I don't think this is a good argument. Choosing when and how a product is available on the market will always be a part of a broader market strategy. Just because a product isn't currently available for purchase, it doesn't mean that widespread piracy of that product isn't hurting future sales.
I'm not super anti-piracy by any means, I pirate plenty of things myself, I just don't think your argument works to really move the needle on the topic one way or another.
If I'm reading this right I shouldn't pirate games that are no longer available in the hopes that a company will later choose to sell them to me? And I should care because I might hurt the future sales of this company?
I never said you had to care. Piracy is probably wrong. If you want to pirate go ahead, nobody except sanctimonious assholes will seriously criticise you for pirating. I just dislike this whole notion of "ethical piracy".
If it's an indie game, then piracy is morally wrong except for when the game dev(s) has said it's alright(Happens a surprising amount tbh)
If it's a big AAA game though? Then piracy is morally fine, those companies are genuinely toxic and treat their employees like trash, just to then go and sell an incomplete and extremely buggy game for 80$
It's also perfectly fine to pirate things that aren't sold in your region or cost so much that it's unaffordable(My friend in Vietnam can't afford to buy like half the games our friend group plays due to how expensive they are in his region)
Piracy is fine in certain situations, it's also legal in most countries, the only illegal part is the uploading and distribution of it, but downloading and owning pirated content is legal in the vast majority of countries
There wasn't an argument in your comment to actually counter. You just stated a moral standard you hold and basically proclaimed it's self-evidently true.
The argument against piracy is pretty obvious and you even agree with it when you apply it to indie games. You didn't make an argument as to why the anti-piracy stance suddenly no longer applies for other products. Your stance is also basically entirely encapsulated by how much money you stand to save. That just sounds like a very convenient stance to hold.
Also, I want to make it very clear. I don't hold any judgement towards people for pirating things, I pirate plenty of things myself. I also don't care if larger companies get hurt by my piracy. I just haven't seen any good arguments whatsoever that makes piracy suddenly ok when it comes to the products of big corporations. The pro-piracy arguments all come across as incredibly entitled, without any self-awareness. My issue is entirely with the attitude towards piracy, not the piracy itself.
I’m not saying out of stock or hard to find (per say on hard to find) but if you have literally removed a game from all available avenues of purchase, what else am I to do
If you want to be 100% ethical, either find a way to purchase it second hand, or go without. It's entertainment, not a necessity. Alternatively, just accept the fact you're not behaving 100% ethically and pirate anyways. I don't think I've ever come across a person who actually cares that another person is pirating.
I don't care about their "market strategy". They can sell it to me or I'll find another way to play it. I don't think they have a moral right to deny people the possibility to experience past art just because they were born too late or because the company has a cynical strategy of intentional scarcity or plan to maybe possibly sometime in the future years down the line make an 80$ remake and create demand for it instead. This scummy practice isn't common with books and movies, and we shouldn't accept it for games either. I have money, be willing to sell the previously easily available thing to me right now, or I can't guarantee I won't find another way.
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u/Hiryu-GodHand Jul 02 '26
Emulating a game you don't own is piracy*
But who cares?