TorrentFreak Reveals Top Pirated Games of 2011

[RhombusHatesYou]

However it's weird that they use it to try and guilt legitimate consumers with the data.

Let's be honest here, in most cases they aren't trying to guilt legitimate consumers.

The only time we hear publishers or devs pull out numbers for piracy or whatever 'evil' they're against, it's usually to support one of their 'fuck you, legitimate consumer' actions such as draconian DRM or online passes. That's not guilting the legitimate user that's saying "Shut the fuck up, none of you can be trusted."

My point was that it's not money that they would otherwise realistically be making.

This is corporate finance, reality isn't a frequent visitor and perception is king. That makes losing potential money just as bad as losing real money when you have to explain it to all your stakeholders and shareholders.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Until they document how they have come up with these numbers and what methodology they have used, I call bullsh!t on these numbers.

Even with their base numbers and methodology known, the numbers will be more or less useless. Public torrent trackers aren't the only source of pirated software, especially when it comes to consoles... and once you leave the public trackers info gets very hard to find.

Also if you pirate BF3 and MW3, doesn't that mean you only get access to 1/4 of the game, i.e only the single player part. Therefore each download of those games can only be attributed to at most a loss of 1/4 of the price of the game new.

Yes and no... MP cracks and private server cracks don't take long to show up but they're rarely fully functional.

These estimates will now be repeated by everyone as fact when they may not have any basis in reality. In the same way that the total estimate made by the Witcher 2 maker keeps being repeated as fact. I would have been slightly more believing if Witcher 2 had appeared on the list with numbers that tallied with the estimate made before.

The funny thing is in the article the original number came from it's shown to be just a very rough estimate based on a lot of guesswork.

These estimates will be used as the reasons why more hash DRM will be rolled out. DRM that will only annoy the people who actually always buy the games (like me) rather than the pirates who never have to worry about it.

DRM isn't about stopping piracy, it's about being seen to take strong measures against piracy so your stakeholders don't sue the crap out of you for not taking sufficient steps to safeguard their investment.

 

[Lunar Templar]

don't know if Xenoblade should count, since pirating and import (which requires a modded Wii to play i think) where the only options until recently.

*shrugs* sad thing is a can't bring my self to care, sure the company's lost money, but i doubt is as much as they say though since no one can prove that 1 pirated game = 1 lost sale, there's to many other things to factor in, like the guy who wants to demo it cause there's no legit demo, the guy who want to see if it will even run on his rig (which is probably why Crysis 2 is so high on the list)

not saying ever one dose that, there's always going to be thieves, but I'm willing to bet there's more people that download with intent to buy, then anyone's willing to acknowledge.

 

[TheGauntman]

So the Escapist hires trolls to do articles now? Nice how we can't reply to an article without the poster being a total asshat about his replies.

Quoted for truth.

The lack of professionalism displayed by the authour of this piece is astonishing. When your 'journalists' act with such immaturity it's perhaps time to rethink your vetting policies, Escapist.

 

[ResonanceSD]

What I hope this puts to rest is the stupid argument that "only PC games are pirated".


Also wasn't The Witcher 2 meant to have been pirated some millions of times?

 

[Digitaldreamer7]

OMFG!!!!111!!!!! OH NOEZ PIRACY IS RUINING THE INDUSTRY. I CAN'T AFFORD ANOTHER GULF STREAM JET FOR MY FAMILY

Those numbers are complete sensationalist bullshit.

Break those numbers down by downloads in countries that actually have copyright laws, then further down into where they games actually ship and are legal to sell.

Then get back to me with the results and I might feel bad for the industry... Wait... No I won't because a video game just surpassed any sales numbers of any media across all platforms of media ever in less then 90 days of release. So no.. the industry is NOT suffering.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Geezus not this again.

Copyright violation is not theft. If you are going for emotional impact you might as well say "downloading is baby rape" or puppy stomping or something equally vile because both of those are as close to copyright violation as theft is.

I'm just making it up.

Yes you are. And trolling this crap every few days helps the page views but it does nothing to forward the discussion. Stop pretending download numbers are at all relevant. They mean nothing. They are a function of the popularity of the product, not of anything else.

It wouldn't be fair to say that every pirated copy represents a lost sale, but it would be equally unfair to say that every copy didn't.

Wrong, it would be perfectly fair to say that downloading isn't a loss. Does the industry count someone looking at a game in the shop and not buying it as a loss? If so they are insane. There is no fundamental difference between not buying a game because it is downloaded and not buying it because of any other reason.

The "true pirate" downloader is someone who never intends to buy. If the game isn't available for download they will rent, borrow from a friend, buy used (and probably return the next day), or do without. At no time is the "pirate's" money ever in danger of being given to the publisher.

But on the other hand here is evidence that shows the people who download music are also the biggest customers.
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/03/6418.ars
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1168

Where is your evidence that disputes this is true for games?

 

[noble cookie]

So the WII has more piracy than the Xbox is it me or is that bit odd

It's easier to pirate them. You don't even need a chip or whatever these kids use for their Xbox's and PS3's.

 

[SillyBear]

Meh I really do not care, and in no way is a download a lost sale.

I don't agree with that. I think many of those people who pirated the game would have bought the game if it wasn't so easily available to pirate.

You can't claim that none of the millions of people who pirated Modern Warfare 3 wouldn't have purchased it otherwise.

If you want to engage in entertainment provided by someone else you should pay for it. It doesn't matter if it's truly a lost sale or not - you want something, you pay for it. You don't have the right to take it (even if it is only a copy) without charge. If you aren't willing to pay, don't play it. I can't believe most of you see nothing wrong with it. I think the amount of self entitlement pirates have is amazing. I don't believe piracy is justifiable at all.

 

[synulia]

Didn't Crysis only sell 3 million on ALL platforms? Christ, and Ubisoft got shit over I am Alive.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Didn't Crysis only sell 3 million on ALL platforms? Christ, and Ubisoft got shit over I am Alive.

EA copped a lot for taking Crysis 2 off steam and using it to push Origin. If C2 was still on steam, that number would likely be higher.

 

[MasterSplinter]

I kinda proud of them numbers. Most of the games reaching top places are either bad or completely formulaic, or secuels of secuels of secuels, or come from well established "not going hungry for this" companies.

Maybe those numbers say that these people are not willing to pay full price for that kind of content.





Or maybe they have shit taste, what do I know...

 

[The Wooster]

So the WII has more piracy than the Xbox is it me or is that bit odd

Probably because the games tend to be a little smaller and the Wii is incredibly easy to hack?

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Wow, MW3 wasn't top downloaded on the XBox or PC? I'm legitamately surprised, usually the CoD titles top the lists every year.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Well, the soloution is obvious:

We should stop making those games. If we just stop making games that people pirate, then the pirates will have nothing to copy and go out of business.

#herpderp

Despite the sarcasm implied, this is the only realistic solution, if one's goal was solely to eliminate software piracy from gaming.

Expect the scorched earth DRM control strategies to become worse and worse as time goes on.

Elsewhere in the topic...
As expected, I find the usual deluge of "debate". Studies and evidence for piracy are conflicting and bias, while protests against piracy lead only to tighter and tighter fisted control tactics.

Knowing this, simple logic shows how petty, and futile the entire situation has become, for either side.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Wow, MW3 wasn't top downloaded on the XBox or PC? I'm legitamately surprised, usually the CoD titles top the lists every year.

This year you could just save time and add another number on the end of the previous Modern Warfare.

Crysis was leaked online early, this is probably the number we're seeing.

 

[somonels]

Wow, an 0/5 in both piracy and purchase is unprecedented for me. Though I did get a slight urge to [em]try[/em] the Cry3engine toolkit.