The European Commission has been called out for failing to publish data indicating that piracy has little effect on legitimate content sales.

Back in 2014, it paid Dutch consultancy Ecorys more than $400,000 to research how unauthorised access of music, video, books and video games displaced legitimate sales, both online and offline.

The report was completed in May 2015, but was never published - and Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda thinks this is fishy.

"Why did the Commission, after having spent a significant amount of money on it, choose not to publish this study for almost two years?" she asks.

The report concludes that, in most cases, piracy has little impact on legitimate sales.

"In general, the results do not show robust statistical evidence of displacement of sales by online copyright infringements," it concludes. Indeed, it found that games piracy actually increased legitimate sales.

There is an exception to this, in the form of blockbuster movies.

The report also found that illegal downloads and streams can actually boost legal sales of games.