Apparently so. It appears that Spain’s massively high illegal download rate has affected national DVDs sales so much that Hollywood distributors are contemplating cutting them off completely. Dios mio!

Statistics have shown that 30% of Spaniards use file sharing sites – a figure twice as high as for the rest of Europe. Unauthorized downloading of films from the internet is so rife that film-makers are complaining that a legal void makes people think movies are free. And it turns out they’re not.

So could Spain really be facing a DVD-less future? It seems pretty serious, as Sony have released a statement today showing how royally p*ssed off they are with the whole thing –

“People are downloading movies in such large quantities that Spain is on the brink of no longer being a viable home entertainment market for us.”

Which is, for those who need it, the corporate equivalent of “balls to you, Spain!”

Apparently, the problem arises from the fact that there isn’t enough information about the problems caused by illegal downloading in Spain, sending out a message to the community that file-sharing is a win-win situation. Well, Sony’s tantrum will certainly stir this idea up.

Will this make a difference to the Spanish file-sharing culture? Let us know your thoughts below…