Sims 3 Pirated Before Launch

The much-anticipated Sims 3 launches June 5, but pirated versions are already popping up on the torrents.

Promising to be one of the most popular video games of the year, The Sims 3 launches officially on June 5. But it’s already hit the record books as the most-pirated game of the year, popping up on torrent networks and reportedly downloaded 180,000 times between May 14-21.

Spore was the most-pirated game of last year, illegally downloaded around 400,000 times over three weeks. The Sims 3 figure would put it ahead of that curve, and means the makers are set to lose around $9 million in sales, states The Register.

According to Bloomberg, Electronic Arts, which makes the game, claims the version being pirated is incomplete, and "buggy, pre-final build."

EA elected not to build digital rights management into the game.