Can PC Game Piracy Be As High As 70 – 85%?

Is it possible that games for the PC could have a piracy rating as high as 70 – 85%? According to THQ Director of Creative Management Michael Fitch, it certainly is. It’s mentioned in GamePro’s posting that such games as Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock sell far more copies on consoles than they do on the PC. I’d be quick to argue that another reason for this is that many gamers don’t have super-powerful PCs, but do own a console.

But I still have no real problem in believing these figures. I am sure most of us have friends who pirate PC games, while many of them own purchased games for their consoles. I don’t doubt if pirating console games was made much easier, then many of my friends who pirate PC games would pirate those as well. It’s a sad situation, really, since it’s our support that brings on better games (with exception to crap games).

Given these figures, the newly-developed PC Gaming Alliance has a lot to battle with. I don’t even believe game pricing is half of the problem here, because almost always, the PC counterpart costs at least $10 – $20 less, at least in my recent experience. At launch, I picked up NFS: Pro Street for both the PC and Xbox 360, and the Xbox 360 version cost $20 more than the PC version, as an example. If things can improve, hopefully they will soon. The PC used to be such a stellar gaming platform.

“I didn’t believe [the data] at first. It seemed way too high. Then I saw that Bioshock was selling 5 to 1 on console vs. PC. And Call of Duty 4 was selling 10 to 1. These are hardcore games, shooters, classic PC audience stuff. Given the difference in install base, I can’t believe that there’s that big of a difference in who played these games, but I guess there can be in who actually payed for them,” Fitch said.

Source: GamePro