Can piracy be a good thing?

[cwbys21]

I would like to tell you about a kick ass developing house called Iron Lore. They created Titan Quest and its expansion and worked on the Warhammer 40k RTS. The games didn't sell big, but they made money, Titan Quest went gold (500,000 copies sold) and for that game it was more than enough to make money (if you have played it you would know) but the anti piracy measures they put in the game made the game shut down if you played the pirated copy (among other things). So what happened is you have a bunch of asshole pirates spouting off all over the internet about how Titian Quest is a buggy pos when in fact the opposite is true, they just get that because they stole the game. That cost Iron Lore sales. So when time came for Iron Lore to try to find funding for their next project, what do publishers see? They see a company that sold well and made some money, but people "hated" the game because it was "buggy" and they couldn't find funding and closed down. Not to mention the fact that these pirates had the nerve to go to the official forums and tell developers that the game is buggy, no I didn't steal it how dare you imply that. I would like some of you "pro pirates" try to explain that one away. You guys cost a bunch of good people their jobs and we lose an awesome developer and one of the few that were still pc exclusive.