The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has recommended that retro console maker Anbernic be added to the US government’s Notorious Market List.
The Notorious Market List is an annual report published by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which identifies online and physical markets “that reportedly engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.”
Anbernic, based in China, manufactures handheld devices that emulate retro gaming systems from platform holders including Nintendo, PlayStation, and Sega. Last year, Anbernic suspended shipments to the US following the implementation of tariffs.
According to the filing (via VGC), the ESA claims that Anbernic “normalises hardware-based piracy by delivering illicit catalogues through a polished consumer product […] By marketing the devices through ordinary retail channels, the operation also shifts monitoring, investigation, notice, and remediation costs to publishers and marketplaces.”
The trade body stated that Anbernic devices are “routinely offered or shipped with removable memory cards preloaded with hundreds or thousands of unauthorised copies of copyright-protected video games published by ESA members. Those copies enable immediate play without a lawful purchase or license and reflect the unlawful circumvention of technological protection measures used to control access to or copying of member games.”
In general, the ESA highlighted “illicit plug-and-play consoles and handheld devices” as being “the functional equivalent of superfakes.”
“A single device can substitute for lawful purchases across multiple video game publishers and console generations, divert sales from authorised games, compilations, subscriptions, remasters, and licensed retro hardware”
“Sellers commonly use the illicit library as a key selling point, and the commercial price often reflects this. The same catalogue can be duplicated at negligible marginal cost across large production runs and then distributed through branded websites, legitimate online marketplaces, social media, and physical electronics markets. This combination of professional presentation, enormous embedded catalogues, and mainstream distribution permits piracy to scale as an ordinary consumer purchase.”
The ESA also highlighted that these devices can “create security, privacy, and financial risks”; “bypass important player and child-safety protections”; and “distort competition and burden governments as well as rights holders.”
Alongside “piracy devices,” the ESA said it should add “cracked game sources, repackers, and linking sites”; “torrent and piracy-coordination markets”; “unauthorised digital goods marketplaces”; and “commercial cheat markets” to the Notorious Markets List.
Commercial marketplace G2A is mentioned under the “unauthorised digital goods marketplaces” subheading, with the ESA noting that “G2A previously represented that it did not permit sales of in-game accounts or items, but the marketplace facilitates account and digital item sales at scale.”
To address these issues, the ESA has asked the USTR to set out seven steps for governments and market operators to take, which include:
- Treat preloaded unauthorised game libraries as core evidence of commercial-scale piracy
- Inspect bundled and separately shipped storage media
- Require sellers to substantiate authorisation for included games and protected branding
- Suspend repeat sellers and linked storefronts, not merely individual listings
- Preserve seller, payment, shipment, and advertising records for enforcement
- Improve customs targeting for devices and components associated with preloading operations
- Coordinate action against manufacturers, exporters, importers, fulfilment providers, and online marketplaces that knowingly facilitate these products