Bohemia: "For every three legitimate buyers" of Arma 2 there's '100 pirates'

Arma 2's Bohemia Interactive has revealed a depressing figure of PC piracy, that there are "100 (failed) attempts" to play a pirated copy of Arma 2 online to every legitimate 3.

This shows an "extremely widespread" piracy problem on PC, especially for a "mid-sized" PC focused studio like Bohemia. The stats are "undoubtedly much worse" for singe player.

[hiredhelp]

WOW any proof of them numbers? Thats alot of pirates if so considering the fanbase of Arma.
Keeping in mind alot of players may not be apealed by arma's such simulated shooter So again i find them numbers hard to digest.

[Yi-Long]

... so once again a developer releases a mediocre game among great releases, and blames piracy for disappointing sales, instead of their own failure to deliver.

[coolbeans]

So now a 77 is defined as mediocre?

[kevnb]

the game is actually really great for what it is. Its certainly not for everyone though.

[SJPFTW]

goes both ways people dont pirate medicore games. so if it got higher reviews would have been pirated more

[Yi-Long]

... when it's up against games that score 90+ then yes, it's considered mediocre.

[MAJ0R]

Arma 2 is a great game with the Ace 2 mod, very realistic and the best mil sim out there

this seems like a devastating move from Bohemia and looks like they are hinting at consoles

[coolbeans]

That means games that score 9+ are among the highest in their genre. I fail to see how only 13 average points less causes its quality to be defined as mediocre.

[bozebo]

I tried the demo ( http://www.arma2.com/demo/i... ) and didn't like it.

It performed exceptionally badly for the complexity of the scene :( I can't play PC shooters without consistently high frame rates and would need a new machine to play it if I even liked it. Another similar game, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising - suffered from pretty much all the same flaws. I bought it on release because it was only £18 from Amazon and regretted it hugely (it was worth £0 imho).

Anyway, regardless for my dislike of Arma 2. I gained a lot of respect for Bohemia Interactive reading the article, they sould like really sound developers. Especially their love for open platforms. I share the same opinion.

Might buy Arma 2 (only £9 lol) even though I can barely run it and didn't like it. I can understand the game looking bad with their slim development expenditures but how come it performs so badly with that level of graphical fidelity? The gunplay was also horrible (though that could have been because I was running it at about 15 fps).

I now place Bohemia in the same camp as Tripwire and CDPR. The awesome bunch. (I have bought Killing Floor like 6 times, every time it's on sale I gift it to a friend who hasn't played it lol). And TW2 is one of the few games I preordered this year (well, I preordered it last year but it came out this year).

[papashango]

If you fail to see then look harder we now live under the rule that anything under a 9 is mediocre. that 8.5 uc3 score is proof enough.

I own arma2 and arrowhead btw. This game is extremely niche and can guarantee that alot of the people that tried it never went back. It really isn't for everyone so they're fooling themselves if they think it should be selling millions.

[DirtyLary]

POS pirates will use any excuse to justify themselves.

[opinska]

you are a spammer... 77 is good not mediocre... go back to school

[calibann]

Yes 77 is mediocre

[coolbeans]

When it comes to the community, we're in a sad state of gaming if a 77 can actually be seen as mediocre. Are 8's now considered "just above average" in your opinion as well?

[fluffydelusions]

^^ 77 is mediocre in terms of school as well just to put it into perspective.

[coolbeans]

^^ Why make the comparison with school? A 77 in movies (basically 3 out of 4 stars) is considered good/great film when you put it in that perspective. "The Descendants" is averaging a mid/low 80's on metacritic, yet the context of the critical reviews has you confident in believing it'll be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (maybe win it).

[papashango]

The reason why 77 is good in movies is because critics aren't afraid to give 1 out of 5 stars or two thumbs down. It happens alot. In the gaming world 8.5/10 and 9/10 is almost a guarantee and is handed out like halloween candy. Gamers are seeing it as the default score so anything less is rage worthy w which we are seeing across all platforms

[pedo_across-the-road]

Kinda feel sorry for him and his team.

[kevnb]

the main focus is the multiplayer... I think hes caught up in numbers, every download isnt actually another person pirating it. Some people will download it and never install, play it once and uninstall it, download it more than once, try it then decide to buy it etc... But fear not, the great "firewall of usa" is coming, thanks alot pirates...

[kevnb]

wait a second, thats taken out of context again for hits... it says there are 100 attempts to play online for every 3 legit. Pirates could be trying over and over again to get on, eventually giving up and either buying or forgetting it. Interesting drm, I remember arkham city where batman couldnt glide in the pirated version lol.

[The Meerkat]

3/100?
I call BS

I heard it was only 1/33.

[Gigglefist]

Proud to have bought it. While the pirating is likely a large overstatement, I must state it is an amazing game. Go buy it.

[Letros]

I'm not understanding his complaint, he claims pirates can't play online (failed attempts), so they are either uninstalling and moving on, or buying the game.

[TheDareDevil]

They can play the single player

[Letros]

Sort of, the game has code that degrades the game over time, rendering it soon unplayable.

So I guess for the pirates, its nothing more than a demo.

[Jormungandr]

ok the headline is dramatically misleading.

For every 3 attempt to login with a legit version there are 100 attempts to login with a pirated. That's what was actually said. Completely different from there being 100 pirates for every 3 legit users.

Lets pretend you cant connect to an online server... regardless of the reason. How many of you would try again? How many times? And if you knew exactly what the reason was and was trying to "fix" it (or in this case, get around it)? How many times would you try then?

Its completely reasonable for a pirate to try 10-25 times to connect as he works out how to get a crack working or what not. So that would be more like 3 to 4-10 legit to pirates ratio. Not 3 to 100 as the headline claims. Still that's a rather distressing number... unless this game automatically tries to connect even if you don't go online... Then each pirate could be producing 50 or more attempted connections. Which, for those who have difficulty with basic arithmetic, would be a 3 legit to 2 pirate ratio.

And none of those considers potential bugs introduced by a crack. Bugs that most likely would effect whatever system is used to validate the authenticity of the game... in this case connecting to the online servers. So its even possible we are looking at a 300 legit to 1 pirate ratio. Granted this is not as likely as the above scenarios.

Bottom line... misleading title is misleading. Borderline trolling in fact.

[vortis]

I think it's less complicated. It could log the IP and the user and fetch the login data, if it fails it counts as pirated, if it succeeds it counts it as legit.

I don't know because he didn't explain it very well but that's what I gather.

[Tzuno]

There are enough people on this earth no worries.

[Chippydip]

The real lesson here is that developers and publishers are doing God's work, delivering their software free of charge to the poor or otherwise wary of the corporate system, ehhhhh?

but dont ever pirate. it's bad. to be a pirate. so dont steal.

[Saryk]

I own every ARMA game made, they are very good. The ARMA series is a ton more realistic than all of the COD and BF series combined. It has a ton of weapons and vehicles, uses real world information to make a simulation. But that is the problem. This is a real simulation compared to everything else, which doesn’t appeal to everyone and to the scoring process. You can’t snipe and get away with it. You can’t launch a rocket from your jet, then jump out 10 foot above the ground, use your parachute and survive.

[HaHa_Ostrich]

First of all, Arma 2 was a bugfest at release. Horrible optimisation, game breaking bugs and glitches. If the game was actually finished, I bet it would get higher scores and sell better.

[Sidewinder-]

Lol. Using phantom pirates, that don't actually have an impact on the game in this reguard, as an excuse to lay the beat down on good people who buy it.

[GraveLord]

B-B-But Steam and Origin! They saved PC gaming!
/s

There's a reason ID, Bethesda, Valve and everyone is doing games on consoles. That 1 reason is piracy.

[TheGameFoxJTV]

No, that 1 reason is a larger audience/money Mr.Hurr.

[Pandamobile]

Yet somehow Bohemia are still in business because, oh right, their games still sell.

[PotatoClock]

"They saved PC gaming!"
How can you save something that doesn't need saving?

PC Gaming never died out. Casuals entering the gaming scene have only increased over the years, and casuals only want to buy the cheaper systems hence why theres more money with consoles.

What, did you think there have always been this many people playing video games?

BTW, piracy exists on consoles. Thats shocking to you, I know.
Learn to think for yourself and not be a sheep following what the media says...oh wait, you bought MW3, you can't help it, my bad!

[josephayal]

ARMA must be a PS3 Exclusive

[pctrollv4]

hahahaha....arma. Seriously, i know there are people who play this still, but come on. It must not sell more than 50k copies and a lot of people pirate it. If they lower the prices ill buy it.