I agree with you, OP. Even though I do watch anime only thanks to fansubs, I also realise that it's piracy and I'm against piracy. That's why I prefer crunchyroll that acquires the rights from japanese shows and the creators at least make some money that way.

I understand that piracy can help a game/tv show, etc due to exposure, but I still find it wrong. Thankfully, most games (I'm interested in) get localised, so I have the option to get those legally.

I suppose I should clarify that I do have a problem with it if there's any legitimate translation available somewhere... I have a funimation account, for instance, to get access to their dubs, and if there's ever a translated game I buy it straight from them.

I cannot actually think of a time I've used a fan translation yet (I'm currently demonstrating saintly patience awaiting the damn dubbing of db super) but there are a few games I intend to do that for online one day. That, though, is because they're very old, there's zero chance of them translating the games themselves, and there's no way to give them money for it.

If they should want to close those down I'd have no problems with it as that's their prerogative, but generally they don't as there's nothing to be gained. Fan subs have often demonstrated an interest in games and shows that the owners didn't think existed, though, often leading them to consider proper translations in the future, and for that reason (spreading popularity with no money lost by the original creators) people who make and use them have never bothered me quite like the rest of piracy does.

honestly this problem would be solved if they released it on dvd//bluray with english subs.

most dubs are shit anyway.

and they need to revisit the pricing. needs to be more like full seasons with US tv series. 2-4 eps for the price of a full season will not get anyone to buy.

Theres a easy solution....
Make a translation for everything yourself, and put it out same time as the japanese stuff, for a simular price.

Providing translation on it's own i not piracy in any way shape or form. It's once you put those translations into the actual work and start distributing that, that it becomes piracy. This is why most scanlation qualifies as piracy and most game translation does not.

Has it ever occured to you that these game translators are upset, because their patches are used for the purpose of piracy without their permission? Making a lanuage patch does not constitute piracy. Stealing said patch and applying it to illegal roms to sell them, does.

Also actually a lot of scanlation groups take projects down once they become officially licensed. Not only because they're afarid of dmca takedown notices or cease and desist letters (although that certainly plays into it), but because they want to see the original content creators get their money just as much as you do.
Of course, this does not realy apply to mega series like One Piece where the fan translations are more about speed. You can read each new chapter/watch each new epidsode almost immediately after it comes out in japan, with fansubs and scanlations instead of having to wait months, sometimes years for the next official release. Like in many cases, this kind of piracy is more about convinience than anything else.

The reason why piracy is bad though, is the theory of the lost sale. in these cases, especially scanlation where a work is in a laguage a majority of the people neither understand, nor will ever get the opportunity to learn, there is no lost sale. If a series doesn't get brought over officially, then it has no market to loose.
In fact, in these cases, it has market to gain. Publishers actively scout the scanlation scene for new series to publish, wich is the smartest thing to do. A lot of these people using fan translations jump at the opportunity to get a physical copy in their own laguage (or at least one they can understand). Many of these people do want to support the content creators and even go so far as to import japanese copys they can't even read because of it.

I know I did that when I was younger, I bought entire series twice, once in japanese and once when they finally did get brought to the west, to support the western release and show interest. Some things, I bought three times because we've had our own Manga magazines around here, modeled after the japanense system, with monthly releases and tankoubons to follow later. Even though I actively pirated their stuff, these content creators actually made more money off, me than any random japanese person. And the thing that allowed for that? Piracy.

Yes, there's always going to be jerks who won't pay for anything (not a lost sale if you ask me,but that's admittedly debatable), or just plain poor kids who can't afford to pay (definitively not a lost sale), but overall in this specific case piracy actually helped japanese content creators more than it harmed them. It helped to actually carve out a market for them to take advantage of. Piracy can take risks, major publishers would never take, because they don't have monetary loss to fear. If it turns out to be a big success the Publishers can swoop in and still take the bulk of the profits.

From a purely legal standpoint, yes it is copyright infringement. But if you insinuate fan translation cost the japanese writers/developers money, you're wrong.

Fan translations are usually happen for Anime/Manga/Games, that don't leave the japanese market. That means: the japanese company always calculated only with the japanese customers to bring in the money and also see it as a risk too big financially to support other markets. Fan translations pose no risk for them, as people do it for free in their spare time.

There is another effect: fan translation create a fan-base in other countries so they decrease the risk for the publisher to later translate sequels or other stuff themself. So probably the japanese publishers even win money in the long term, as fansubs create a market without a financial risk for the publisher.

At last another example. The brasilian author Paulo Coelho put fan translations of his novels to his website if the language wasn't covered by official publishers. That in the end made him an international successful author, as these fan-translations did create a market for his books in different languages.

If it wasn't for fan subs I'd have no interest in anime at all honestly, and I think we all know how awful dubs are xD.

Not sure if it's that simple. Let me give you an example.

I have friends whose English is not very good. In order to watch a show like LOST, they have to wait for their local channel to air it with official Greek subtitles. That way, the Greek channel pays a certain ammount to the production company of LOST.

However, there are free Greek transaltions on certain sites. In order to use these subtitles, you obviously have to download the mkv/avi/mpg file of the LOST episode that is available on torrent sites an hour after it airs (or, to be more accurate, used to air) in America. Since they have the option to watch it the next day, thanks to the fansubs, they don't bother with the official release from their local channel that is actually paying money for the rights. The ratings end up being terrible and the channel stops airing the show. In other words, the fansubs cost the writers/production company money.

Same with Naruto (i.e. a Japanese example). If the only option people had was to wait for the dvd release or the dubbed version, they'd have to wait for those. Now that I have already watched all the Naruto episodes, I don't feel like watching them again on TV when they officially air or buy the blu-ray version, since I've seen them and they'd all take space.

With Dragon Ball, I didn't have that option, so all I could do was watch the show on TV.

That's not how it goes with Anime/Manga. Japanese producers really often produce for the japanese market. They don't even consider worldwide distribution. Because that involves additional costs at first and there is a risk that it finds enough customers. These days some of the more popular animes reach worldwide distribution. But that is because before that fansubs made anime known for westerners and created the market. Dragonball and Naruto would only be produced for Japan, if not before them other animes had been fansubbed.

It seems like you're missing the point. Yes, thanks to fansubs many anime became popular in the first place, but, contrary to what you stated, creators are losing money because of fansubs. I don't know if you read my entire post and I hate repeating myself, but I'll mention it one last time shortly. By the time Naruto and similar anime get dubbed or officially subbed and dsitributed in dvd or bluray format, people have already watched them because of the fansubs and only few have any interest in rewatching them or buying the dvds/blurays.

As for Dragonball you're definitely wrong. It became popular thanks to dubs. In other words, the creators were making a lot of money from each country that aired DB dubbed.