Modern Warfare 2 is Most Pirated Game of 2009

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 broke all sorts of records -- even ones on illegal activities.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is 2009's entertainment juggernaut. In its first 24 hours, the game sold 4.7 million copies in North America and the UK, scooping in $310 million.

Infinity Ward's latest cash cow shooter isn't only a champion in the legitimate space – the game also proved to be the most popular choice for gaming pirates too.

According to TorrentFreak, the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 has gathered 4.1 million BitTorrent downloads since its release on November 10 to December 27. Adding in the 970,000 downloads of the Xbox 360 version (for modded consoles), that brings a download total of more than 5 million for Modern Warfare 2.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
74 Comments Comment from the forums
  • i thought you couldn't play mp on the pirated version .. so what's the point?
    Reply
  • I thought you couldn't play mp on the pirated version.. so what's the point?
    Reply
  • hixbot
    ridiculous. a quick search of any torrent site, will show the xbox 360 version is pirated the most.
    you can play MP on the xbox 360 with a pirated copy.

    and as far as the pc version goes, they gimped the MP so badly this round that noone is interested in it. if the mp sucks, why buy the game when you can just pirate for the single player?
    Reply
  • fulle
    @Bob

    Since the multiplayer has no dedicated servers, and just a crappy matchmaking system, the game's only worth it for the short single player campaign... which a hardcore FPS player will blow through in just a couple days.
    -Ironically, players who pirate the game can use hacks to get dedicated servers and the dev console.

    Not really surprised on the 5 million pirate downloads, but that 4.1 million legit copies sold in the first 24 hours sort of makes me sad... considering the way IW basically stabbed hardcore FPS players in the back and twisted the knife.
    Reply
  • fulle
    *correction: 4.7 million legit copies in the first 24 hours. I need an edit button.

    @Hix
    I like you. You actually spelled "ridiculous" correctly. On the forums here, that's freaking amazing.
    Reply
  • rodney_ws
    Clearly more invasive and restrictive copy protection methods are needed to eliminate this illegal/harmful behavior. LONG LIVE DRM!
    Reply
  • 4ILY45
    heck, they sold the thing for $60.
    no surprise there..
    Reply
  • chris13th
    well...i wasn't about to pay another 60 bucks for a bullshit version of a fantastic game. i would have paid 30, as an expansion...because that's all it's worth
    Reply
  • bamslang
    I had it given to me as a gift for the 360. Beat single player quickly and got bored of mp just as fast. It's fun, but not a huge improvement over MW1. Sure there are fun new gadgets like the pred or the AC130 in MP, but nothing that really kept me playing.

    Now if they put in dedicated, I would probably buy it for PC and play it a lot more than I do now on the 360. It just doesn't feel right playing FPS on a console when you did it for so long on PC.

    Sadly, the only thing that will come of this is more DRM, which, like abstinence teaching, has proven to not work with kids or adults.
    Reply
  • aethm
    Not surprised. I wish I would have pirated it. It's a worthless PC game. Lasted me all of 4 hours.
    Reply