Crysis 2 Was 2011’s Most Pirated Game

December 31, 2011 - 4:22pm

The most pirated game in 2011 was a PC shooter, but it wasn't Modern Warfare 3.

With 3,920,000 copies downloaded through bittorrent, TorrentFreak reported that Crysis 2 was the most pirated game in 2011. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 came a close second with 3,650,000 copies and Battlefield 3 followed with 3,510,000 copies. The PC versions of FIFA 12 and Portal 2 took the 4th and 5th locations.

As expected, PC games were pirated much more than their console counterparts. The most pirated Wii game was Super Mario Galaxy (1,280,000 copies) which was in fact released in 2010 and the most pirated Xbox 360 game was Gears of War 3 (890,000 copies). Torrentfreak didn't report PlayStation 3 games piracy statistics.

Comments

Absolute NONSENSE

Clearly, the media who talks about PIRACY have no clue whatsoever about how piracy works. Yes, if you look at BITTORRENT sites, most pirated games are PCs. However, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, you go to black markets and there are thousands of copied DVDs... of CONSOLE GAMES. For each console bittorrent pirated copy, someone made about 100 copies and are selling them for unblocked XBOX360 and PS3s around the world, for $5 a copy. on the PC, nobody buys pirated copies. People get them directly from bittorrent.

Just because I pirate doesn't mean I don't buy

I Pirate so that I can test games. I pirated tons of games and usually ended up buying a copy after I played it and tested the settings. But sometimes I do steal because I don't respect the company. What other way is there to fight back? Before you give me some corporate/capitalist apologist reply, please, really think about real ways people can fight back and consider the ways they are suppressed. Hitting companies in the pocketbook is the only viable means of retaliation. And if you think these companies would'nt steal from you, think again, read about all of the SEC violations that are included in corporate accounting prior to product release.

cheers!

I completely agree! Just a few weeks ago I wanted to buy something for my little sister for christmas. I knew she likes Monster High, and I wanted to get her the new game for the wii, priced no lower than $25 bucks on the sketchiest of sites. Having owned the first monster high game for the ds, I was less than willing to drop that kind of dough (yes it was that bad) on the new title on good faith. To make matters worse I couldn't find any footage of it online.... 3 hours and 1 piratebay search later and I was merrily buying little 'Bella the Scared Stiff doll-set, wishing that I actually had stolen a copy of the game so I had something to burn. Originally, I pirated only games that where out of circulation anyway. And it's debatable about weather that is pirating at all. But in a day and age where it cost's more and more just to make a decent game, dropping dough for a game you heard was "pretty good" at retail price is becoming more and more daunting. Plus, gaming companies have gotten cheeky. Disks just don't retain value like cartreges did and digital media has no resale value at all. We've seen this huge push for pointless dlc because it's a huge money maker. Personally, I think pirating is a pretty good checks and balances system for the gaming world. If Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony would stop putting so many unfinished, unpolished, uninspired, dlc-choked money-grubbing pieces of crap and actuall focused on making art- which really is what games are now- maybe, just maybe people would actually care when they cry out, "the pirates are making us loose money!"

Here's a lil story about

Here's a lil story about Crytec... When Crysis 1 was released as a demo i managed to get a copy, i installed it in my pc, turned the ingame settings to maximum, (with my old Nvidia 8600 gt) and played the demo, The graphics were awesome, almost photo realistic, so i bought the game sometime later, by this time i had a Radeon 4850 HD. Before playing the game i checked the in game settings to make sure they were maxed out, and, to my surprise, found that i was unable to put the graphics setting to maximum, so i phoned Crytec, and was told that my graphics card was the problem, and that many people using Radeon 4850 were having problems. I was so sad at the time about this that i sold my Radeon card and forked out for a new Nvidia 9600gt. I got back home installed the card and guess what? i was still unable to play the game on maximum settings. At the time, i remember, i was absolutly livid, but there was nothing i could do. since then i have seacrhed many websites for a reason for this, and one of the most common explanations offered that many people suggested was as follows.. Crysis and microsoft had schemed to remove the maximum settings capability, for anyone who did not have the latest DX10 (Vista and later only) in order to promote the new windows Vista, and the new DX10 standard. I only had DX9 since i was running XP, an therefore according to a fairly common opinion, was unable to run on max settings. later on i noticed that certian websites were hyping up the awesome graphics at maximum settings as a vista/dx10 only capability, but i had seen crisis on maximum settings on my lowly old 8600 gt. I now have a Nvidia gtx 570 on my XP pc and i still can't use maximim settings. I don't know exactly why, but i certianly have my suspisions. Long live piracy! in my opinion it kinda balances the scales for me and you, the consumer.

Yeah i had a 4870 and i found out a hack to take off the lock

Yeah it was a ploy to sale vista. A hacker found the lock out code and removed it and crysis looked exactly the same on XP. The only effect that XP couldnt do is the water but it still looked pretty good. But all the other lighting effects worked on XP. It was just a fake lock that crytek put in the game. So i didnt buy vista because it sucked i just downloaded the hack.

Buying a "new OS"

Don't reward companies like Microsoft that pull crap like that - forcing a purchase of something not because it's actually better or has additional features that are worth your money, but merely to make more money. XP does everything that Vista does - better in fact - and the only limitation is an artificial one. XP could easily have support for DX10, but it doesn't simply because Microsoft wants you to pay for Windows - AGAIN.

There is a way!

All big gaming companies can eliminate piracy quite easily and relatively quickly. All they have to do is make their titles Free To Play. They can easily make wads of cash selling DLC and premium content. The sky's the limit. You only need to look at some of the upcoming titles to see that, e.g. MW:O, Hawken, Firefall and, dare i say it, DC Universe Online. All perfect examples of how to give AAA away for free.

I think most of the people on

I think most of the people on here dont realize how inefficient it is to torrent console games. Between the difficulties in ripping from a console disc, safeguards consoles have in their design, internet firewalls for illegal copies (XboxLive, PSN, etc), and developer safeguards implemented in the coding not only in the virtual sense, but the coding for the game to even be read by a console it is extremely difficult to produce a fully functioning pirated copy of a console game. If anyone is buying pirated console games, they are taking a risk on their copy not even functioning. So in conclusion: If you are buying pirated console games, you are an idiot.

asewafax

pirate console games are nothing more than copies and if you download a console game it's just an iso, which you can easily write on a blank dvd you are the idiot

Wrong

It is very difficult to pirate console games. It's really not as simple as just burning an ISO to a blank DVD. In some cases, you need to play around with digital signatures or physically modify your console's hardware.

shit happens

not meaning to sound rude but shit just happens some are just afraid of the the difference in cash they'd have because of purchase cause they only make so much but it happens you can't stop it theres gonna be some brainiac kid who hacks your channels and downloads the game or just buys it now you say what if all the game info. was ran from a server they couldn't get it then, it would lag and you'd stop playing, oh what if it was zipped folder and locked well there's some path link to get to it they'll follow that so if you want to stop piracy try stop making game thats as close as you'll get staying inside the constitution.

Hate DRM

I live in the middle of nowhere and am stuck using limited very limited bandwith and unreliable service verizon wireless or (shudder) hughes net... I do however have access to unlimited internet at relatives DRM is leaving rural Americans out to dry with shit internet service we get much better gaming experience to DL a game that has been cracked to not use DRM. I personally love to buy the games that I find enjoyable; I downloaded Civ 5 and loved the game enough that I went out and purchased not only the original title for Civ 5 but the expansion God and Kings to go along with it. It as simple as people don't want to waste their money on crappy games. I won't want to waste my money on GameFly because I can't use their service in Rural America for PC games with limited bandwith and I really don't want to pay sticker price for something that doesn't allow me to have a physical copy.

Honestly had I known better I never would have wasted my money on Fallout New Vegas and all DLC content for the PS3 final patching was still buggy as hell-but I loved the game so much I bought the GOTY edition for my PC.

This is all about perspective we are living in a society where the Developers need to keep with the consumers offer cross platform gaming so we don't have to pony out a lot of money to have a game on multiple systems. I know there are some genre specific console and PC titles but for those that reach across all platforms make a system to allow for playing on each system.

I should have bought Skyrim for my Xbox 360 instead of my PS3 but that is all in the past and when they release the GOTY edition I'll buy it for my PC because I love the titles that their developer releases. As for FPS games most have a low replay appeal for single player and in rural America you can't do multiplayer; if the story isn't in the game it's not worth any money.

Console Games are being less

Console Games are being less pirated is a myth. lol. as most folks have noticed by now, Console Game Pirates are actually the guys who ends up racking in the dough as they sell their pirated copies to the locals.

PC game pirates are usually 1 pirate = 1 download. (A lot of people now have access to fast interwebz) But console game pirates are like 1 pirate = ??? profit.

so lolz at the naive console devs 'coz you guys are unwittingly making a lot of pirates rich.

Where as the PC pirates sometimes register their games online and go legit whenever it fits their fancy. Console Game pirates usually downloads their games so they can sell it for the monies.

Dude he didn't say he was a

Dude he didn't say he was a pirate, he was just doing some analysis deduction shizzle, so no need to go along with your pre-assumptions barfing your hormone-induced rage everywhere without evidence or, better still, reading the damn thing properly first. It shortens your life.

They say this was pirated

They say this was pirated more than the console version, but I somehow doubt that. You can download the game once on pc. BUt once that is done you can make multiple copies once that is done. So who knows how many copies were made for console.

No fucking wonder

This game was utterly broken at launch, and EA completely failed to fix any problems with any sense of urgency. The multiplayer was quite good when it worked, but everyone left in droves because the game was a fucking train wreck of bugs and hackers. I seriously regret actually buying it, wish I had pirated it.

Fcuk off 2K/UBI/EA/Blizz

Normally I used think pirating a game just fueled the DRM engine, but Fcuk it I'm sick of these bastards, I just DL'd Bioshock 2 for 2K's fcuked up DRM, and seeing as I would never support them financially anyway, I feel no regret whatsoever...

And that goes triple for Ubisoft, EA and Blizzard with their always on bullsiht. Also, I might nick me a copy of KOA, and seeing as KOA's dev company is doa, they're not going to see any return, only EA will profit from their demise, but mostly because I have no qualms in seeing EA go under!

Note, I pre-ordered Skyrim at full price and CDPR/Almost Human are all decent game companies so I would not even consider pirating their games because they deserve my money, that also goes for every indie dev out there...

lets not forget

lets not forget that console titles also are easier to pirate multiple times off one download than a PC game. where a PC game is downloaded and usually used by that person, a console game is often downloaded, burned, reburned, and burned again over and over.

chances are the console piracy is beyond far higher than they want to admit. the school janitor when my brother was in school sold pirated console games for 5 bux a pop, and he'd even mod chip the console for free.

i play cod mw3 multyplayer

i play cod mw3 multyplayer alot haven even bother with the campaign in mho i think that developers shouldchange the way the business model works i paid 6 bucks for a game i only use 50 percent of wich means that if i was actually interested in the single player i would have been livid because i would have felt cheated what im proposing is why not split the features you want every feture fine 60 bucks only multy player 30 only single player 30 that way every one is happy they get what they want just a thought like for instance me3 i dont play the multy player and the game was sold to us cripled tons of dlc we got to shell out more cash for if the dlc was included in the original single player i wouldnt mindf spending the 60 because its worth it but as the game stands 30 for single player and 3o for multy player separetly seem to work best just hoping some developer will se this and actually use his damn head

I only play call of duty for the campagin and zombies

I know that almost 80% of the cod community plays only multiplayer but I simply just playing the campaign. And the reason they add the single player in the first place is so activision has a legitimate reason to bump the game from a $15 arcade shooter to a $60 full game. I still think call of duty is a rip off but that's mostly because I find more joy in $0-$15 games.

How about no. That sounds

How about no. That sounds like something that these money grubbing companies would recommend. New games have always cost $60 (generally, discounting the special editions and what not) and has always been a trend. A great deal of todays games feel lacklustre or like they've been thrown together as quickly as possible just to make it out of the studio. This is not what gaming is, I wouldn't pay $30 for half the crap they're shitting out right now and find it insulting to be offered a shitty game for $60 right off the bat that's 1/5 as long as most other games and is going to rely on it's DLC to carry it. No. I'm not playing your fucking game, both literally and figuratively, until you treat us and the games you make with respect. Your idea is bad, you should feel bad, and you should be kicked out of the gamer community for making such a horrible idea public. I hope you fucking step on a lego.

Steam + Patience = Low $ Gaming

What I do is use Steam to purchase all of my games. I don't buy many new games because I think they are too expensive. I wait for a year or two until the game is selling for $20 normally and they have a sale for 50-75% off. THEN I buy games.

I think more games would sell if developers where given more time to actually develop a good game and then provide a playable demo. If the games suck, why should be pay to see if it does or not? With Steam, at least I don't have to risk paying too much for a crappy game. Like Duke Nukem Forever. Payed $10 :)

stats are wrong!

Let's not forget the fact that games these days take up way more space. Sometimes close to 20 gigs. which forces people to delete the iso's simply because they have no more space on their hd's. I myself have downloaded many 'Good' Games several times, as i decided to play them again. So my 3 stats on 1 game is actually 1. I bought mw2 but the dvd's were too damaged to install. So i turn to torrents, and thanks to the crackers for fixing more bugs than the developers do.

Big surprise. They even let

Big surprise. They even let pirates play MP freely without cdkeys, in addition to making it a console shooter ensuring that pc people would demo it first with a pirate copy. I actually bought it because I wanted to support crytek who made great games in the past, but in the end I ended up hating the whole company.

my opinion is

that i download games that actually i have no intend to buy,so i dont react the sales negatively,more often positively cause if i like a game ill buy it or ill buy the next series or even the hole series .
And ofcourse im waiting for the price to drop in case of overpricing.
So the best crysis is yours(and im not refere to the game crysis)

sometimes i will buy a game

sometimes i will buy a game for my console, but when i am away from home, i will use my laptop for gaming, so i see no issue in downloading the same game to my laptop.
Steam did something cool with portal 2 and ps3, where i can use steam with my ps3 and pc and have portal 2 on both machines, saved games and all.

Of course EA are the most

Of course EA are the most greediest out of all the gaming companies. And EA are the ones who screw up games and screw gamers all over. EA certainly know how to destroy very good games and franchises. And when they do screw up on a game they try to blame it on piracy for the low sales. The suits should have been sacked over the SCS debacle.

How about you come and cut my

How about you come and cut my lawn and I dont pay you for it. How about you work a week for your employer and not get paid for it. Thats exactly what piracy is. These people develop these games for our enjoyment and yes to make money but how would you feel about not getting paid for it? over 3 million copies of Crysis were stolen. That is what it is THEFT. Thats over 3 million copies they lost. And you wonder why they charge 60 bucks a game huh?

BtchPls

Theft is taking something that doesn't belong to you. YOUR description IS NOT theft. 1. Read tht EULA, technically the game you purchase does NOT belong to you, they still retain all rights. 2. You did not "take" anything. It was simply copied/cloned. 3. They sold 3million units in the 1st 6 months, at 60$ a game, thats 180million dollars. If ProductionCosts>Sales, then there is a loss. So long as ProductionCosts 4. Not every "pirated" game can be counted as a "loss" even by your crappy sense of logic; what about those who wanted to "try before they buy"? What about those who never would have bought the game anyway? How about the legitimate sales that were also played by a visiting friend/lent to friend? Those aren't covered in statistics either, further skewing your "logic". 5. Can you blame us? Almost ALL game-companies sell you unfinished products at inflated prices, and if you have patience, you can buy the same software a year later at 1 to 2 thirds the original cost, and as a bonus, have a better made product due to patches. Wanna talk loss? Lets talk about all the time put into patching a game only to have the game sell for less. According to your logic, the developers are paying you to wait to buy their game.

Frak off with your "Theft" speech, and ram it up your prosterior sideways. I will "Steal" every game I play LONG before I ever consider paying for it. The way I see it, considering how the companies (Who are NOT losing money to "theft") treat their customers, I will only "buy" a game if I'm still playing it by the time it becomes affordable and largely bug-free. THAT is NOT theft, that is called "Economics".

Yes but would you pay if your

Yes but would you pay if your lawn was only half cut and the person ripped up a lot of the lawn? or would you expect to get paid if you turned up for your job and you did fcuk all during the day? I'm happy paying for a quality service or product but i would also like a guarantee that what i was buying IS a quality product/service. By downloading the game first I am able to check that

torrenting is stealing. not borrowing. not "demoing."

It's stealing no matter how you want to put it. If you're an artist (anyone who creates a product for sale or not) of some sort, you would understand.

A game's quality really all depends on each individual person. There are people you think Battlefield 3 is complete shit; there are people who think otherwise. Not that it really matters anyways.

You're talking like the game developers OWE their customers. They don't owe "us" anything. Quite honestly, I'm sick and tired of this mindset (especially with the whole mass effect ending controversy). In short, they are putting out a product for sale: a product on which they a lot of hard work on. "downloading games illegally is, well, illegal, and stealing, end of story.

BS

The number of downloads are from the whole planet not US/EU/JP where legit games are available and AFFORDABLE, so you have to take off like 60% of the number of downloads, besides most of them would have never bought a legit copy ex: HAWX2 is still not pirated and ubisoft wont say the number of copies it sold so far.

oh and about supporting the developers, they get paid by the PUBLISHER whether the game is good or bad, whether it sold millions or thousands.

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