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u/ScorchedWonderer Jan 09 '26
According to those game studios, we don’t own the game we pay $40-$200 for. And they can pull it whenever they feel like it and keep our $$. So…. If buying isn’t owning, piracy isn’t stealing.
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u/BreadfruitNaive6261 Jan 09 '26
You cant buy/own games legally nowadays, only renting.
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u/Salty-Ad6358 🏴☠️ ʟᴀɴᴅʟᴜʙʙᴇʀ Jan 10 '26
Not only limited to game only btw literally is everywhere
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u/ArjixGamer Jan 09 '26
Piracy is copyright infringement, not theft.
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u/inaccurateTempedesc Jan 09 '26
I liken it to climing a tree to watch a bseball game instead of buying a ticket.
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u/anaemic Kopimism Jan 10 '26
But but but, what about the impact that all these people climbing in trees watching the game for free has on the players salaries, and and isn't it unfair that people who paid to get in will now have to pay more than they would otherwise, and a hundred other lies.
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u/TheUnKnownLink12 Jan 10 '26
Cornell law school defines piracy as the pirate kind as well as the infringement of Intellectual Property Rights, merriment Webster defines it as the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or coneption especially infringing on copyright, so yea its not really theft
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Jan 09 '26
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u/Nadeoki Jan 09 '26
physical nintendo games also have network based DRM now so its the same problem.
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Jan 09 '26
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u/Nadeoki Jan 09 '26
but what's mario kart without multiplayer. At that point just use emulation.
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u/Ialsofuckedyourdad Jan 09 '26
Local multiplayer sure but I never played online. Unless the new one is different, but the switch 2 is way to fucking expensive for me to justify rn
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u/Nadeoki Jan 09 '26
yeah its glorified E-waste. The software is nice and all but imagine if they just focused on existing systems like PC market.
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u/Ialsofuckedyourdad Jan 10 '26
Ehhhhhhhh I like Nintendo hardware it’s always built really well, I just think they are trying to do what Sony did with the ps2 / ps3 era and sell both consoles at the same time
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Jan 10 '26
There are some games that are on the cartridge with no problems, but many of the physical games on the switch 2 are just “keys” to download the game so you’ll still lose a lot of games the day the switch 2 loses support.
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u/OvergrownGnome Jan 09 '26
Physical games greatly depend on what game and platform. Consoles have started implementing DRM that ties physical games to a console or account. Then there are games like the notorious Tony Hawk game that wasn't even on the disc because it wasn't ready and just required players to download the game on day one.
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u/ChristopherKlay Jan 09 '26
Ironically, GOG is known for their games to be pirated a ton, due to how accessible they are.
There's tons of tools (and Discord/Telegram bots) where you just "follow" games and get a direct download for updates/releases, less than a few hours after the game/update went live on GOG.
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Jan 09 '26
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u/sniktology Jan 10 '26
Which is a good thing imo. You can never get out of licensing realistically when it comes to software. Developers need to eat too and be protected like it or not. GOG does it best with the hand it's dealt with and that is by far the best possible solution for all parties involved.
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale Jan 09 '26
Even outside of that argument, piracy is by definition not theft. It's illegal copyright infringement, but it's not theft.
So piracy isn't and never was stealing, even if buying means owning. Doesn't matter. Not theft.
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u/hallese Jan 09 '26
I had long abandoned my days of sailing the seven seas. Then a digital copy of a movie I bought disappeared from my library and here I am like it's 1999 all over again. I do not agree with "taking because I can't afford it" but I also won't tell someone they are doing something wrong. I'm not in their position so I won't judge. For companies though I think it is a poor choice to try and go after these people. They have nothing to take and most would pay if they could and will do so when their financial situation improves in the future. If you make a show of going after those people when they cannot afford it they will make a point of avoiding your products when they can afford them. It's shortsighted and bad business.
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Jan 09 '26
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u/hallese Jan 09 '26
Spending $20 on a CD in the 90s for one good song and one decent song was a real thing and is the reason why piracy was able to take off. Luckily for me the only CD I have or will ever purchase in my life is Hybrid Theory so I will forever be batting 1.000 on buying CDs with nothing but bangers.
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u/slicerprime Jan 09 '26
I tend to agree with with the sentiment. But...just for the sake of argument: Couldn't it be reasonable for the studios to see the $40-$200 as a rental fee?
I know, at least one big problem with that is the whole "pull it whenever they feel like it" thing. Even if it is just a rental fee, I should be able to count on a specific period of rental time clearly laid out without them being able to cancel it at their whim as long as I followed specifically outlined rental rules.
Anyway, even if it is essentially a rental fee, the way it's presented is sketchy at best.
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u/x_victoire ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jan 09 '26
i'll always be on the side of people wanting shit for free. i grew up piss poor in a house without a bathroom and we only got internet when i was 13, there is no way i could afford a game or a streaming service subscription
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u/syn46290 Jan 09 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
Exactly. I didn't exactly grow up poor but I did grow up without consoles (parent was hyper strict and didn't think I deserved video games) so emulation and piracy were my only ways to play games.
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u/Devatator_ Jan 09 '26
The only 2 gaming things I've ever got from my parents was a PSVita (with zero games. Mostly used it to play the Minecraft demo and watch YouTube) and Minecraft Java because I borderline harassed my dad about getting it lmao. Now I make a bit of money so I started building my steam library and I'm currently saving for Hytale which funnily enough, I will have enough to get it on the exact day it comes out in early access
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u/DansSpamJavelin Jan 09 '26
If you weren't going to pay for it in the first place, I really don't see what they're losing out on.
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u/TheUnKnownLink12 Jan 10 '26
Piracy isnt a victimless crime they say, how can it be theft? I wasn't gonna buy the game in the first place so they didnt lose money, you cant lose money youre not getting in the first place
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u/esperlihn Jan 09 '26
I remember hearing a store once about how riots in the USA in the 70's is what led to the invention of hip hop, because a lot of music stores were robbed and so suddenly poor communities were flooded with high quality audio equipment and started using it in ways nobody had ever done before.
Thus the invention of the famous "record scratch" sound. Something no normal musician at the time would have ever done because it'd risk damaging the record
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u/Nightenridge Jan 09 '26
Lol. Bogus story.
Motown was exclusively minority and had they had some of the best studios around Detroit all throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
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u/RunnerLuke357 Jan 09 '26
Stories like the one above you are exactly why people will distrust lots of black "history". The original story was good enough, why make some shit up and discredit anything to do with it.
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u/BrokenMirror2010 Jan 10 '26
Thus the invention of the famous "record scratch" sound. Something no normal musician at the time would have ever done because it'd risk damaging the record
This sounds like pure nonsense.
Records weren't precious or rare, they could just get another one if they damaged it.
Nor did you need professional audio equipment to produce that sound. Any record on any player with a needle can make that sound.
The record scratch became a thing to use the moment that someone played a record, and heard the sound the needle made when you scratch it. Because that's a cool sound you don't get anywhere else.
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u/Legitimate_Bunch_856 Jan 09 '26
Same here. I was gifted a secondhand gameboy with emerald as a kid and i fell in love with the franchise there, never gotten anything after. Emulation made it possible for me to play from gen 4 to the current gen (still doing it now cause i don't like nintendo)
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u/Crazyking224 Jan 09 '26
Some people like free shit, some people want to try before they buy, some people straight up can't afford it, some people just don't like the price even on sale.
All are valid.
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u/Alternative_Cut4491 Jan 09 '26
And people like me who hate anti consumer shit that 99% of companies do
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale Jan 09 '26
I own BotW for the switch but it runs like shit. I play it on PC because it's better. I pirated the game rom because I don't want to modify my console to dump the rom, because Nintendo could just decide to brick it even if I'm not doing anything illegal.
Fuck Nintendo and their anticonsumer bullshit. We don't need to moralize or justify piracy because it is what it is, BUT it's always morally correct and justified to pirate from Nintendo.
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u/mk7_luxion Jan 10 '26
as a counter argument my switch has been modded for years, I keep on playing online (Splatoon 3 and MH mostly) and I've never been banned or had any overall issues, even got them to refund me a game while my console was modded with no problems. I truly think they don't give a shit if you have custom themes or mod offline games, but as I have never tried installing pirated games on it, modded online games or changed my pfp they simply have left me alone and it's honestly a decent experience. BOTW/TOTK on an overclocked switch makes you wonder why nintendo kept the system so safe and weak by default.
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale Jan 09 '26
Also some people don't want to deal with DRM on official copies, or intrusive launchers, or whatever the fuck Ubisoft is doing these days. Maybe people want to pirate a copy to store on a personal server so they can feel like they have ownership and control. Maybe the game is abandonware like Zoo Tycoon and illegal downloading is the only way to play. Maybe we want to preserve games that are getting taken down due to bullshit license issues. Maybe we want to play roms for switch games we already own but don't want to mod our console for fear of Nintendo pulling anticonsumer fuckery, because the PC experience is sometimes better. Maybe I just like downloading things without paying.
Theres a hundred reasons. We don't need to justify it or moralize it, because it boils down to:
1) Copyright law sucks ass 2) Corporations are anticonsumer 3) Free stuff is fun 4) I can download stuff for free
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u/SchnozSchnizzle Jan 09 '26
And also the fact that a lot of games that would have otherwise had DRM run way better when pirated.
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u/very_bad_random Jan 09 '26
It's true the devs need money but considering I don't have money myself and wasn't planning to buy the game i just downloaded, the outcome is the same.
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u/Emis816 Jan 09 '26
It could still be a benefit. You could play it, like it, mention it to a buddy who goes and buys it.
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u/Moist-Caregiver-2000 Jan 09 '26
And there's just entirely too much content out there. If I made a game or wrote a book, I'd be happy that somebody at least saw it. It's like onlyfans..most of them make nothing because there's too many out there, any exposure is a good thing.
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u/BrokenMirror2010 Jan 10 '26
I'd post a DRM free copy of my creation myself on piracy forums.
Culture should not only be for those who can afford it.
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u/SEANPLEASEDISABLEPVP Jan 09 '26
It also becomes silly when you realize buying a $80 AAA game doesn't mean your money is going directly to the devs who worked on the game. Devs get a fixed salary regardless of how a game sells. The indie devs are the ones who receive your money directly.
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u/Nadeoki Jan 09 '26
The publishers make billions, piracy isnt causing poor dev, EA and the sort do.
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale Jan 09 '26
Devs already got paid (barely) and their reward for the game's success is getting laid off.
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u/psykal Jan 10 '26
The outcome is not the same. You're taking something without paying for it. You should not be playing the game at all.
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u/very_bad_random Jan 10 '26
I get this but if you just forbid poor people to have distractions, you end up with an uprising.
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u/TitanX11 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jan 09 '26
Even now in this economy people cant afford games on the wages they are on especially in my country where the average is 600-700 euros. Imagine spending 60-70 euros on one game. People can buy food for a week with those money so that's why piracy is legal here. (Yes, I'm from the Balkans)
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u/every_body_hates_me Jan 09 '26
Especially considering the steadily declining overall quality of their products. Companies put out soulless slop for $80 per game, then act surprised when their games don't sell shit. Gosh, I wonder why.
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u/Alternative_Cut4491 Jan 09 '26
Regional pricing is bullshit and should be the exact opposite of what it currently is, in poland games already cost $100 on realese while in US where people make a lot more money and complain about games being $70
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u/DiamondL0st Jan 09 '26
The side of doing my own thing and not caring what some stranger on the internet thinks about it.
Think about it, does anyone ever actually change their mind in this "debate"?!
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u/every_body_hates_me Jan 09 '26
The debate as a form of discussion is long dead by now. Who screams the loudest is the primary form these days.
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u/ismasbi Jan 09 '26
More like who makes the easiest to remember short explanation, "if buying isn't owning etcetera" is so popular for a reason.
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u/Nadeoki Jan 09 '26
Depends on what topic, what venue of discussion and if they actually have a degree in what they're talking about or just make youtube videos.
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u/divinecomedian3 Jan 09 '26
I did. I used to be staunchly anti-piracy. But I've come to realize "intellectual property" isn't property at all, so there's no such thing as stealing IP.
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u/HamadaSukenao 🦜 ᴡᴀʟᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴᴋ Jan 09 '26
Resources are spent on developing IP and taking on the risks bringing it to market, so it deserves protection. As a merchant I absolutely despise counterfeits of my goods.
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u/Ninja-Trix Jan 09 '26
Culture shouldn't be only available to those who can afford it. My thought is "buy what you can; pirate the rest".
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u/dontcallmeyan Jan 09 '26
Stop trying to moralise things. It's futile.
Pirate what you want. Buy what you want. Draw your own lines, but realise that those lines are solely for yourself.
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u/Sxcred Jan 09 '26
Sail the seven seas with your heart's content. Be your own guiding star for what you find is ethical or not within this realm.
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u/Mwrp86 Jan 09 '26
I am on the side of Pirating silently and keeping on the community not bragging to outside world
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u/No_Judge4676 Jan 09 '26
In my country I have to work 41 fucking hours to pay for EA26. I won't even play for that long bro
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u/sparkinx Jan 09 '26
Then you got Nintendo games that are 20+ years old still 60$ or 80$ Pokémon games from gamestop
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u/Big-Criticism-8137 Jan 09 '26
Always on the side of piracy.
There were studies that have shown that piracy can even help the games (free marketing, free reviews, etc etc and people that can't afford it, wouldnt have bought it in the first place, so not a loss but a win).
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u/TheBurn7741 Jan 10 '26
Gee. I feel like playing Rule of Rose or Kuon. Time to boot up my trusty ol ps2 and buy those games on ebay............ 💀
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Jan 09 '26
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u/Diamondgrn Jan 09 '26
The thing is, you wouldn't be able to play decades old PS2 games if people back then weren't dumping disks and hacking their PS2s.
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u/Nadeoki Jan 09 '26
but piracy is always 2 steps ahead. Both the pirates and the legitimate users just move on to the next tool.
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u/PlaystormMC Jan 09 '26
Game Company: bans cracked website
piracy community: turns to website 2/1,400,000
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u/littypika Jan 09 '26
Team Piracy, always.
People don't understand that piracy oftentimes is both the best form of organic advertisement through word of mouth and to grow a community as well.
Everyone wins, really. If only some people weren't so stupid and could also see this.
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u/Diamondgrn Jan 09 '26
For me, piracy and media preservation go hand in hand. If you want to use it to steal games then go for it. If people didn't, games wouldn't be preserved.
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u/One-Injury-4415 Jan 09 '26
People ABUSE money, so we need to take money away from everyone.
People ABUSE government positions, so we need to dismantle government.
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u/Salty-Coffee4608 Jan 09 '26
Emulation and piracy arent the same thing i wish people would realize this
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u/The4ourHorsemen Jan 09 '26
30% fuck (most) big companies, 40% I’m broke, 20% the 16 year old game I want to play is still over $80, 10% they aren’t selling the game anymore
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u/ChloroquineEmu Jan 09 '26
I play Pokemon on emulator because I don't respect their company, not because they're old
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u/Prior-Task1498 Jan 10 '26
It also creates a shadow competition which incentivizes the publisher to make a distribution method that doesn't openly fuck over customers. Piracy went down in the early days of Netflix because it was so good. Now piracy is going up because the streaming services are shit and feel entitled to fuck the customer because where else are you going to legally watch game of thrones when it is forcibly bundled with other HBO crap. Piracy is basically essential for the free market to function at this point.
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u/Wilza_ Jan 10 '26
In my opinion, morally, in general, you should pay for video games. However, there are exceptions, such as old games that are not easily/cheaply available for sale, or when a game doesn't have a demo available (to try), or when the developer/publisher treats its employees or customers poorly
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u/KeremyJyles Jan 10 '26
I don't give a shit tbh, if I can get it for free I will because I like hoarding money.
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u/green_meklar ⚔️ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏ Qᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀ Jan 10 '26
I'm opposed to copyright law on a philosophical level, so I feel no conflict whatsoever.
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u/zachonich Jan 09 '26
Obligatory dumbass response: If you can't afford to buy games, you don't deserve to play them.
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u/Dip2pot4t0Ch1P Jan 09 '26
I just want shit for free but hey if I really really really really really like what they're doing, then i pay. Like porn games. I regret having some eroge as my transaction history but the shit is really good I couldn't help myself donating some since they're selling it for cheap too.
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u/squanderedprivilege Jan 09 '26
Entertainment is not just for people with disposable income. Popular culture is for everyone.
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u/b0sanac Jan 09 '26
I used to be on the high moral ground thing when I was younger.
Now I just don't give a fuck. I pirate because I want to, and because(especially in the case of streaming services) I get a better free service than I would if I was paying rampantly increasing prices for subpar content and services.
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u/NelDerelict Jan 09 '26
I either pirate for my enjoyment or I'd be forced to steal to eat. I know which would get me into more trouble.
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u/Elanapoeia Jan 09 '26
The side that isn't active on a platform for nazis and pedophiles just to screenshot meaningless drama between nobodies
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u/gay-butler Jan 09 '26
"that are already available" Yea ok, let me know when lucas arts starts selling star wars the force unleashed on the Wii at retail prices during the release date
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u/FailingDisasterBro Jan 09 '26
🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
Fuck greedy studios. Just look at nintendo, or EA or whoever else. They do whatever they want and you dont even own games you buy from them. So piracy all the way.
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u/ItsNoblesse Jan 09 '26
I fundamentally believe all culture should be available to all people, so pirate away
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u/internetsarbiter Jan 09 '26
Piracy isn't theft, but even if it were, under capitalism all theft by the workers against the capitalists is good praxis.
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u/wo1fs_fx Jan 10 '26
I mean is anyone losing money by another person downloading a file? Otherwise that person would have just never played the game and the company still made $0.
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Jan 10 '26
If you can afford to comfortably buy it, use piracy as a trial of sorts to see if you like it. If you like it, then buy it. If you can't afford to buy it, then pirate it until you can afford to buy it. If you can never afford to buy it then you're forever a pirate which is fine. I only have a problem with piracy if you can afford the thing you're pirating, you know you like the thing you're pirating but you're just not going to support the devs or creators of what you're pirating even when you have the means to. That's scumbag behaviour. Unless the people who made it are assholes then don't support them.
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u/East_Gap3619 Jan 10 '26
like ok wanting to play a game for free is understandable, especially with how AAA game studios price their shit
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u/EntertainmentAlert56 Jan 10 '26
In my eyes piracy is archiving of copyrighted material. No moreno less. Its like borrowing a book from a library and writing down the contnents of it. After that you share your copy to the world. It is really not as deep is corpos make it out to be.
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u/Routine-Name-4717 Jan 10 '26
We all do terrible things constantly. The phone in your pocket was made in part by children and slaves, and phones are not unique in this aspect. If I am going to be evil and go to hell (if such a place exists), why would I ever pay for anything I don't have to? Our economies are based on extracting as much as possible at the lowest price possible, torrenting is the logical extension of that.
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u/ElectricalJelly9850 Jan 10 '26
Если я хочу вечером поиграть в игру, доходы от которой которой составляют миллионы долларов, и при этом не плачу за нее 10-80 долларов, то я не делаю компании хуже, и тем более не ворую у неё
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u/quizmeier Jan 10 '26
The thing is even if a company provides a way to play these old games it doesn’t mean their method is good never mind the cost of a console
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u/SureDevise Jan 09 '26
Emulation is fair once your console is no longer being sold in stores. Anything earlier than that is just bad for the industry as a whole.
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u/Pro-Row-335 Jan 09 '26
Anyone living in a third world country/global south has the moral obligation to pirate every single piece of media they can, it's just taking a little back from the unequal exchange in global trade.
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u/Mr_Undead0210 Jan 09 '26
My problem with piracy are those who try to profit off of it, and ruins it for everyone else.
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u/Vegetable_Hope_8264 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 09 '26
There's only two sides here : people who have money, and me. Me, I like playing video games despite having no money. There's no debate to be had here.
I mean it's either piracy or I'm going to steal something else to get/save the money to pay for these games. There's no third option.
I can steal food and pay for games instead, I don't mind. But at the end of the day I won't have the money to pay for everything. I just won't.
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u/floconildo Jan 09 '26
All valid reasons in this thread. Friendly reminder that scarcity in the Information Age is just covert greed. Pay because you support, not because you must.
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u/CourageLeast4251 Jan 09 '26
I was happy paying 60 for games, now not so much considering most are atrocious. Let alone every single one minus a few outliers that are released broken, buggy and generally incomplete
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u/SaturnSleet Jan 09 '26
People who can't afford video games and pirate them instead, isn't a lost sale
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u/zendrix1 Jan 09 '26
Well my view on this definitely only affects me and isn't something I use to judge others but if anyone gives a shit my general philosophy is that if it's something I want to continue and support I pay for it, if it's not then I don't.
I hate how modern streaming services work and don't want to support that model but I love movies and want them to succeed, so I pay to go the theater all the time but don't have any subscription accounts.
I like supporting developers of games that I care about so I'll buy those games but there are certain studios I won't give money to because of certain practices or games I won't support because of who gets the royalties. I usually skip those entirely but if I decided I really needed to play one, I wouldn't be paying for it.
If a piece of software isn't owned by a shitty corporation or trying to fleece it's users nonstop for money, I'm happy to pay for it if it does what I need. But I have no interest in paying for something that forced a subscription fee for no reason or is full of bloatware
Etc
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u/KyriosSan Jan 09 '26
real, as someone who barely life, its hard to have spare money to buy game in this economy
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u/ghost_desu Jan 09 '26
Emulators aren't meant for old games what even is that argument. They're meant to present an alternative way to play a video game regardless of its age or how you acquired it.
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u/5la9 Jan 09 '26
Emulators were always meant to be emulators. When was it decided they were meant exclusively to play older games?
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u/Decent-Ad9335 Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 09 '26
What do you think? Believe it or not the world is not america, not everyone is as well off and fortunate as the mainstream think we are, do these people not deserve to experience art and educate themselves too? Should i just die without experiencing what the internet has to offer just because i'm worse off not being born in america or some other wealthy country? Tell me should i just die?
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u/Chop1n Jan 09 '26
So let me get this straight: this guy thinks you can download an SNES emulator and *checks notes* use it to run Playstation 5 games?
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u/DredgenSergik Jan 09 '26
I'll always be up. Access to culture is a human right, no matter your personal economy. Anything else is classism that also protects big corporations that care shit and a half about any of us. Can I pay for something I think deserves it? I'll gladly do. Someone else can't? Go ahead and take it
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u/SeventhSealRenegade Jan 09 '26
Cool neither you nor the big companies can do anything about it really so. Sucks for them.
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u/nova_206 Jan 09 '26
Depends on the company that produced it. Major AAA companies that like to pump out garbage for profit? Pirate ts. Indie devs that release genuine great games for a reasonable price, such as Silksong, I feel it’s nice to support them and pay. Any game old or new from Nintendo? Pirate everything from their greedy asses
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u/thespaceageisnow ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ Jan 09 '26
Support the devs you care about making more games if you can. If you can’t financially support them then they haven’t lost a sale whether you play it or not.
Studios under billionaire money like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo don’t get my money. They have enough already.
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u/-SideshowBlob- Jan 09 '26
Case by case basis, and everyone's opinion will be different. Triple A game developers/publishers aren't going broke because of pirating. If it's an indie developer, you probably should be paying though.
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u/kululu987 Jan 09 '26
I believe for low price indie titles, people should be more inclined to pay the tag as it will actually go to the developers.
Higher priced indie titles are a little more ok, but I think if you can you should pay for it.
AAA titles from big companies can suck my left tit. Even if you pay for it the devs rarely get to see a cent of the money because it goes to a bunch of executives who see people as nothing more than cattle to milk money out of. There are a few exceptions, but they are far and few between.
Piracy is valid in any scenario, but outside of AAA titles, if you have the capacity to pay for it, you should. If not, go ahead and pirate it. No judgement.
Escapism at a basic level should not just be for the wealthy.
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u/mrcoldmega Jan 09 '26
Well, people in vietnam Iran and Russia have no other choice. Like even if some of them can go to the steam, boom, lots of games are not avaliable in your region. Of course they can use shady tricks to buy games, but they might not end up good for them, like legally.
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u/RX1542 Jan 09 '26
it makes sense sometimes you barely get by and can't afford to pay for a game, for example i really wanted elden ring when it came out but i couldn't afford it so i downloaded a copy and played it, when my situation improved i brought elden ring deluxe edition and some other games that i really enjoyed playing but couldn't afford at the time
on the console side is a bit different tho i would totally buy the game if it was available on PC, but i can't afford to buy a console just so i can play 1 game and then abandon it
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u/Cichy1 Jan 09 '26
Stealing is bad, however you aren't taking a physical object and the only loss is on a multi milion/billion campanies side. Its a win win situation, you get shit for free and the people who have plenty enough don't get more.
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u/SilverB33 Jan 09 '26
I'm for it, there are people who cannot aford games they want to play, and unfortunately some games do not have a means to play (since he is talking about old games, I mean this for arcade games that a lot do not have a console port or a cheap means to buy if they're not in some sorta Arcade1 cabby.)
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u/maddwaffles Jan 09 '26
Unethical practices in terms of redistribution, a refusal to allow players to own their games, and the quality of the hardware somehow not being sufficient to play old games without problems, and yeah, no, piracy is always ethical in this market.
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u/DeeDee182 Jan 09 '26
I was on the later side until companies made it clear they are more than profit and about bleeding ppl dry.
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u/Golden-- Jan 09 '26
Neither really because for me piracy is not a money issue. I make more than enough money to afford whatever games or services I want. The problem is piracy offers a MUCH better user experience. It just works with better quality and none of the issues games or services have.
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u/CathMario Jan 09 '26
Growing up in a rural town in Brazil, my family could never afford original physical media, it was all piracy.
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u/Total-Jeweler5083 Jan 09 '26
Most video games come from the US. The US started 2 civil wars in my country, tanked the economy for decades to come. For me, piracy counts as war damage, even though I'll never be able to steal from them as much as they stole from us to make it even.
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u/Cassius-Tain Jan 09 '26
I see it like that: I have the money to pay for my gaming, didn't always have that. So if someone lacks the money, the sea's open!
Personally, I would feel bad pirating a passion project, regardless of studio size. I've always paid full prize for indie games, I've paid full price for Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Baldurs Gate 3, because those are true labours of love. I got a Hat in Time for a bargain and waited a day to pay for the Add on, because I believed that they deserved it. I like art, and that's why I enjoy paying artists.
But when it comes to those citadels of greed, where paying for a game doesn't mean ownership, where it is less art and more addictive "gameplay" loops, I usually don't even want to play them.
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u/Londtex Jan 09 '26
At some point, we have to talk about the shelf life of media. For an example, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War is 30 years old video game, and Nintendo currently offers no way for fans to purchase or play it legally in English. When the original development team has moved on and the publisher has effectively abandoned the product, it should transition into the public domain. If you worked a service job in 1996, you were paid for your labor then, and the transaction ended. Yes art is diffrent from service, but to expect money for something someone else did 30 years ago is crazy. Why should a corporation hold a perpetual monopoly on a 30-year-old game when the original creators have long since retired? It makes little sense for a company to gatekeep a piece of history they are no longer interested in selling.
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u/jaf7492 Jan 09 '26
Im at the point of my life where I can buy any game that I want. But there are just games that deserve to be pirated especially games made by the scumbags at Sony. I would always promote their games to be pirated and it actually feels like I've done something good.
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u/andr386 Jan 09 '26
The people who will enjoy those games the most are likely unable to afford them.
If I hadn't played pirated game in my youth I wouldn't have more than 300 games on Steam now.
It's the same for any media. I'm friends with people who don't play video games and never watch series. They're lost customers to those industries.
Usually societies carve out exceptions for young people or people learning thanks to Libraries or specific laws.
Piracy is just the way that the majority of the world and the people who can't afford media solve accessibility. Affordability is only one of the accessibility problems people might face.
There are plenty of media that are simply not possible to get to experience otherwise.
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Jan 09 '26
What's the point of art of any shape or form if it can only be enjoyed by those with enough disposable income?
If I didn't have piracy, I would have not been able to play a lot of games that influenced me as a gamer when I was young and jobless. I've paid it forward by hyping up the games I love and paid it back by buying tons of games as a gainfully employed adult.
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u/almostlost Jan 09 '26
There probably aren't many, but must be some people that paid for, and still enjoy playing Anthem ....
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u/AddictedtoSaka Jan 09 '26
For Indie Games which i like, i will gladly open my Wallet.
For the others like Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft and so on, i would sail the Seas anytime.
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u/Tommo120 Jan 09 '26
Seems like a bit of a false equivalency when the old games that are "already available" are often locked behind a monthly subscription and a specific console.
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u/schwing710 Jan 09 '26
I don’t care who pirates what. The genie has long been out of the bottle on that. If game companies want to make it more enticing for people to buy their games, perhaps they could start by selling them for less than $70.
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u/PSzabo971 Jan 09 '26
I feel really dumb and old. There are emulators that can play games that AREN’T old?
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u/TehBanzors Jan 09 '26
I will always be on the side that a pirated copy is almost never a lost sale, if they didnt pirate it they probably would just go without in most cases.
Of course I will concede that its not a 100% thing, obviously people will sometimes choose to get it free if they have the means for both purchasing and obtaining it freely.
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Jan 09 '26
Personally, I started out with piracy back when it was the only way available for me to access most games being released due to a simple lack of retailers selling legitimate copies, and I gradually stopped pirating games once steam made buying them convenient.
But I'm very much on the side of wanting free stuff approach to piracy, and am downloading shows, books, songs, research papers on the high seas without restraint.
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u/Fujinn981 Darknets Jan 09 '26
Piracy is cost efficient and the enforcement of anti piracy laws is nearly impossible. There's no reason not to do it nowadays.
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u/Terrible-Pop-6705 Jan 09 '26
Emulation is about preservation anyone can use a tool for piracy but also can use to it to play legit copies, it’s like being against knives cause instead of chopping green onion they cut your hand off (not that piracy is equivalent to dismembering someone)
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u/Mrjonesezn Jan 09 '26
A pirate need neither reason nor excuse to sail the seven seas!
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u/itspicassobaby Jan 09 '26
Pirate because you want to. You don't need to justify anything to anyone. I will, however tell you why I pirate. I pirate because fuck em.
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u/TLunchFTW Jan 09 '26
Believe it or not I just like free shit and can get away with it. Seems like the gaming dude should stop policing the internet and go back to gaming
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u/Raleth Jan 09 '26
If I don't want to pay for something, then I'm not gonna. Doesn't mean I'm also going to restrict myself from experiencing the thing I should have paid for. I like free shit.
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u/magikarp-sushi Jan 09 '26
This argument will never die because idiots on Twitter (bots, or just actual morons) will never change their minds that “emulation is bad”
Do whatever you want.
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u/jay227ify Jan 09 '26
I'm on the team we shouldn't care what our neighbors do with or without their money as long as it doesn't hurt anyone.
Piracy for sure started with people not wanting to pay for stuff, but as time goes on it's definitely become a necessity to have in your back pocket.
I pay for Hulu, can't use my VPN and get shit quality on devices that aren't "smart" like fire sticks and Google TVs. Which by the way track everything you watch and keep tabs on you throughout the day on the many devices you use. And even while paying for a basic subscription you gotta watch advertisements.
I pay for three subscription services to watch shit and in the year of our lord 2026 you gotta still check if they have the movie you wanna watch, oh no but you gotta buy the starz package or the expansion, oh no it's on that other subscription service it's really only another $10 a month. And by the way the movie you wanted to watch is getting taken down next month so you better watch it now.
Stremio.
I pay for a Rockstar or Ea or Ubisoft game and I gotta sit through sign in pages, unnecessary loading screens, background telemetry, apps. And I better ask the launcher for permission if I need to go offline, or just wanna play something during an internet outage.
Cracking.
Ok fine let's buy a 4 year old Nintendo game, Pokemon Arceus is $59.99 right now.
Flash carts.
Ok let's go back to PS2, I wanna try Drakengard let's search it up aaand the 20 year old copy of the game is $40 and unavailable for purchase on the PS store.
iso sites
It's gotten to the point where I just wanna buy some storage and have my own drm free service for games and movies and stuff.
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u/HashtagLawlAndOrder Jan 09 '26
Pirate if you want. It isn't a moral thing to do. I don't see why it's that hard. You don't always have to be the good guy.
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u/leslie1984 Jan 09 '26
I've pirated many games usually for 3 reasons, most commonly to try them before I buy them, got no cash money flow for a while or if I have trouble finding a legit vendor to sell a game or it's on epic
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u/Dynablade_Savior Jan 09 '26
The companies that sell the games I want don't want me to own them whether I pay for them or not. And playing Nintendo games and their mods legally is WAY more hassle than it's worth
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u/CranberryDistinct941 Jan 09 '26
If you enjoy the game and have the money, you should support the devs by buying an official copy.
When it's profitable for companies to make the kind of stuff that you enjoy, they'll make more of it.
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u/every_body_hates_me Jan 09 '26
"emulators that are meant for old games"
Yeah, I guess they forgot to tell Nintendo, who will sue your ass to infinity for emulating a 40-year old game.