Thanks for Lunarwolf for finding these pretty astounding figures on this year’s most pirated games. Initially unsurprising is Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) topping the PC games list with 4.1 million, over four times the Xbox version of the game. This is nothing special when you think of how notorious the PC platform is for pirates, however, when you think that MW2 was only released on November 10th while it’s nearest competition was released in June, the popularity of this game becomes apparent. Even more strange is the fact that the game was released with Steam protection, which is regarded as the best protection a game can have, yet it still tops the list (note that no other games on the list require Steam).

We’re caught in a vicious spiral, major developers are spending less money on developing for the PC platform and treat it more like a console, for example in MW2 we saw the lack of dedicated servers and the requirement of playing through IWNet (Infinity Ward’s Peer 2 Peer system) so they can sell us add-on packs like consoles. This in turn means PC gamers are more inclined to pirate the game which makes developers consider the PC platform even less viable and so the spiral continues. Charging £35 for a PC game didn’t help Activision either.

PC games via BitTorrent in 2009:

• 1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (4.100.000)
• 2. The Sims 3 (3.200.000)
• 3. Prototype (2.350.000)
• 4. Need For Speed Shift (2.100.000)
• 5. Street Fighter IV (1.850.000)

360 games via BitTorrent in 2009:

• 1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (970.000)
• 2. Street Fighter IV (840.000)
• 3. Prototype (810.000)
• 4. Dirt 2 (790.000)
• 5. UFC 2009 Undisputed (720.000)

Wii games via BitTorrent in 2009:

• 1. New Super Mario Bros. (1.150.000)
• 2. Punch-Out!! (950.000)
• 3. Wii Sports Resort (920.000)
• 4. The House of the Dead: Overkill (860.000)
• 5. Mario Power Tennis (830.000)

Source