It has become a common occurrence across all the major entertainment industries to blame loss of sales on pirates. Of course, why wouldn't they blame it on the law-breakers who are known to snag the game for free, rather than actually buying it legally. But, recently, some major studies are being developed that aren't supporting this statement, and are actually proposing quite the opposite.

After a study done on Dutch file-sharers, Prof. Nico van Eijk of the University of Amsterdam concludes, "These figures show that there is no sharp divide between file sharers and others in their buying behaviour. On the contrary, when it comes to attending concerts, and expenses on DVDs and games, file sharers are the industry's largest customers... There does not appear to be a clear relationship between the decline in sales and file sharing."

It seems, that rather than these file-sharers stealing more and buying less, they are buying more games than the average consumer - quite to the contrary of popular belief. See below:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-27679-Vancouver-Video-Game-Industry-Examiner~y2010m5d5-Pirates-are-the-video-game-industrys-largest-customers

Your thoughts?

Damn, accidentally hit enter while entering title.

Should say: Pirates are video game industry's "Biggest Customers".

I reposted the thread with the proper title, someone please close this one.