This is during the era when the N64, PS1, SNES, Dreamcast or Sega Genesis were popular. Games back then were released physically via disc or cartridge, meaning distributors or publishers would've implemented anti-piracy (like Lenslok) measures onto physical copies but some knew how to tamper with anti-piracy if they have a computer using other sources of capturing data (floppy disks).

Also, games at the time were 'simple' to torrent but with a catch (dial up was still a thing at the time meaning downloads could take a while if you have a PC). Discs were more straight forward than "torrenting" cartridges (unless you have connections with the manufacturer on smuggling circuit boards). Like with movies, games that came on discs were "torrented" through CDs by using a PC.

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[–] Azzu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

For my copy of "The incredible machine" I had a copy protection challenge page in the manual, the game gave you a challenge phrase and you had to enter the proper password. I think different game versions also existed for which you needed a different manual. Goal was to make it harder to just copy the floppy disks, you also had to remember to copy and print the paper, which was an additional hurdle.

Later, I also had lots of burned CDs from friends with games on them.

I'd say the piracy was mostly real life friends sharing their games with each other (which, since everyone knows different people, was quite a big network), which yes, still made it common and quite a problem for publishers.