CODMW2 most pirated game of 2009

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Plague_Injected

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From games.on.net:

MW2 tops 2009's most pirated lists
By Brenna Hillier - Wed Dec 30, 2009 2:35am

The top five pirated games of 2009 for the PC, Wii and Xbox 360 are listed below; data comes courtesy of Torrent Freak.

PC
•Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
•The Sims 3
•Prototype
•Need For Speed Shift
•Street Fighter IV

Xbox 360
•Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
•Street Fighter IV
•Prototype
•Colin McRae: Dirt 2
•UFC 2009 Undisputed

Wii
•New Super Mario Bros.
•Punch-Out!!
•Wii Sports Resort
•The House of the Dead: Overkill
•Mario Power Tennis
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Congratulations to IW and Craptivision on having the most pirated game of 2009...
 
I worry about pc gaming. mw2 was pirated over 4 million times, the same amount as it's xbox sales, sims3 3million times. Street fight 4 over 1 million times, need speed shift 1 million times. I have been pc gaming since the vic, and the magic candle, but if i were a developer i would have to question any committent i made to pc gaming. as for those who hate IW, i would call this the definition of a pyrric victory.

at this point MMO or budget games, like sins of a solar empire, or the super cheap port, where no resources are expended are really the most viable option, from a purely economic, i don't want to go out of bussiness makes pc games kind of way.

I only hope that dragon age/risen are bought more than they were pirated, that would just be kicking a guy when he's down.
 
spore was about 2 million.

none of the xobx 360 games broke a million in pirated numbers, people can say all they want about the ease of console of piracy but the fact of the matter is that, it seems that the so called console kiddies have the deceny not to do it.

strangely enough the wii was pirated more than the 360, and of course the ps3 not at all.
 
Studies have shown that pirated copies of anything =/= lost sales. Those were people who were never going to purchase the product anyway.
 
disappointing that SF4 is on that list for PC

Capcom is one of the few devs that actually make decent ports
 
Spare-Flair said:
Studies have shown that pirated copies of anything =/= lost sales. Those were people who were never going to purchase the product anyway.
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I would like to see these, because i am skepitcal, more than half the people we prosecute for petit larceny could easily have saved and got the item they wanted, the other half are drug addicts. I don't think drug addicts are downloading games. most of these people could at some point i would argue afford the game, so im not buying that, show me the study.

most digital piracy i would characterize as a crime of choice rather than neccessity. I would bet that if they couldn't pirated it sooner or later they would have bough it. and that's how it use to work in the pc world. games like deux ex, temple of elmental evil, system shcok 2, became hits over a longer time period.

I have no doubt that many of those people would have caved eventually and bought mw2 months later, as it was common in the pc land, before piracy became rampant.
 
I'm sure Activision was anticipating this. You simply cannot release such an in-demand game for an absurd $60 and not expect to take the top slot in piracy rates. Odds are the extra $10 tax Activision tacked on to CODMW2's price tag was to offset the anticipated piracy.

What do you guys expect?

ikarinokami said:
none of the xobx 360 games broke a million in pirated numbers, people can say all they want about the ease of console of piracy but the fact of the matter is that, it seems that the so called console kiddies have the deceny not to do it.
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Or they simply don't know how. On average, console gamers are much younger than PC gamers (who fall into the category of "enthusiasts"). It's unlikely the majority of them even know that they can download X360 games illegally. I highly doubt that "decency" plays any significant role in this.

ikarinokami said:
I have no doubt that many of those people would have caved eventually and bought mw2 months later
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Why would they have? It's not as if Activision will ever lower the price of CODMW2, thus there being no reason to wait to purchase it.
 
i bought MW2 for PS3 for $39.99 last night at bestbuy with my giftcard
 
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Typically the reason that I personally buy (PC) games long after they are released is because I am browsing and see the price is 1/2 off or whatever. I really wanted L4D2, but didnt want to justify the $50. I immediately purchased it when I saw all the deals for $30. If it hadnt been that price for another year or so I would have waited or not bought it at all. I am more than content with COD4 and will never play MW2 unless they lower the price. If they had released it at $30 I would have jumped all over it in a heartbeat.
 
Spare-Flair said:
Studies have shown that pirated copies of anything =/= lost sales. Those were people who were never going to purchase the product anyway.
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A broad, incorrect generalization. While it is true that many people who pirated the products would never have purchased, many people would have. Some people are very casual pirates, say a friend has a not-so-legit copy of a game you were planning on buying, you may think "Oh, I don't have to buy it now". It happens all the time.

Personally, I don't have a problem with actually paying for things I want, and why would I pirate something that I don't want?
 
The interesting thing is that pirated numbers doesn't mean lost sales. A lot of people downloaded the game to make sure it wasn't a waste of money. I for one liked the first Modern Warfare, but felt the single player campaign was far too short. I also feel that this games single player campaign is too short.

This reminds me of the stink the music industry made awhile back. Turns out pirating was helping sales.
 
so over 3 million people didn't know enough about the sims 3? nearly 2 million didnt know about street fighter 4? why do people who steal computer game feel the need to justify the thier crime? it would be better if you focused on the fact that your stealing is not sustainable.

you complain about drm, the sims 3 removes it, and it gets pirated 1 million more times than spore.

you complain about crappy ports, capcom creates an incredible pc version of street fighter iv and that gets pirated almost two million times.

you complain that games need to be more pc style, ea released it most pc need for speed in a decade and its pirated over a million times.

pc game pirates pirate because you guys want to, because you would rather spend money on things that if you tried to steal you would get caught, you steal pc games because you can.
 
ikarinokami said:
you...your stealing...you...you...you...you steal pc games
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Thanks for fulfilling the obligatory "I'm going to take your lack of outraged condemnation as an admission of guilt and call you a pirate" post.
 
phide said:
Thanks for fulfilling the obligatory "I'm going to take your lack of outraged condemnation as an admission of guilt and call you a pirate" post.
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I'm outraged because i use to be able to walk in a gamestop and find any pc game i wanted. I use to be able to sell my used pc games in gamestop.

Twice every year i would expect to be blown away a game, nolf, sacrafice, quake3, unreal, fear, crysis, no more

I am annoyed because i can no longer be pissed a microsoft for abadoning pc gaming, i can't be irritated by crysis neutring cryengine 3.

I am annoyed because publishers hold thier noses at pc gameing.


I am annoyed because i have send people to jail for stealing food, and pc pirates who are laying waste to the pc gaming, like locusts are essentially prosecution proof.
 
Does MW2 get an award now? Wonder what would be good...
So what yall are saying is that none of you download games, movies, apps, music or anything? I find that extremely hard to believe.
I own all 3 consoles, and 2 gaming computers. I have alot of money invested into all of it.
I can back up the download before you buy. But thats why they make demos. There are just too many games to waste 50 bucks on. I agree with waiting till its cheaper. But then they wine cuz they don't have money.
I used to be real bad with the original Xbox. Cuz it was simple and I could just trade with my friends.
So what difference is it if you borrow from your buddy, play it till you beat it and give it back?
I am a humongous supporter of pc gaming, i get made fun of because of it and don't care. It's not like people making millions of dollars off of some movie. These people bust their ass to make a good game. But I bust my ass too and am gonna spend my money where I think it's deserved.
Like Mario Brothers Wii :)
And I too am annoyed that people see pc gaming as a waste of time. When we spend more money on hardware and software than anyone out there.
Sorry for anyone that actually read that. I kept it short.
 
pc/console both pirate fodder.I wish there were more demos out for truly high profile games so I can see if I want to buy.If they are worth the money I will walk out the door and purchase.
 
ikarinokami said:
I don't think drug addicts are downloading games. most of these people could at some point i would argue afford the game, so im not buying that, show me the study.
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What study? Even DRM that doesn't get cracked for a while has virtually zero effect on sales. If the average pirated copy had any chance of becoming a sale, effective DRM would be the most valuable inclusion in any title. Unfortunately for the developers, piracy indicates general popularity but not willingness to purchase. Developers and publishers are, slowly but surely in some cases, moving away from using more restrictive DRM for this reason combined with the fact that DRM can(if done poorly) reduce sales and negatively impact the experience of the legitimate user. If you want a study, go read 2DBoy's blog, but I'll warn you, you won't like it.

most digital piracy i would characterize as a crime of choice rather than neccessity. I would bet that if they couldn't pirated it sooner or later they would have bough it. and that's how it use to work in the pc world. games like deux ex, temple of elmental evil, system shcok 2, became hits over a longer time period.
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You'd lose that bet. Most would just forget about the game. Remember GRAW? I don't.

Games that have the staying power become hits over time, but it has nothing to do with how easy it is to pirate them. Games like Half-Life and Starcraft were easier to pirate than most modern drm incarnations, yet they rank as two of the top selling PC games of all time(9+million for HL, 11+ for Starcraft).

I have no doubt that many of those people would have caved eventually and bought mw2 months later, as it was common in the pc land, before piracy became rampant.
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Before piracy became rampant? Where does your "experience" on this subject actually come from?

MW2 sold more copies in less than a day than World of Warcraft: TBC sold in ALL of 2007. Do you get that? WoW is essentially the most popular PC game ever(I'm not counting the sims here), TBC was released in 2007 in January, and if you want access to the actual content(not just the artistic assets) you can't pirate it.

But maybe 2007 was just a bad year for gaming, right? Wrong. COD4: MW sold over 8m copies in 2007, and it was released towards the end of the year(September/November). Most popular PC game ever vs Flavor of the Month console shooter = console shooter wins, even when you can't pirate the PC game.

**If you disagree with me calling MW "fotm", take your pick of: Fifa 08, Madden 08, NFS: Pro Street, Assassin's Creed, Forza Motorsport 2, Pirates at the Carribbean: At World's End, Tiger Woods 08, Mario Party 8, Transformers: The game, Spider-Man 3, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, WWE Smackdown vs Raw 08, Pro Evolution Soccer 08, The Simpsons Game. Every single one of those games outsold The Burning Crusade in 2007. I bolded the titles I find outline my point most significantly.
 
ikarinokami said:
I am annoyed because i have send people to jail for stealing food, and pc pirates who are laying waste to the pc gaming, like locusts are essentially prosecution proof.
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I am supposed to believe you are a litigator with grammar like that?:rolleyes:
 
Cause: greedy bastards at iw/activision piss off pc gamers with mw2
Effect: people that would normally pay a reasonable price find the torrent
I'm fed up with corporate thinking and avarice bleeding the country dry. I'm glad they are at the top of the most pirated list.
 
ikarinokami said:
I'm outraged because i use to be able to walk in a gamestop and find any pc game i wanted.
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Your issue would seem to lay with Gamestop store policy, not with piracy. Are you also outraged with the fact that hundreds of games are (figuratively) at your fingertip with PC-exclusive download services like Steam, D2D, Impulse and GOG?

ikarinokami said:
I am annoyed because i can no longer be pissed a microsoft for abadoning pc gaming
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Microsoft has never spent more resources on promoting PC gaming than they are right now; today. I genuinely have no idea to what you're referring to here.

ikarinokami said:
I am annoyed because i have send people to jail for stealing food
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For the good of the thread, I'm going to refrain from commenting about how I feel about you wielding the power to imprison people and move on.

Now, your 'beefs' may be legitimate, but don't take your distaste of piracy out on your fellow posters by accusing them of being illegal downloaders when there's absolutely no indication of that being the case.

Chombo said:
I am supposed to believe you are a litigator with grammar like that?
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I think perhaps he's an 'officer of the law'.
 
take a step back from the ledge and get a hold of yourself. :rolleyes:

ikarinokami said:
I'm outraged because i use to be able to walk in a gamestop and find any pc game i wanted. I use to be able to sell my used pc games in gamestop.
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Gamestop quit relegating shelves to PC games because they don't sell. 99% of people who go into Gamestop buy Xbox, Playstation, or Nintendo games - not PC games. Most PC gamers buy their stuff either in Steam or online where there's always sales and discounts (ie Go Gamer).

ikarinokami said:
Twice every year i would expect to be blown away a game, nolf, sacrafice, quake3, unreal, fear, crysis, no more
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PC gaming graphically has hit a plateau and you're upset about this? Oh yeah, geez I mean I don't mind having to buy a new gpu every time a new game comes out because my old one can't run it. :rolleyes:

ikarinokami said:
I am annoyed because i can no longer be pissed a microsoft for abadoning pc gaming, i can't be irritated by crysis neutring cryengine 3.
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Microsoft abandoned PC gaming? They just released a GFW Live client update a week ago.

Crytek is neutering CE3? News to me. I doubt they're "neutering it", I'm sure they're moreso "properly optimizing it so it runs on more machines and gives better performance".

ikarinokami said:
I am annoyed because publishers hold thier noses at pc gameing.
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Who does that exactly?
PC's still get most multiplatform non-exclusive titles, do they not? Hell even PC's have their own exclusive titles.

ikarinokami said:
I am annoyed because i have send people to jail for stealing food, and pc pirates who are laying waste to the pc gaming, like locusts are essentially prosecution proof.
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Yes, pirates are killing PC gaming. Not the economy, not Crytek releasing games that require a new gpu every time they come out with something, not console games/console wars, not computer upgrades. :rolleyes:

OT I'm happy yet sad at the same time. Happy that IW and Activision released a giant turd with an FU sticker on it to PC gamers, and PC gamers reacted by pirating and hacking the game instead of paying for it. Sad that they'll surely spin this and shout to the heavens that piracy is killing PC gaming (just like ikarinokami here :rolleyes:) and act like they're going to pull support. Oh well. You release a port of a console title on PC, you reap what you sow. Quit PC gaming for all I care. I still have Steam, I still have Valve, and I still have Indie developers coming up with better shit than the industry has done in the last several years, so...yeah...good luck with that. :p
 
lol


Whats funny is the people who side with developers on questioning PC gaming.

Okay great, go to console only, go right ahead, you know what, your games are still going to get pirated... period, as a console gets older, modding it becomes easier and easier!

what is more funny, is the games was pirated so much yet STILL made how much ,money?

i would bet you that of those 4mill downloads, %90 would never have bought it anyways.
 
i agree with the statement that pirating does not necessarily mean lost sales. i used to pirate quite a few pc games back 3-4 years ago. I would have never bought any of the games i played, if i didnt pirate them i just wouldnt have ever played them.
 
kilik64 said:
i agree with the statement that pirating does not necessarily mean lost sales. i used to pirate quite a few pc games back 3-4 years ago. I would have never bought any of the games i played, if i didnt pirate them i just wouldnt have ever played them.
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So why pirate them? Why do you still need to play them if they werent worth a sale?
 
MrGuvernment said:
lol


Whats funny is the people who side with developers on questioning PC gaming.

Okay great, go to console only, go right ahead, you know what, your games are still going to get pirated... period, as a console gets older, modding it becomes easier and easier!

what is more funny, is the games was pirated so much yet STILL made how much ,money?

i would bet you that of those 4mill downloads, %90 would never have bought it anyways.
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What's really funny is your lack of appreciation for software engineers that pour their lives into to keeping people entertained by making games. If you had any idea what it's like developing gaming software you wouldn't be such an arrogant ass. Sure, SOME games do make nice profits, but that doesn't give you or anyone else the right to say "oh they've made enough let's start pirating heh heh"

And your random gorilla statistics are useless, so keep 'em to yourself.
 
Regardless it's still quite amazing that IW raked in over half a billion on this game already despite the piracy. I think it's obvious that IWNet is working. In reality the piracy figure is a small piece of a pie on a game like MW2 because it's so popular and sells like crazy. I think this is also attributed to the fact that the true value in a game like MW2 is the multiplayer feature, and hacked copies simply can't play online. Now for smaller companies that make good games, but maybe don't sell as many copies...it's more than likely that these companies are the ones that are hurting from piracy. That is pretty sad that capcom is on that list. Gamers should definitely rethink their moral compass especially when it comes to developers that are still churning out good games for the pc.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
A broad, incorrect generalization. While it is true that many people who pirated the products would never have purchased, many people would have. Some people are very casual pirates, say a friend has a not-so-legit copy of a game you were planning on buying, you may think "Oh, I don't have to buy it now". It happens all the time.

Personally, I don't have a problem with actually paying for things I want, and why would I pirate something that I don't want?
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If it is incorrect I expect you have some studies to show that increasing piracy causes, heck even merely correlates, with a decline in sales?

He's not saying that stealing cannot lower revenue. He's saying that on average p2p piracy doesn't. Just like music piracy has actually only been correlated with rising revenue. It's actually your post that is a sweeping, incorrect, generalization.
 
kilik64 said:
i agree with the statement that pirating does not necessarily mean lost sales. i used to pirate quite a few pc games back 3-4 years ago. I would have never bought any of the games i played, if i didnt pirate them i just wouldnt have ever played them.
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I remember wanting to pirate Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory with the same mindset as you. 'There's no freaking way I'm buying this so I'm pirating it.' Well, there was no crack for a LONG time, and guess what, I couldn't take it anymore and bought it before the crack came out. You'd be amazed at what you might do in different circumstances.
 
zero2dash said:
take a step back from the ledge and get a hold of yourself. :rolleyes:



Gamestop quit relegating shelves to PC games because they don't sell. 99% of people who go into Gamestop buy Xbox, Playstation, or Nintendo games - not PC games. Most PC gamers buy their stuff either in Steam or online where there's always sales and discounts (ie Go Gamer).



PC gaming graphically has hit a plateau and you're upset about this? Oh yeah, geez I mean I don't mind having to buy a new gpu every time a new game comes out because my old one can't run it. :rolleyes:



Microsoft abandoned PC gaming? They just released a GFW Live client update a week ago.

Crytek is neutering CE3? News to me. I doubt they're "neutering it", I'm sure they're moreso "properly optimizing it so it runs on more machines and gives better performance".



Who does that exactly?
PC's still get most multiplatform non-exclusive titles, do they not? Hell even PC's have their own exclusive titles.



Yes, pirates are killing PC gaming. Not the economy, not Crytek releasing games that require a new gpu every time they come out with something, not console games/console wars, not computer upgrades. :rolleyes:

OT I'm happy yet sad at the same time. Happy that IW and Activision released a giant turd with an FU sticker on it to PC gamers, and PC gamers reacted by pirating and hacking the game instead of paying for it. Sad that they'll surely spin this and shout to the heavens that piracy is killing PC gaming (just like ikarinokami here :rolleyes:) and act like they're going to pull support. Oh well. You release a port of a console title on PC, you reap what you sow. Quit PC gaming for all I care. I still have Steam, I still have Valve, and I still have Indie developers coming up with better shit than the industry has done in the last several years, so...yeah...good luck with that. :p
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Just because you don't like a company, that doesn't mean the rule of economics go away. The economy is so bad, that 4.2 million exbox360 users can buy the game. I am please for you, but I would prefer my pc gaming space to be more than blizzard, valve and stardock making games with 1990 tech.

So what was the excuse for the SIM 3? street fighter 4? prototype? need for speed shift? all well over a million. The fact is stealing has become prevasive in the pc games.

Piracy was no where, not even close to what it was when system shock 2 was released, it is night and day. we have become no better than china in regards to piracy.

I don't understand people blaming the publishers, they have employees, who have families, they put in just the insane hours and as i do, and to your job ala iron lore, because your game got pirated to hell, is wrong. And any responsible publisher should take step to limit piracy and that step is simply not to produce pc games.

Free riding always has negative consequences, and there just is no way to sustain this level of piracy.

Spore at 2 million was the biggest pirated game last year. nearly 5 games past the 2 million mark, that is not sustainable.

I will say it again, all I ever hear is how it's just as easy to pirate on a console as well as a pc, yet when push came to shove, the console people brough thier games, and vast majority of pc users pirated thier games, because those pirate numbers are going to dwarf pc games sales for any of those titles, and whats worse, is that most of these games were released cheaper on the pc.
 
akotlar said:
If it is incorrect I expect you have some studies to show that increasing piracy causes, heck even merely correlates, with a decline in sales? I didn't say it did, I take issue with people saying that a pirate never would have purchased the game.

He's not saying that stealing cannot lower revenue. He's saying that on average p2p piracy doesn't.And your proof is where? Just like music piracy has actually only been correlated with rising revenue.correlation =/= causation It's actually your post that is a sweeping, incorrect, generalization.No
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I think you may not have understood. Saying that ANYONE who has an illegal copy of any media would NEVER have purchased said media is a short bus mentality.
 
Chombo said:
Oh. Ok then.:rolleyes:
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I appologize for attempting to correct you, I mean afterall determining the future of a defendants life and the meaning of justice for a family is such a trivil pursuit is not even mentioning, forget i mentioned it.
 
ikarinokami said:
I don't litigate I prosecute, there is a difference.
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Prosecution entails litigation. They are different concepts but they're also intrinsically linked. How could a prosecutor possibly claim otherwise?

kao85 said:
...if you had any idea what it's like developing gaming software you wouldn't be such an arrogant ass.
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I don't intend to armchair moderate here, but I'd suggest refraining from personal attacks as enough of them will invariably lead to the thread being closed.
 
I don't think it's fair to compare the actual number of pirated copies on consoles to PCs, but rather look at the percentages of who pirates on each platform to really see the problem. So many more people game on consoles than PC(barring MMORPGS) so of course that number is going to be huge on pirated copies.

It just reminds me of the useless fact that there are more english speaking people living in China than in the USA. It only means there are a LOT of people living in China.
 
And Star Trek was the most pirated movie of 2009.
/not surprised
 
PS3 said:
Regardless it's still quite amazing that IW raked in over half a billion on this game already despite the piracy. I think it's obvious that IWNet is working. In reality the piracy figure is a small piece of a pie on a game like MW2 because it's so popular and sells like crazy. I think this is also attributed to the fact that the true value in a game like MW2 is the multiplayer feature, and hacked copies simply can't play online. Now for smaller companies that make good games, but maybe don't sell as many copies...it's more than likely that these companies are the ones that are hurting from piracy. That is pretty sad that capcom is on that list. Gamers should definitely rethink their moral compass especially when it comes to developers that are still churning out good games for the pc.
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MW2 sales have nothing to do with the quality of the game.
 
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