ESA wants retro handhelds flagged as piracy markets
The US games trade organisation wants pocket retro handhelds stuffed with old games placed on Washington's piracy blacklist.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) asked the US government to flag handheld devices sold with pre-installed games as a notorious market. It put so-called "plug and play" emulation handhelds at the top of its nominations for the list. Emulation handhelds are portable devices that imitate older consoles to run older games. Video Games Chronicle
The Notorious Markets List is an annual report from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). It identifies online and physical marketplaces accused of engaging in or enabling piracy and counterfeiting. Inclusion carries no direct penalty. It is a public warning that can shape trade policy and enforcement priorities.
The ESA said the problem is scale. It told the USTR that illicit plug-and-play consoles and handheld devices rely on a concealed memory card or internal drive. That storage, it said, holds hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of unauthorised copies of copyright-protected games.
The numbers are large. The devices often arrive pre-loaded and ready to play, with no separate purchase of the games inside.
This year's review has a specific theme. The USTR set high-quality counterfeit trademark goods known as "superfakes" as the issue focus for the 2026 Notorious Markets List review, according to its notice published on 26 August 2026. Federal Register Superfakes are close copies that can be hard to tell apart from genuine branded goods.
The ESA linked the handhelds directly to that theme. It described illicit plug-and-play consoles and handheld devices as the "functional equivalent of superfakes", akin to counterfeit handbags, clothing and watches.
It named a name. The ESA asked the USTR to classify the handheld brand ANBERNIC as a "superfake". Android Authority
The request came through formal channels. The ESA submitted comments to the USTR in response to a Federal Register Notice inviting public comments on online and physical notorious markets. ESA
What makes this stand out is the shift in target. The debate is not about a website offering downloads. It is about hardware sold with the games already inside, where the alleged infringement is part of the product a shopper takes home.
