Piracy
The game's popularity reflected in the amount of unauthorized downloads it had from BitTorrent sites. There were 4.1 million recorded downloads for the PC version, in addition to 970,000 for the Xbox 360, making it 2009's most pirated game on both platforms.
F.A.G.S. video
A viral video was released by Modern Warfare 2, about an organization called "Fight Against Grenade Spam" or "F.A.G.S." The video depicts Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels delivering a fake public service announcement decrying the use of grenade spam, calling it "for pussies" and using other expletives throughout it. This quickly created controversy, with writers such as Denis Farr saying it shows an acceptance of homophobic insults on Xbox Live.
Hackers in multiplayer
Upon release of Modern Warfare 2, the game was plagued by many hackers and modders on not only PC, but Xbox Live and PSN as well. The first known hack on the Xbox 360 was in the form of the "unlimited ammo" lobbies, where players had unlimited ammo and no reloading for every gun. Infinity Ward addressed this by posting their first patch of the game, which removed this, along with the Javelin glitch and balancing the Model 1887 Akimbos. On the PC end, the game was littered with the recuring theme of Aimbots, Wallhacks, and other hacks returning from the first Modern Warfare.
