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[MarkMclovin]

So 3.5 million people got burned when they downloaded Battlefield 3 and experience the shitty SP?

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

This thread makes me sad, fuck those people pirating games, go buy them.

 

[Nemesis121]

Damn, almost 4 million lost sales for Crysis 2.

And Crysis 3 will be a console only game...

 

[Guri]

There are so many lists that we hope some title make to it. With these, we're glad when they don't.

 

[DarkFlow]

Unless the dedicated server client leaked and I'm oblivious to it, pirated BF3 would be single-player only, right?

Those poor pirates, not even they deserve such a fate.



No PS3 games are 50 GB (not that I know of, the biggest is MGS4 at ~35 GB or something, right?) and you don't need a BD burner. But yeah, PS3 piracy is much harder than all other types of piracy.

Shows you how much I know about ripping off ps3 games hah.

 

[bengraven]

Okay, anyone else surprised that Skyrim didn't even crack the Top 5?

1) Skyrim has a loyal fanbase that BUY Bethesda games

2) it came out later in the year and had a smaller fanbase than the big shooters

3) the big shooters have a much more casual fanbase that are not as educated about the costs of piracy and think "man, I can get it for free? okay, why buy it then? Don't make sense".

 

[-KRS-]

One of my friends downloaded Xenoblade after I recommended it. He was so blown away that he went out and bought it the day after.

Edit: This was before I bought it myself so he couldn't try it at my place.

And someone mentioned that the numbers for these downloads were pretty low. I have to agree with that. Didn't we see a much bigger amount of downloads in the 2010 list from Torrentfreak? I don't remember but it seems like it's pretty low overall this year.

 

[Laughing Banana]

1) Skyrim has a loyal fanbase that BUY Bethesda games

2) it came out later in the year and had a smaller fanbase than the big shooters

3) the big shooters have a much more casual fanbase that are not as educated about the costs of piracy and think "man, I can get it for free? okay, why buy it then? Don't make sense".

I'm more inclined to believe that the real reason is: "hmm, Bethesda.... Glitches and bugs everywhere. Can't download patches if I'm pirating this, damn it!"

...But then again everybody got screwed nonetheless with the patches.

 

[Xanathus]

Crysis 2 was heavily pirated because pirated copies could play multiplayer online with legit players and cheat with zero consequences.

 

[DisenLedZep]

Portal 2 downloaded 3,240,000, yet Valve still manages to be successful.

What gives....

This is why Valve concentrates on doing good products, and not just average game or good DRM.

 

[-KRS-]

Crysis 2 was heavily pirated because pirated copies could play multiplayer online with legit players and cheat with zero consequences.

Wow really? That seems really bad. I thought every game with online these days had checks on the server side to dismiss pirate players? What happened?

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Wow really? That seems really bad. I thought every game with online these days had checks on the server side to dismiss pirate players? What happened?

A lazy port.

 

[kswiston]

1) Skyrim has a loyal fanbase that BUY Bethesda games

2) it came out later in the year and had a smaller fanbase than the big shooters

3) the big shooters have a much more casual fanbase that are not as educated about the costs of piracy and think "man, I can get it for free? okay, why buy it then? Don't make sense".

I'm almost positive that Skyrim on PC outsold most of those games on PC. It definitely outsold Modern Warfare 3 PC. Both games were Steamworks. Skyrim has been ahead of MW3 all month in the concurrent user stats, despite being a single player game (Even 6 weeks from release it is the most played single player game on Steam by a factor of 10. Most played game overall as well). Same is probably true of Portal 3. No clue about Fifa as I am not sure how that game sells on PC.

Your point about casual gamers is probably correct though. The sort of people who don't buy games at all, would probably be more likely to want to try out BF3 or MW3.

 

[lastendconductor]

I bet most of Wii downloads are for Dolphin.
The rest is to be expected. Big sales = big piracy.

 

[Xanathus]

Wow really? That seems really bad. I thought every game with online these days had checks on the server side to dismiss pirate players? What happened?

Yeah, it's the epitome of a lazy port. It's especially evident because they used Punkbuster for Crysis 1 MP which would have prevented the hacking, but didn't for 2 evidently to save costs. So what you have is a multiplayer FPS transmitting unencrypted game data.

 

[kswiston]

Is Xenoblade still being released as a Gamestop exclusive? If so, I'd say its chances of breaking 100k in the US are pretty slim.

The game will make a killing on the second hand market though.

 

[-KRS-]

Is Xenoblade still being released as a Gamespot exclusive? If so, I'd say its chances of breaking 100k in the US are pretty slim.

The game will make a killing on the second hand market though.

I seem to remember it also being mentioned that Nintendo would sell it on their homepage or something. But yeah... does not look good.

 

[Eusis]

Is Xenoblade still being released as a Gamespot exclusive? If so, I'd say its chances of breaking 100k in the US are pretty slim.

Gamestop, and yes it's exclusive still, though Nintendo's selling it through their site too. Though it's not as if Gamestop's a hard to find, nearly unknown chain, it'll probably still break 100k if it was going to as a non-exclusive.

 

[King of the Potato People]

A shame about the numbers for Xenoblade, I was hoping for a sort of sequel for Wii U.

 

[angular graphics]

Wow really? That seems really bad. I thought every game with online these days had checks on the server side to dismiss pirate players? What happened?

A lazy "who the fuck cares about the PC version" attitude happened.

There's also this about the cheaters: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-19-crysis-2-how-crytek-uk-beat-the-hackers

Their excuse for using particularly weak cheat protection is that they never anticipated to be massively hacked :lol

According to Crytek UK, the developer simply didn't expect the game to get hacked on the scale it did.

"We did feel like the game seemed to attract a lot of attention from hackers and cheaters," Tully said. "More than we anticipated."

and that it was easily fixable had they been bothered to invest a little time to ship it properly secured in the first place.

"That was probably something we would have benefited from spending time on."

"For example, on the PC, people were able to edit some of the data in the game and then go and play online, which wasn't our intention at all. It was as much a bug as anything else.

"Things like that we would definitely of fixed up in a heartbeat."

 

[kswiston]

Gamestop, and yes it's exclusive still, though Nintendo's selling it through their site too. Though it's not as if Gamestop's a hard to find, nearly unknown chain, it'll probably still break 100k if it was going to as a non-exclusive.

My fingers automatically type gamespot when I try to type gamestop...

Anyhow, store exclusivity usually means limited print runs. Also, not having your game in Walmart is a big deal in some areas. Gamestop is a large chain, but they are not in every small town, and not everyone shops online.

 

[BobLoblaw]

This is the key to avoiding piracy! HUGE BD Iso files that everyone won't feel like pirating!

I've been thinking this ever since the medium was released. Granted it would probably cause problems with coding a game, but having a 50 GB iso to download would suck, but I'm for just about anything to prevent piracy at this point (within reason of course). Why is there still no full proof method for preventing stuff like this after all these years?

 

[kswiston]

I have downloaded Infamous and a couple other PS3 games through PSN, and I don't remember the file sizes being that large. No bigger than a recent PC release (5-10GB)

 

[Eusis]

My fingers automatically type gamespot when I try to type gamestop...

Anyhow, store exclusivity usually means limited print runs. Also, not having your game in Walmart is a big deal in some areas. Gamestop is a large chain, but they are not in every small town, and not everyone shops online.

Good points, especially about limited print runs, but last I checked their share of the market was the same as Walmart's, and I imagine at least a chunk of that will be funneled to GameStop instead. Guess it depends on how many games still did well despite being effectively exclusive to GameStop, Amazon, and maybe Best Buy.

 

[BluWacky]

Mother 3 had a similar, but stronger campaign. It also had promotion through the Super Smash Bros series. The game started as the much-wanted Earthbound 64 and fans haven't stopped asking for it since.

With the best will in the world, there are many more fans of Tetsuya Takahashi's work than there are of the Earthbound series. Earthbound 64/Mother 3 was "much-wanted" by a far fewer number of people than Xenoblade.

To illegaly play Xenoblade, you have to download a larger file and take a number of annoying steps to mod your Wii.

Or just play it in Dolphin. I have no idea how large Xenoblade is as an ISO but the download time is probably still fairly trivial in these days of broadband - a couple of hours, maybe?

To play Mother 3, you download a small file and open it in an emulator. One game seems much more accessible.

Xenoblade has a commercial English language release; Mother 3 is fan-translated, which is automatically a niche that many gamers won't have explored - back when the patch was released, you also had to patch a Japanese ROM, and although undoubtedly there are pre-patched versions out there now that's an extra hurdle that some people won't be willing to overcome.

 

[Vice]

1) Skyrim has a loyal fanbase that BUY Bethesda games

2) it came out later in the year and had a smaller fanbase than the big shooters

3) the big shooters have a much more casual fanbase that are not as educated about the costs of piracy and think "man, I can get it for free? okay, why buy it then? Don't make sense".

I don't think 3 is true at all, anecdotal evidence for this is I've seen people in my facebook feed bragging about pirating Skyrim. TES has a very large casual fanbase. And, both CoD and Battlefield have loyal fanbases who buy the games.

 

[James Woods]

Instant gratification.

You can start a 5 GB download in the morning and be playing it that afternoon. If you need to download a 40 GB file you need to start it and wait three or four days until you can play it.

A large majority of pirates play fewer games than your average NeoGAF reader (i.e. not at all). They download everything, install maybe half of it, play a fraction of what they do install for half an hour to an hour, and then move on. Only a small handful of pirates every actually put real time into games. Its a fetish "industry" with no financial tie to it. Not unlike those who pirate porn. People download hundreds of gigs, or even terabytes, of porn. More than one human could wank off to in a lifetime. Why? Addiction to a collector mindset.

this post holds truth.

 

[ASIS]

Aside from a couple of numbers I honestly thought it would be bigger.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

And someone mentioned that the numbers for these downloads were pretty low. I have to agree with that. Didn't we see a much bigger amount of downloads in the 2010 list from Torrentfreak? I don't remember but it seems like it's pretty low overall this year.

I'm wondering if torrents are being phased out as the to-go place either due to ISP pressure (shaping etc) or a direct download alternative being faster and safer.

I seem to remember it also being mentioned that Nintendo would sell it on their homepage or something. But yeah... does not look good.

They do. Only let you buy one copy though.

My fingers automatically type gamespot when I try to type gamestop...

I think everybody's fingers do that.

 

[Zwei]

So 3.5 million people got burned when they downloaded Battlefield 3 and experience the shitty SP?

That's how EA planned it all along!

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Thank you. This is the reason that I find the Xenoblade numbers surprising. Xenoblade was a niche game with a niche following that saw it's reveal not at an E3 conference, but in the press kit as Monado, the game that was graphically worse than FFX. The only buzz the game got was on a few forums and through the articles related to the silly campaign.

Mother 3 had a similar, but stronger campaign. It also had promotion through the Super Smash Bros series. The game started as the much-wanted Earthbound 64 and fans haven't stopped asking for it since.

To illegaly play Xenoblade, you have to download a larger file and take a number of annoying steps to mod your Wii. To play Mother 3, you download a small file and open it in an emulator. One game seems much more accessible.

And yet, these numbers say that five times the people went after Xenoblade? That is surprising.

Nintendo released basically nothing for the Wii all year in North America. I'm surprised the Xenoblade numbers aren't higher.

 

[Chatin]

With the best will in the world, there are many more fans of Tetsuya Takahashi's work than there are of the Earthbound series. Earthbound 64/Mother 3 was "much-wanted" by a far fewer number of people than Xenoblade.

How many in North America know who Tetsuya Takahashi is, let alone make the connection with Xenoblade?

 

[Shambles]

I'm surprised that many people pirated Crysis 2, wasn't that great of a game. I enjoyed it but it wasn't amazing. *shrug*

Damn, almost 4 million lost sales for Crysis 2.

That's not how common sense works. Nice try trying to push your agenda though.

 

[charsace]

Portal 2 is a surprising one for me. I thought PC gamers love Valve? The 360 list isn't as bad as last year. I think Alan Wake was pirated more than copies sold.

 

[Mr. Enigma]

2010's numbers for comparison. Added to OP.

PC
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (4,270,000 downloads)
2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (3,960,000 downloads)
3. Mafia 2 (3,240,000 downloads)
4. Mass Effect 2 (3,240,000 downloads)
5. StarCraft II (3,120,000 downloads)

Xbox 360
1. Dante's Inferno (1,280,000 downloads)
2. Alan Wake (1,410,000 downloads)
3. Red Dead Redemption (1,060,000 downloads)
4. Halo: Reach (990,000 downloads)
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops (930,000 downloads)

Wii
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (1,470,000 downloads)
2. Wii Party (1,200,000 downloads)
3. Donkey Kong Country Returns (920,000 downloads)
4. Kirby's Epic Yarn (880,000 downloads)
5. Red Steel 2 (850,000 downloads)

 

[kswiston]

And here is 2009's most pirated list.


2009 PC Game Downloads
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)

2009 Xbox 360 Game Downloads
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)

2009 Wii Game Downloads
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)

 

[guidestone]

Portal 2 is a surprising one for me. I thought PC gamers love Valve?

They've said PC version sold more than the console ones. Individually, most likely.

 

[angular graphics]

Portal 2 is a surprising one for me. I thought PC gamers love Valve? The 360 list isn't as bad as last year. I think Alan Wake was pirated more than copies sold.

Of course, which is the reason the PC version sold better.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Damn, almost 4 million lost sales for Crysis 2.

nice troll post.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Wow, people are scum.

No! They are fighting for gamer rights everywhere! When the industry crash comes, will you be able to proudly say that you helped?

 

[ivysaur12]

Gamestop, and yes it's exclusive still, though Nintendo's selling it through their site too. Though it's not as if Gamestop's a hard to find, nearly unknown chain, it'll probably still break 100k if it was going to as a non-exclusive.

There's no way that Xenoblade sells 100k. I have my doubts it'll break 10k.

 

[hyduK]

Part of me wishes Xenoblades numbers were about 10 time higher.

 

[Mlatador]

They should have release Xenoblade in NA right after Operation Rainfall.

I think it would have been a fairly huge hit. I mean, the fucking game got TONS of momentum, promotion by fans, people going nuts.

There was sooo much hype!

 

[Foffy]

Man...you know the Wii had a pretty lacking year when its most pirated game wasn't released in 2011, or even at the end of 2010.

Either that's a lot of people who chose not to buy the game or a lot who wanted to download it to test Dolphin. I know some people who are really big fans of the HD quality it can give to Gamecube/Wii games, but I haven't followed it too heavily myself.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Man...you know the Wii had a pretty lacking year when its most pirated game wasn't released in 2011, or even at the end of 2010.

Either that's a lot of people who chose not to buy the game or a lot who wanted to download it to test Dolphin. I know some people who are really big fans of the HD quality it can give to Gamecube/Wii games, but I haven't followed it too heavily myself.

Looking at the Wii list makes me wonder if a lot of dads have modded the family Wii and use it for downloaded games for little Jimmy.

Parents are pretty big enablers for kids, look at the DS situation. A lot of parents would buy a flash cart without blinking an eyelid.

 

[Foffy]

Looking at the Wii list makes me wonder if a lot of dads have modded the family Wii and use it for downloaded games for little Jimmy.

Parents are pretty big enablers for kids, look at the DS situation. A lot of parents would buy a flash cart without blinking an eyelid.

Wouldn't this be more due to parents not looking into the legality of this stuff? I'm quite sure they're not informed about this stuff as much as most people would be, for example.

 

[Eusis]

There's no way that Xenoblade sells 100k. I have my doubts it'll break 10k.

While I have to admit we may be lucky to hit 100k (though I'm not sure it's TOO unreasonable), sub-10k seems to be the territory of obscure, unhyped portable games from the likes of Aksys, Xseed, or (before they got more selective) Atlus. Unless damn near everyone pirated/imported with no plans to buy the US version I figure at worst total lifetime sales would be 30k or something.

 

[x3sphere]

I bet most of Wii downloads are for Dolphin.
The rest is to be expected. Big sales = big piracy.

I highly doubt that... Wii is the easiest to hack out of the 3 consoles plus has the largest userbase. Surprised the numbers aren't higher actually

 

[Gav47]

Does anyone else think that EA taking up the top four slots in the PC category last year might have something to do with Origin? I get the feeling people are much more invested in their Steam accounts to pirate a Steamworks title. As for Portal 2, I could see a lot of people having ended buying it during the Summer and Christmas sales, it was really cheap.

 

[The Lamp]

Damn, almost 4 million lost sales for Crysis 2.

Why do you consider it 4 million lost sales? You really think everyone who pirated the game would have bought Crysis 2 instead if it weren't available for pirating?