Data from download tracker TorrentFreak.com shows the PC version of Activision's
Call of Duty: Black Ops was the most pirated game of 2010, with over 4.2 million confirmed BitTorrent downloads through December 26.
Illegal downloads for the popular first person shooter, which
enjoys over 20 million registered online players, outpaced those for PC runners-up
Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Mafia 2, Mass Effect 2 and
Starcraft 2, each of which was pirated between 3 and 4 million times.
Black Ops' first-place finish marks the continuation of a somewhat ignoble trend for the
Call of Duty franchise -- TorrentFreak
named Modern Warfare 2 the most pirated game of 2009 with 4.1 million confirmed downloads.
The popularity of
Black Ops among illegal downloaders extended only partially to the Xbox 360 version of the game, which finished in fifth among illegal torrents on the system.
Illegal torrents for console games once again trailed significantly behind those for PC games, with
Super Mario Galaxy 2 leading the console list with 1.47 million downloads.
TorrentFreak.com's complete lists of illegally torrented games for 2010 are as follows:
PC Unauthorized BitTorrent Downloads in 2010 (through December 26, 2010)
1.
Call of Duty: Black Ops (4,270,000)
2.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (3,960,000)
3.
Mafia 2 (3,550,000)
4.
Mass Effect 2 (3,240,000)
5.
Starcraft II (3,120,000)
Wii Unauthorized BitTorrent Downloads in 2010 (through December 26, 2010)
1.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (1,470,000)
2.
Wii Party (1,220,000)
3.
Donkey Kong Country Returns (920,000)
4.
Kirbys Epic Yarn (880,000)
5.
Red Steel 2 (850,000)
Xbox 360 Unauthorized BitTorrent Downloads in 2010 (through December 26, 2010)
1.
Dante’s Inferno (1,280,000)
2.
Alan Wake (1,140,000)
3.
Red Dead Redemption (1,060,000)
4.
Halo Reach (990,000)
5.
Call of Duty: Black Ops (930,000)
