Though PC gamers have laughed off the doom-saying surrounding the death of the platform, the piracy problem isn't going away. 2D Boy's excellent indie title World of Goo is suffering at the hands of the pirates, as the game's creators have revealed that the game has an alarming 90 percent piracy rate.

Ron Carmel, one of the two men who make up 2D Boy in its entirety, spoke to Joystiq about the stunning piracy rates for World of Goo. Carmel recounted seeing torrents with upwards of "500 seeders and 300 leechers" and receiving emails from some who bought the title after pirating it, but flat-out said that "the piracy rate was about 90" percent. "We're doing ok, though," Carmel said in stride. "We're getting good sales through WiiWare, Steam, and our website. Not going bankrupt just yet."

It's very depressing to hear this, considering that World of Goo is an independent production; this is the kind of story that makes big-name publishers believe even more strongly in DRM.

The company went out of its way to remove all DRM from the title, labeling the move an "experiment." The question is open: would the pirates have bought the game otherwise? Did the lack of DRM lead to more sales? The amount a game is pirated isn't important—lost sales are—but these things are nearly impossible to quantify.

We bought our copies. Did you?