Here's a different point of view by Brad Wardell of Stardock and Galactic Civilizations fame. As a game developer and publisher himself he has some insight into the business and he comes up with a very different conclusion:@Galleddrim said:
Commercial piracy is a vicious cycle. Pros rip off software because it's "too expensive," developers raise the price tag because they are losing money to pirates, and the pirates feel more justified in ripping of the developers, who will raise prices . . . etc. The developers are not doing anything wrong here. They are simply responding to the demands of a glitch in the free market and attempting to remain in business. This is why new PC games are running at $60 right now when they were $40 only a couple years ago. It is piracy-driven inflation.
http://www.joeuser.com/index.asp?c=1&AID=21895&u=0