Modern Warfare 2 Was 2009's Most Pirated Game

[Sven und EIN HUND]

Of course, it doesn't make piracy any more justifiable, either.

Actually, in this specific case, I'd argue it does.

IW: "We're downgrading your online service into a giant piece of shit because IT STOPS PIRACY SRSL!"
People: "But...It doesn't... And you're fucking over the legitimate costumer... In fact this seems like a ploy to switch control of about half the game into IW, so they can "stop supporting" the game when it's not profitable enough forcing us to buy the newer one or not play online again... Also peer-to-peer connection sucks dick."
IW: "LOL NO! Trust me guy! Dude! IT'S TO STOP PIRACY!"
People: "...ok..."
5 million downloads later.
People: "...sooo...?"
IW: "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-"

This.

But seriously, when playing the PC version there are maybe 1/5 or 1/10 matches I get that are too laggy to play in. Sure the game is imbalanced in some respects, but it's only been out for a bit. IW.net can be a major kick in the eyeball sometimes, though, particularly the inability to have control over which map you play most of the time.

With half a billion dollars raked in on the first day and a definite continuous flow of sales for the next few months, they really have nothing to complain about. I'm serial. Nothing

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Maybe some people thought it wasn't worth the price tag for a 6 hour game.

 

[mjc0961]

if you don't pay, you shouldn't get to play.

Very well said.

 

[Scrythe]

LOL @ Spore and Sims 3.

Who the hell would pay for a Maxis game?

 

[Pimppeter2]

Yay!

I neither Bought nor Pirated

Individuality, FTW

 

[Pimppeter2]

EDIT: The double post demon strikes again

 

[Low Key]

Pirating is comparative to how much a game sells. If it's a very popular game, it gets downloaded much more often, which is not surprising in the least. That's why I don't get why companies whine about pirates. Sure they are stealing, but when a game makes $500 million in one week, pirating (at least on the sales side of things, not the hacking) should hardly be an issue.

If it was your company, you wouldn't be concerned about the millions at stake here? It's pretty easy to see why they take such a hard line, if they could have cut the number of people torrenting MW2 on PC by 1%, it would have been up to $2.4M in revenue.

Plus you're right on sales, not supporting the PC version properly doesn't really hold water as a reasoning for high levels of piracy, it was the most popular game of the year and it was torrented a lot as a result. Plenty of games without issues suffered significant levels of piracy too.

It does lend weight to the idea that developers may want to leave the PC as a platform thanks to, despite sales being far higher for the xbox than PC for games like MW2, the piracy levels showed the opposite. Most likely due to the difficulties of pirating a game rather than any loyalty to the platform.

A couple million is nothing to shake your head at, but after $500 million in one week, it would ease the pain quite a bit. My main gripe is as far as piracy, it's always the same people who do it, and they aren't going to stop just because someone like Kotick complains about it. I'd be willing to bet they do it more when he whines.

The PC is a powerful medium. It can do things no console ever could, minus the military applications of the PS3. You take a pirated game from a PC online and it might be disabled, but it takes a quick edit of the registry and a reinstallation and you're back in business. There is no amount of DRM, online activation, or online retrieval of content (a la Sims 3) that can stop it. But that's not to say consoles put up with less piracy. It's just less pronounced because pirates don't dare go online or they will get banned.

 

[Pyode]

Seriously dude?

Let me give you an example of how messed up your logic is.

You're in a store. You see a new kind of candy bar that you have never tried before. You're not sure if you want to buy it because there is no one around who has tried it to tell you if its good and there are no samples. Is it OK for you to steal the candy?

Is it a 60$ candy bar?

Lets say for the sake of argument that it is. Would that change anything? Is it realy less wrong to steal something based on the price tag? You are not entitled to eat a candy bar and you are not entiteld to play a video game.

Of course, it doesn't make piracy any more justifiable, either.

Actually, in this specific case, I'd argue it does.
-snip-

I will say again. You are not entitled to play this game. If you don't like something that the developer did DON'T PLAY THE GAME.

The developer doing something you don't like does not cause them to forfeit their rights.

 

[Skeleton Jelly]

"No I HATE this game! No dedicated servers?!?! PAH, fuck this shit!....now just let me go pirate it...."

 

[rokkolpo]

I waved at it as it passed by.

oh Jack Sparrow reference.*YOU PIRATED!*

 

[Dogstile]

Pirates can shove it, its only worth it if you're looking for a demo of the game

 

[Nurb]

Is there even a demo out for the game on PC? If not, thats a part of the problem.

I'm not into multiplayer, so a short single player experience isn't worth what they were charging.

also, the best article on piracy you will read and it blasts all the old cliche excuses publishers and developers give about piracy (such as blaming piracy because they made a shitty sequel and it didn't sell well enough for them *cough*ubisoft*cough*)


http://insomnia.ac/commentary/pc_game_piracy/

Seriously dude?

Let me give you an example of how messed up your logic is.

You're in a store. You see a new kind of candy bar that you have never tried before. You're not sure if you want to buy it because there is no one around who has tried it to tell you if its good and there are no samples. Is it OK for you to steal the candy?

Answer: FUCK NO!

comparing digital copying to physicly stealing something.... speaking of screwed up logic

by the way, I haven't even played it for the reasons I originally mentioned, so they still wouldn't have gotten my money either way.

 

[Kollega]

First they hyped it up to be "greatest entertainment launch of all time", then they pissed of the sizeable PC crowd. What did the fuckers expect?

I didn't even bother with pirating it. Because when compared to, oh say, Team Fortress 2, it's just crap.

 

[Lucane]

Wonder why people call it MewTwo?

Sorry if it's been said before but MewTwo= Mod~ern~warfare~Two becuase that shorthand version is speakable and is a pokemon.

 

[AT God]

While I agree pirating is wrong this is one of those franchises that is beating a dead horse, so maybe piracy might help kill the overdrawn and dry series.

 

[Nurb]

I'd be more inclined to take you seriously if you spelt properly, but I clicked on the link anyway and found exactly what I expected. A very large pile of straw men.

First, I don't care about small grammer mistakes on an internet forum, and second, your "all strawman" comment shows you didn't even read it.

 

[Aura Guardian]

Wonder why people call it MewTwo?

Sorry if it's been said before but MewTwo= Mod~ern~warfare~Two becuase that shorthand version is speakable and is a pokemon.

Sounds silly. MW2 is shorter hahaha.

 

[Signa]

Seriously dude?

Let me give you an example of how messed up your logic is.

You're in a store. You see a new kind of candy bar that you have never tried before. You're not sure if you want to buy it because there is no one around who has tried it to tell you if its good and there are no samples. Is it OK for you to steal the candy?

Is it a 60$ candy bar?

Lets say for the sake of argument that it is. Would that change anything? Is it realy less wrong to steal something based on the price tag? You are not entitled to eat a candy bar and you are not entiteld to play a video game.

Then my question to that is are you allowed to return the unconsumed portion if you don't like it? I'm pretty sure most grocery stores allow returns on partially consumed food items within reason. Games are never returnable. If you bought a $60 candy bar and hated it, you wouldn't be stuck with it as you would be with a game. I'm not sure how that justifies stealing games, but I don't see how it's any more fair to wrap a turd in a candy bar wrapper and have your customers foot the bill while you rake in the cash. You owe your customers more of a chance to see if the bar is worth $60 or not.

I don't think demos can count either, because your candy bar makers can just pull the peanuts out of the turd and have you try those. "So you like peanuts? I guess that means you should buy my peanut-filled turd then!"

 

[Pyode]

comparing digital copying to physicly stealing something.... speaking of screwed up logic

I know what you are trying to say. Your saying that, because the product is digital, copping it doesn't actually incur a cost to the developer. In other words "No harm no foul."

To that I say bullshit.

The actual production of disks is ridiculously cheap. I'm talking pennies per disk. When you buy a disk you're not paying $60 for a single burned disk and a shitty plastic case. In the case of digital distribution it's even cheaper.

No, you are paying for the literally thousands of hours of work put into a game. You are paying for the computers, dev systems, and many other items that go into the development of the game.

If you think you are entitled to reap the benefit of all of that time, effort, and cost for free, then you are a spoiled little brat who needs to grow the fuck up.

Then my question to that is are you allowed to return the unconsumed portion if you don't like it? I'm pretty sure most grocery stores allow returns on partially consumed food items within reason. Games are never returnable. If you bought a $60 candy bar and hated it, you wouldn't be stuck with it as you would be with a game. I'm not sure how that justifies stealing games, but I don't see how it's any more fair to wrap a turd in a candy bar wrapper and have your customers foot the bill while you rake in the cash. You owe your customers more of a chance to see if the bar is worth $60 or not.

I don't think demos can count either, because your candy bar makers can just pull the peanuts out of the turd and have you try those. "So you like peanuts? I guess that means you should buy my peanut-filled turd then!"

You take a risk any time you buy a new product. If you buy a candy bar and it turns out to be a "turd in a candy wrapper" then you know damn well not to buy that product again and you will tell all of your friends not to buy it and you will probably go online and tell everyone else no to buy it. That's how capitalism works.

You do have a point though. It's not necessarily a bad idea for companies to let customers try a hole candy bar and see if they like it, but that is a different business model based on repeat sales. After you have had your first bar for free you will come back and buy more. Games don't work like that. Once someone gets the full version they have no reason to come back. So, all a company can do is give you a small taste and, even then, if they chose not to it still doesn't give anyone the right to steal the full game.