Only 16% of Bad Company 2’s sales were on PC format, as well, which puts the computer’s market share against the next-gen consoles in perspective.
 

What I heard was that the PC version had more people playing the game online, not more sales...

Those sales don't account for digital distribution (like steam, d2d, xfire) which is becoming more and more popular. 

probs equal or more to actual sales 
 
one of the reason peeps use to say pc was dying, cuz digital distribution was counted

" probs equal or more to actual sales  one of the reason peeps use to say pc was dying, cuz digital distribution isn't counted "

yeah they should count the digital distribution sales too.

Valve doesn't release sales numbers to anyone and that's the end of it. Unless that policy changes, those sells will never appear in any official statistic (or only as a very rough estimate). The top seller list Valve puts out has no concrete numbers attached to it.

Even 16% seems pretty healthy.  MW2 was about 3% or something wasn't it?

" Valve doesn't release sales numbers to anyone and that's the end of it. Unless that policy changes, those sells will never appear in any official statistic (or only as a very rough estimate). The top seller list Valve puts out has no concrete numbers attached to it. "

" Those sales don't account for digital distribution (like steam, d2d, xfire) which is becoming more and more popular.  "

" Even 16% seems pretty healthy.  MW2 was about 3% or something wasn't it? "

To play online on the pc you need a unique cd-key -- therefore if more people are playing BC2 online on the PC then more people bought the game on the PC.  Pirated copies of games w/o lan/dedicated server support (no hamachi) are only for the singleplayer, unless of course you're on a 360... 
 
I personally don't know anyone who bought the game at a physical store -- Steam is how everyone I know buys every pc game.

Even if you don't take into account digital downloads, 16 % is quite low.

Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well.

" Even if you don't take into account digital downloads, 16 % is quite low. "

" Even if you don't take into account digital downloads, 16 % is quite low. "

" Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well. "

Based on http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26736/NPD_90_Percent_Of_Paid_Game_Purchases_Were_Physical_In_Q3.php, digital downloads are growing but retail sales are still the majority. So if people thought that there are more PC players than console, they are wrong.

I would love for Steam to release their data. But sooner or later, you have to wonder why they don't and why they are now releasing it on the Mac. It is in their best interest to show how much "PC gaming has grown".

" @Talesavo:

So if people thought that there are more PC players than console, they are wrong."

" Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well. "

Well there is a shitload of full servers (seriously, the list is HOOOGE), so it sold more than enough.
 
Oh, and not counting digital distribution = fail. Steam alone is a huge part of the sales.

" @xyzygy said:

" Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well. "

No you can't, you need a valid CD key that get's auth'ed server-side. It's impossible to spoof it or bruteforce a key since the algorithm is too complex with a 16-28digit CD-key(something like 8.9 trillion different possibilities). "

" Even if you don't take into account digital downloads, 16 % is quite low. "

" @Talesavo:

Based on http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26736/NPD_90_Percent_Of_Paid_Game_Purchases_Were_Physical_In_Q3.php, digital downloads are growing but retail sales are still the majority. So if people thought that there are more PC players than console, they are wrong.

I would love for Steam to release their data. But sooner or later, you have to wonder why they don't and why they are now releasing it on the Mac. It is in their best interest to show how much "PC gaming has grown".

"

" @Talesavo:

Based on http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26736/NPD_90_Percent_Of_Paid_Game_Purchases_Were_Physical_In_Q3.php, digital downloads are growing but retail sales are still the majority. So if people thought that there are more PC players than console, they are wrong.

I would love for Steam to release their data. But sooner or later, you have to wonder why they don't and why they are now releasing it on the Mac. It is in their best interest to show how much "PC gaming has grown".

"

" Based on http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26736/NPD_90_Percent_Of_Paid_Game_Purchases_Were_Physical_In_Q3.php, digital downloads are growing but retail sales are still the majority."

" @Talesavo said:

" @xyzygy said:

" Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well. "

No you can't, you need a valid CD key that get's auth'ed server-side. It's impossible to spoof it or bruteforce a key since the algorithm is too complex with a 16-28digit CD-key(something like 8.9 trillion different possibilities). "

Nothing is impossible "

I buy all of my pc games on steam, so that's probably why the percentage is so low..
 
So far, everyone I know also buys their pc games on steam now.

oh man oh man 
 
DICE said themselves that there are more people playing on PC than 360 and PS3 put together. Not only that but you can borrow or rent games for consoles and that still counts as a unique player. On the PC, each sold copy means only one player.  
 
Digital Distribution sales figures are not released to the public. I think it is the publishers decision if they want to release the figures, but they never do. 80% of games bought in 2009 for PC were digital distribution.  

" @Talesavo said:

" @xyzygy said:

" Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well. "

No you can't, you need a valid CD key that get's auth'ed server-side. It's impossible to spoof it or bruteforce a key since the algorithm is too complex with a 16-28digit CD-key(something like 8.9 trillion different possibilities). "

Nothing is impossible "

" @Hunkulese said:

" @Talesavo said:

" @xyzygy said:

" Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well. "

No you can't, you need a valid CD key that get's auth'ed server-side. It's impossible to spoof it or bruteforce a key since the algorithm is too complex with a 16-28digit CD-key(something like 8.9 trillion different possibilities). "

Nothing is impossible "

It's already been hacked. 2 weeks, 3 days ago. client is up on a lot of torrent sites. "

" @Hunkulese said:

" @Talesavo said:

" @xyzygy said:

" Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well. "

No you can't, you need a valid CD key that get's auth'ed server-side. It's impossible to spoof it or bruteforce a key since the algorithm is too complex with a 16-28digit CD-key(something like 8.9 trillion different possibilities). "

Nothing is impossible "

It's already been hacked. 2 weeks, 3 days ago. client is up on a lot of torrent sites. "

I don't think this takes into account the digital sales, many of which were pre-purchases to get in on the beta.

If you honestly think there's a widely used Server-Side hack to allow Multiplayer gaming and it hasn't hit pirate sites like nfohump/isonews or even more ambigous sites like torrentfreak, then you're delusional. Hell, they can't even run Hamachi based servers since the server-side network code is only available to specific partners, sanctioned by EA. You're talking out of your ass, but it's cute that you think you're privy to knowledge that the average pirater doesn't have access to.

For the record, I bought mine on Steam.  Let's count our own numbers here.

" @Hunkulese said:

" @Talesavo said:

" @xyzygy said:

" Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well. "

No you can't, you need a valid CD key that get's auth'ed server-side. It's impossible to spoof it or bruteforce a key since the algorithm is too complex with a 16-28digit CD-key(something like 8.9 trillion different possibilities). "

Nothing is impossible "

You keep on quoting cliche'd phrases. For the rest of us that live in the real-world where you can't just sprout wings and fly, certain things are impossible. That's not to say technology in the future wont allow us to crack things, current hardware wont allow it. Maybe you should read up on it sometime. "

" @Talesavo said:

" @Hunkulese said:

" @Talesavo said:

" @xyzygy said:

" Can you pirate the game and still play online? because if you can that might count as well. "

No you can't, you need a valid CD key that get's auth'ed server-side. It's impossible to spoof it or bruteforce a key since the algorithm is too complex with a 16-28digit CD-key(something like 8.9 trillion different possibilities). "

Nothing is impossible "

You keep on quoting cliche'd phrases. For the rest of us that live in the real-world where you can't just sprout wings and fly, certain things are impossible. That's not to say technology in the future wont allow us to crack things, current hardware wont allow it. Maybe you should read up on it sometime. "

I'm quoting multiple cliched phrases because I said nothing is impossible? Maybe if you had actually read what I had written. Obviously anyone with a search engine wont be able to play pirated games online but you're the one living in a fairytale world if you think there aren't people out there capable of playing pirated games online. "

Here's the math since I was bored:
 
36 combinations in 25 spots is 36^25, which is 808,281,277,464,764,060,643,139,600,456,536,293,376.
 
So you have a 1 in 808,281,277,464,764,060,643,139,600,456,536,293,376 chance of getting a legitimate key through brute-forcing for a 25 character key behind a 128-bit encryption. Ya, let's see that happen.

" @Talesavo: U mad? Chill out bro. Name calling ain't cool :( "

" oh man oh man  DICE said themselves that there are more people playing on PC than 360 and PS3 put together. Not only that but you can borrow or rent games for consoles and that still counts as a unique player. On the PC, each sold copy means only one player.   Digital Distribution sales figures are not released to the public. I think it is the publishers decision if they want to release the figures, but they never do. 80% of games bought in 2009 for PC were digital distribution.   "

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-bad-company-2-pc/933150-updates-servers-now-soon-7.html#post13100931

"During peak US hours the Xbox 360 dominates the player numbers. When that post was made it was the Europeans playing and pushed the PC numbers higher.
Also PC had higher numbers of players than Xbox 360 or PS3, not the two combined."

Dominates and that's just the Xbox not PS3 and Xbox combined

Also, those numbers may be UK only.
 
Many people don't upgrade their PCs often and thus get games for their consoles, nothing new here sadly

most likely didn't count steam/ other digital places. it just seems alright, i also think that it might be because people are waiting for an actual battlefield game like 2.

Hm, well I only buy my PC games on Steam.  I don't know anyone who still goes to the store to buy PC games, especially after MW2 a lot more people became aware of Steam.

stores barley even have pc games anymore...

" mouth-breathing inbred "

" @Talesavo:  Is coming up with random nonsensical insults supposed to prove you're right? I guess I hit a nerve. "