Video Game Piracy costs the industry as much as it makes!

[LuckyTrouble]

KLAMarine said:

LuckyTrouble said:

KLAMarine said:

LuckyTrouble said:
*sigh* Once again: piracy does not equal lost sales. Every person that pirates did not intend to buy. The vast, vast majority of them would never spend their money on the game, for one reason or another.

Demand for a product and demand for a paid product are two very different things.

You know there also exist pirates who would have paid if they were unable to pirate a free copy.

Which is entirely irrelevant because as long as the pirated copy exists, they are not a potential sale. They would only be a potential sale in a scenario where piracy was not an option.

So what you're saying is because of piracy, potential sales are hurt?

Theoretically, yes. I'm not going to say piracy has absolutely zero impact on sales. In fact, I have yet to say that. I simply argue that we can't quantify the impact in any meaningful way, and trying to argue situations where demand would act differently is fairly pointless overall as there is no definitive way to contradict the reality we experience.