So Im really the only one who admits I pirate software and save money?

This is so stupid. All you hypocrites.

But okay, I'll just speak for myself then.

I live in Sweden, this is a very wealthy country. I personally make $60,000 a year. But I ain't buying PC games, xcept the ones I need a CD key for to play online (plus Oblivion, just because I wanted to support Bethesda and pay homage to the greatest game ever made). I visit The Pirate Bay or similar torrent site regularly. I can assure you I save a lot of money using this strategy.

I love that. Despite the global increase of piracy the industry still rose by 8%. I'm not even going to bother with all the technicalities of how and what this could mean. Though I keep on saying it, Piracy was extremly high at the birth of PC software and the industry managed to become what it is today. The only difference is that tracking piracy has increased, but I suspect piracy itself hasn't.

I was thinking atleast 65%.... but that's still pretty huge.

i dont think anyone buys pc games anymore. they just download them.

i use ubuntu 9.04
all the software is free.

Disclaimer: I am 100% anti-piracy.

It's all economic, when people can afford stuff there's two reasons why they buy it.  1. They can buy it and it's usually easier and faster just to buy it.  2.  People with something, have something to lose if they get caught pirating - this is scaled, large profitable corporations are most likely to buy legitimate software and most likely to be targeted by law enforcement if they do not.

You are right, this is not "lost" money.  What they need to do is come out with a different business model for the third world.  More "Lite" versions, more creative marketing partnerships locally, etc.

Don´t worry, you are not alone. I too have most of my PC games pirated. I only buy games which are: 1) Cheap (Baldur´s Gate Collection or Titan Quest for something like 10$), or I really like (like, ehmm, Baldur´s Gate, Neverwinter Nights). Or games, which I want play on-line, like Unreal Tournament 2004. And I still buying paper magazines, where is always some original game too. But it´s a gamble, most of the time, there is a game, which I don´t want at all.

as far as i know microsoft has a teared down Windows version for the third world, for example it just can open free windows at the same time.

the problem is if you do the same with games how do the  companies make sure that europeans or americans cant just import those games if they cost like 5 $.

and who wants 'teared down' games.

you can't solve it through special languages, as many african countries for example speak french...

Too bad for you that PC gaming's grotwth is vastly outpacing console gaming

Definitely is, and PC gaming can never die anyways. The indie developers would rise up as leading devs.