I happily admit that I was a mega pirate when I was in school / varsity (Back in the day of the 286 / 386). I would say thjat I only bought about 10% of the games I played. And the reason was that I simply couldn't afford to buy the games I played. Nowadays? I haven't pirated a game in years and years. I buy a couple of titles a month and also pay subscriptions for online gaming services. Overall, the gaming industry has scored big time out of me and will continue to do so. I see a very similar patternwith pretty much all of my friends, and most of the gamers I meet.
Now I often wonder what would have happened if I didn't pirate any games when I was younger? Probably wouldn't have been the gamer I am today. Actually certainly wouldn't have been. People don't become gamers when they are adults, but rather when they are kids. So overall, piracy is probably a major marketing tool for the industry. Don't get me wrong, I'm not justifying or encouraging it. But I have to wonder weather if they managed to stop piracy dead in it's tracks they would do themselves more harm than good in terms of lost customers.
Now if I had an MBA (Which I do) and worked for the gaming industry (which I don't), I would be wondering how to better exploit this. Get rid of or reduce the piracy, while still creating the gamer addicts. The cigarette industry has a similar challenge as adults don't become smokers, you need to hook them when they are 16 - 24. When I was in varsity, they were all over us giving away free cigarettes, sponsering events etc etc. Surely the games industry should explore similar methods? Perhaps aimed a bit more towards school kids?
Seriously though, on an application side there is a free alternative for almost every app type out there, there's no need pirate. Even games - demo's, rentals etc etc. There are no excuses.