While awesome video games launch all the time, new games are expensive. Nobody can afford to buy every new release, so some people turn to piracy to play on the cheap.

But even with older games, piracy isn't safe. Setting ethical considerations aside, there are simply too many risks to playing pirated games. We examine some of those risks here.

1. Pirated Games Could Infect Your PC With Malware

It's no secret that pirating any kind of software is dangerous. When you download from a reputable source, you can reasonably trust that the file you're downloading is what the distributor claims it is. Legitimate game stores would get in a lot of trouble for handing out malware.

But that trust disappears when you're downloading public torrents. How do you know that someone didn't mess with the file before uploading it?

Horror stories, like one from Kaspersky about a player who was hit with ransomware when trying to download a cracked game, should act as a warning. Even if you have a backup of your files, are the hours you spend restoring your system really worth the $60 (or less) price tag of the game?

As reported by The Register, a large number of people who pirated the first Watch Dogs upon launch were treated to Bitcoin mining malware. This wasted their system's resources to make money for the malware creator.

Certainly, not every cracked game download will contain malware. But think about it: people who want to mess with others' computers to make money or even just to play a prank have a wide-open target when a new game comes out. Impatient gamers will jump on the first crack of the new game that's available, which could be a costly mistake.

2. You Could Lose Online Gaming Privileges

Particularly on consoles, playing pirated games is an offense that could result in a ban from Xbox Live or PlayStation Network. In 2009, as CNET reported, Microsoft famously banned nearly a million Xbox Live players for modifying their Xbox 360 consoles and playing pirated games.

Microsoft's Xbox Live Community Standards page states the following:

"Accessing or using content in inappropriate ways can contribute to fraud and spoil great experiences for other players, sapping the magic of Xbox Live . . . .

Don't:

Play a pirated game

Play a game before its release date

Share your profile with another person

Try to access accounts you don’t own

Use someone’s intellectual property in a way that’s not permitted"

If you break these rules, Microsoft clearly lays out the consequences:

"If you violate Xbox community standards, you may find restrictions placed on your profile and/or device . . . .

We may permanently suspend a profile or device if we can no longer trust it due to a severe violation, or if our attempts to correct repeated negative behaviors are unsuccessful. Under permanent suspension, the owner of the suspended profile forfeits all licenses for games and other content, Gold membership time, and Microsoft account balances."

In short, pirating games is against the code of conduct and you could receive restrictions on your account, up to permanent suspension. If that happens, you'll lose access to any games you bought digitally, plus your Xbox Live Gold subscription.

That's a lot of money wasted in the process of trying to save a few bucks by pirating games.

3. It's Illegal to Pirate Video Games

Just like illegally downloading music and movies, stealing video games via piracy is a federal crime in the United States. Punishment can range from paying back the copyright holder to spending time in jail.

Of course, many people pirate software and video games, so it would be impossible for the FBI to catch them all. Chances are that you're not going to spend half a decade in jail for downloading an illegal copy of Battlefield.

Despite this, you're still doing something wrong. And since your ISP and the government track basically everything you do online anyway, it wouldn't be too hard to prove that you've committed piracy.

4. The Game Might Not Even Work

Many game developers don't wait for the government to stop pirates---they take action themselves. Some use digital rights management (DRM) systems that prevent illegal copies from working at all. But others get more creative with in-game copyright measures.

One of the most famous copyright protections is 1994's EarthBound, an RPG on the SNES. If the game detects that you're using an illegitimate copy, it shows anti-piracy messages and greatly increases the amount of enemies in the game. This made it miserable to play through, but the ultimate punishment comes at the end of the game. During the final boss, the game freezes and deletes your entire save data.

More recently, developers have come up with creative ways to screw with pirates. The first Crysis replaces your bullets with chickens so you can't defeat enemies. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman's glide move plummets him to the ground so you can't get through the game's introduction. The Talos Principle locks pirates in an elevator after several hours of play.

Game Dev Tycoon, an indie game released in 2013, is a simulation title where you work to come up with new ideas for a video game and sell them to build your business. Its crackdown on pirates was particularly ingenious: the developers intentionally released a cracked version to pirating sites.

In the cracked version, your in-game studio is eventually plagued with pirates stealing your game without paying, preventing you from making a profit. As the developers explain on the Greeenheart Games blog, pirates ironically flocked to forums to complain about the piracy in the game, incriminating themselves as the real thieves.

With these and other examples, it's clear that pirating a video game might not even provide you with a usable product. And you're hurting developers who depend on sales from the game to make a living---especially independent development teams.

5. You Might Get More Than You Bargained For

This is a similar risk to the first point, but still a problem nonetheless. When you wander into the world of game piracy, you open yourself up to the possibility of inappropriate content. Aside from straight malware, browsing pirate sites and searching for a cracked copy of a game could expose you to pornographic or other NSFW content.

You could spawn explicit popups or install something nasty by accidentally clicking the wrong download button. Who's to say that the "game" you're pirating is even really the right video game?

After all, you already know that someone who is illegally breaking copyright protection and distributing a video game has a questionable moral compass. What would stop someone like that from swapping your expected game with disgusting videos or something similar?

When you jump into the wild west of illegally accessing games, you open yourself to anything and everything in those sections of the web. You might not have a serious problem, but don't be surprised if your game comes with more than you expected.

Piracy: Not Worth the Risks

People often treat piracy with a casual attitude, but these real hazards show that it's a serious matter. Thankfully, there's great news: you don't need to resort to piracy anymore.

Streaming services and app subscriptions have turned once-expensive endeavors into affordable monthly installments. This applies to gaming too---services like PlayStation Now and Xbox Game Pass let you play as many games as you want for a set price a month.

Even without those, though, regular sales mean you can pick up premium titles for cheap if you're patient. There are even ways to legally get high-quality games at no cost; you just have to know where to look. Don't risk your security for a bit of money and the short-lived thrill of playing a new game right away.