The Economic Impact of Piracy on The Game Industry

If there is one topic that will spark debate amongst PC gamers today, it is piracy and the impact its economic impact on the gaming industry. Nearly everyone has an opinion on the topic, ranging from complete acceptance and support for piracy to utter disgust and disapproval. In the past years, since the SOPA and PIPA legislation was proposed to Congress, this issue has reached its critical mass, with a different PC game developer blaming piracy as a present danger to the industry every other day. As someone who has played games for almost my entire life, I must confess I am rather upset when reading the innumerable discussions and articles on piracy.

Discussion on piracy on the PC platform as well as DRM has been riddled with uninformed opinions through illogical excuses. This has caused hysteria and scaremongering making it nearly impossible to have a civil discussion on the matter. Although it is quite difficult to obtain reliable data on piracy and its impacts, the challenge is increased further when both parties have a vested interest to spread misinformation on piracy-related...