Anbernic as a superfake and, even if they do, it would likely only be in regards to the pre-loaded ROMs on the microSD cards. This is apparently not the first time the ESA has flagged Anbernic for this kind of behavior, but this is the first year that a special focus has been placed on ‘superfakes’, and it does seem to be getting a little more attention this time around.
Should the USTR decide to classify Anbernic as a ‘superfake’ and deem them detrimental to the United States gaming industry, it could result in the company being unable to sell their devices to the United States. This would likely not only affect international distribution channels within the Chinese markets, but likely distribution sites and warehouses within the United States and on Amazon and eBay.
It is unclear if this would result in Anbernic being unable to sell their devices entirely, or if it would just result in them being unable to sell devices with microSD cards pre-loaded with games. However, should the USTR accept the ESA’s recommendation, and with the highly anticipated Anbernic RG DDS on the horizon, this could potentially make things more complicated for retro handheld consumers and enthusiasts in the United States.
What’s Next?
Ultimately, Anbernic should really consider discontinuing the sale of their devices with pre-loaded pirated games. Yes, this is commonly seen by some as a grey area. Yes, we’re talking about this on a website that promotes the purchase and use of handheld devices for the sake of retro game emulation.
However, selling devices that come with pre-loaded ROMs is much less grey, and should the US classify Anbernic as a ‘superfake’, it could lead to the halt of some or all sales of the companies devices to and within the United States.
11 Comments
USTR, not UTSR. United States Trade Representative
Thank you for pointing this out, the article has been updated with the correct acronym.
Mine wasn’t even sold with ROMs on it. 🤣 I had to put my ROMs on it myself. I think what they are confusing for ROMs are the emulator software itself. And emulators aren’t actually illegal. Programmers use them all the time to make games for consoles.
There is no confusion here. They’ve sold devices with microSD cards filled with ROMs for a while now. They charge extra for this, so if you bought a device at its base price, then it most likely didn’t include ROMs.
I’m 97% sure every single person on this website knows the difference between an emulator and a ROM. Yes, the roms are the problem, and yes, they absolutely do sell cards with roms. You can check for yourself right now on their website and their official store on Ali Express
This is a shame, I would hate to lose Anbernics products. RG34XX is a personal favorite, and after dumping my GB/GBA collection onto it I have retired my official GBA in favor of it. D-pad aside its been superior in every way.
Why would they even include roms? If you are “savvy” enough to know what this is and do the mandatory OS transfer onto a new SD card that will last more than a few months then surely you are capable of putting your own roms into the files? That memory would be better served making further improvements to the OS (alarm clock/timer features, a way to change the wallpaper beyond the default options, an mp3 player, etc). Or include more border/shader options for the various systems (I would love a GB/GBC border that more closely resembles the 3DS one). Adding these things and/or installing a new OS are harder than dumping roms and would make the device even more convienent to use. I would take extra pre-installed borders and an alarm clock/timer over broken abandonware roms any day.
This is kind of a backwards compliment. The ROMs have been there the whole time, but now that the hardware is so good that an RG DS+ can provide a nearly identical experience to owning a DS. The frustrating part is that Nintendo does not want to make a good DS anymore. In short the hardware is too good for the software to be included.
I really HATE ESA!!!!! They are against saving the vintage games. I think ESA needs to be banned from USA!!!!! it is violation of 1 st Amandment!!!! DMCA and copyright laws are violation of 1st Amendment!!!!!
That’s factually incorrect, aside from them making game preservation more difficult.
So can Anbernic agree to just quit selling microSD cards with roms? Or is it too late for that?
And honestly I am with Ely. I am extremely sick of a government that just shrugs when companies like Anbernic sell faulty hardware with 0 protection circuits/material compliance/etc, yet when the ESA cries because Anbernic sells roms (some as old as half a century) the courts leap into action.
UL standards are just a suggestion. Copywrite is gospel.
Really shows you where the priorities lie. Screw all of them.
It’s DEFINITELY not just Anbernic… They talk about emulation handhelds in general, don’t they? Anbernic is singled out because it’s the one they actually name, but it certainly isn’t talking about only them
They even manage to somehow include Denuvo and Fitgirl in the mix
But I disagree about this being an Anbernic problem. It’s a problem for the entire hobby. They said these handhelds are superfakes, that they act like real retail products, that their SOLE commercial appeal are somehow the included ROMs
This applies to everyone. The ESA is representing IP holders, they have zero incentive to not try and expand this to every emulation handheld, which as they see are just “plug and play” bootlegs. Think about it, why woud they limit to a single brand of handheld? And be satisfied with just that?
My guess is they named Anbernic because it’s the most legit looking company doing budget handhelds. Makes no sense to call out “Game Console” which no one knows who they are. Or Powkiddy, which is dead. Or Miyoo, which releases almost nothing nowadays