Robert Bowling, Community Relations Manager at Infinity Ward, has posted a weekly Call of Duty 4 roundup over at his blog in which he laments just how pervasive piracy has become on the PC, writing:
They Wonder Why People Don’t Make PC Games Any More
On another PC related note, we pulled some disturbing numbers this past week about the amount of PC players currently playing Multiplayer (which was fantastic). What wasn’t fantastic was the percentage of those numbers who were playing on stolen copies of the game on stolen / cracked CD keys of pirated copies (and that was only people playing online).
Not sure if I can share the exact numbers or percentage of PC players with you, but I’ll check and see; if I can I’ll update with them. As the amount of people who pirate PC games is astounding. It blows me away at the amount of people willing to steal games (or anything) simply because it’s not physical or it’s on the safety of the internet to do.
Even without the specific numbers (which Robert has further commented he cannot disclose), it’s clear that piracy has affected Call of Duty’s sales on the PC enough to warrant a mention here. Worst of all, Activision is paying to maintain servers that benefit paying customers and pirates alike. If you can excuse the high horse here, just because it’s easy to pirate a game doesn’t mean you should. Game developers and publishers aren’t otherworldly forces exempt from forces of nature or economy. Games cost money to make, and every pirated copy takes money out of developers’ pocket and adversely affects their next release. Simply put: if you love games and want to keep playing them, do the right thing and pay for them.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled (and significantly less preachy) website.
