let's debate piracy and the hypocrisy behind it

[RathWolf]

Calling Piracy stealing is just hype for effect. I thought we'd sorted all this out. Can people be a bit more mature and stop doing this maybe?

Obviously not. If you walk into a book store pick up a book on the shelf and sit down and read the whole thing you are not a thief. Oh and for the record no content creator or distributor can be said to have the right to make a profit.

That's a bit of a false analogy. Piracy is more akin to walking into a bookstore, picking up a book, making a copy of each page, and then walking out.

Also, what? You're saying people who work hard making content don't have a right to be rewarded for their effort?

No it isn't a false analogy. The underlying point is that you enjoyed the product and did not buy it. By the time you have enjoyed the product all that needs to happen has already happened. The content provider hasn't lost the book have they?

No, the difference is, you gained a copy of that product without paying for it. While the content provider may still have the original, that does nothing for them. The content provider has received no compensation despite you having received something from them. This is wrong.

So you haven't received anything by reading the book? They were not compensated for your reading the book either.

No, see, this is why your original post was a false analogy. You do not just read the book and leave. You make a copy and take it with you. You have obtained a copy that should have been paid for. Now another person walks in, makes a copy, and pays the provider for it. That is a normal customer. I realize trying to apply digital distribution to a physical example is a bit off, but it should be clear.

No it's actually an example of you applying an arbitrary distinction between two things that are in reality identical in that under both scenarios someone accessed the product without paying for it. The particulars of how this is done are completely irrelevant. Digital piracy has everything to do with data and the access to it. If you have read a book for sale without paying for it you have accessed the data within the book without paying for it, when you "pirate" a game you access the game data without paying for it.

Really. So, let me get this straight: when you pirate, you are not creating your own copy of the data which you can access from your computer at any time?

You are not "accessing" the data. You are creating your own copy of it. Without rendering any compensation in return.

In order to create your own copy you have to have access to the data. That is why the access to said data is the true issue.

Yes, but while other people are paying for that access, as they should, a pirate is not.

 

[TPiddy]

3. Piracy has the same effect on game developers as renting games or buying used games, they don't get a single penny from them. These two are perfectly legal.

Except for the fact that rental retailers have to PURCHASE copies of the games, meaning more sales for the Dev. rental retailers also acquire copies for re-sale and provide another advertising outlet for the devs. This arrangement is still mutually beneficial.

The crackers buy the game first as well.

Biiig difference..... a couple dozen crackers can feed millions and millions of hacked copies while there are thousands of sales to retail establishments that are lucky if they make their money back on the rental itself. The ratio is so very different that you can't even compare the two in terms of lost sales.

 

[ClunkiestTurtle]

If piracy was eliminated tomorrow would people like me who rent games and buy second hand be the new immoral??

Is it the fact that it's illegal that makes it wrong or that the people who have made it aren't getting money for it?

To answer the second question: a little of both.

See, the thing is, while renting/buying used games may not profit the developer completely, it's still a much better alternative than piracy. If more people rent games, the demand in rental stores go up, and they buy more copies, which benefits the developer.

Now, used games are a bit different. True, the used game market doesn't really benefit the developer, but that's why several titles now offer free DLC with new purchases that can otherwise be bought normally as a way to motivate the purchase of new copies/ offset the losses from used game sales.

But that doesn't really answer the question at all...

I think and obviously so that its the latter half of question that the industry (understandably) is more concerned about but can only focus on the former part without it being a PR disaster to us as the consumers.

With that said its getting more and more clear what people in the industry think of used games sales and the growing noise about it is likely a direct response to the realization that like i said more people who pirate wouldn't of got the game anyway but people who buy used would and do but cut them out of the loop. At the moment the criticism is focused on the stores themselves but its only a matter of time before it shifts on the consumers themselves.

Should the consumers shoulder that responsibility?

Renting and buying used are practically indistinguishable in terms of money making for the people behind the games And with the increasing cost of gaming its likely that these markets will continue for as long as the physical disk is around, the "bonus" DLC and what not isn't really going to make a difference and in reality only helps used game sales more as the game is now worth less used then it was before so used game prices will drop accordingly as the majority of people who buy used or rent will tell you, they are doing so for a reason usually related to money or lack there of so missing out on the insubstantial DLC is not a problem at all as instead they just sell it on and buy a different used game getting more for their money.

Personally i can't remember the last time i brought a game new my unlimited rental plan gets me through about one game a week and then every month or so i'll pick up keepers like L4D,GTA,MW2 etc on ebay at a fraction of retail price. I brought Rainbow six vegas 2 for £5.76 last month, A COD map pack is more then that!! you can't get many decent XBLA titles for that let alone DLC or full titles so if they are thinking i'm going to all of a sudden spend twice as much to get a game new with a code that gives me a new hat or 1 or 2 mediocre levels then they are very much mistaken and i think most people willl say the same....

Basically i think people like me will be the new immoral,most of the reasons pirates give to defend their actions are the same as people who rent and buy used and most of the arguments people use against pirates other then that it's illegal can be used against them to, once legality is out of the question will the "the mob" turn its morality argument on people like me who do effectively the same thing but without breaking the law??

 

[Bat Vader]

Calling Piracy stealing is just hype for effect. I thought we'd sorted all this out. Can people be a bit more mature and stop doing this maybe?

Obviously not. If you walk into a book store pick up a book on the shelf and sit down and read the whole thing you are not a thief. Oh and for the record no content creator or distributor can be said to have the right to make a profit.

That's a bit of a false analogy. Piracy is more akin to walking into a bookstore, picking up a book, making a copy of each page, and then walking out.

Also, what? You're saying people who work hard making content don't have a right to be rewarded for their effort?

No it isn't a false analogy. The underlying point is that you enjoyed the product and did not buy it. By the time you have enjoyed the product all that needs to happen has already happened. The content provider hasn't lost the book have they?

They did not lose the book but you did not pay to take the book home and read it either. What is the point of walking into a bookstore and reading the entire book with no thought on purchasing it? If someone does not want to buy the book they could just as easily go to their local library and check the book out.

Not all books are available at the library. Bookstores nowadays have friggin cafes inside. You don't usually pay (At least not directly.) to take any book from a public library either. You certainly are not called a thief if you borrow your friend's favorite game or DVD. If he or she simply gives it to you, you are not called a thief either.

No, you don't pay to take books home from a library. That is a point of a library, that you can check out books for free. If you intend to go into a bookstore and read the book from start to finish than why not buy it? If people don't want to buy the book than they can wait till it comes to their local library. If it does not come to their library than I guess they are out of luck.

No, you aren't a thief if they gave you permission to borrow it. If they give it to you it is because they said you could have it. If you took it without asking than yes that is stealing.

Pirates don't ask if they can download the game, they just download it.

 

[TPiddy]

But you know the thing that Really pisses me off. It doesn't matter, any of it. There is no collapse of Film or Gaming industries, they are both in a period of completely sustained growth, and in spite of that, you get this SHIT

Spoiler

<youtube=MTMIz0_Iij8>.

Forced down our throats every...fucking....day, because governments listen to the whining of fat cat industrialists, just because they haven't worked out how to profit from online distribution properly. Call me a hippy, but how about....Fuck film companies. Quit subsidesing their war against their own customers, and use government funding to...I don't know...fund hospitals, or build bridges, or foreign aid, or even put up one more public toilet, it would serve the world better.

Anyway...I'm tapped out.

I completely agree with not using government funds to fight corporate problems... I'm with you on that one... where I'm against it... is why should you get something for free when I have to pay for it?

And if nobody pays for it then nobody gets it. As such, to be fair, everyone should pay for it. What cheeses me off is that some pay for it and some don't.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

1. Piracy is NOT theft. Piracy is piracy. No physical game is taken from another person, a copy is made.

Fail.

Theft - "the act of stealing"
Stealing - Comes from the word steal (obviously).
Steal [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steal] - "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force"

Dictionary: 1
You: 0

Do you take the property of another?

No?

No, you make a copy. It's not like someone walking into your house and taking your game.

Do you take something that doesn't belong to you?
Yes.

Do you have permission?
No.

Then it is STEALING. Show me where it says that stealing must be a physical item. And if it doesn't, I guess I can take your bank account number, transfer you funds to my account, and enjoy myself. That isn't wrong... I'm not walking into your house and taking something, am I?

I swear I want to go around about beat people on this site with a logic stick. Downloading something is not making a copy of it. Where does the copying come in? It doesn't unless you download it and then copying it. Piracy isn't copying, copying something is copying. To copy it, you have to have it, and how do you have it without buying it? Stealing it.

 

[Serathen]

What a lot of people are referring to here is something call the Fair Use laws. The Fair Use laws were created a while back for the specific purpose of allowing it to be legal for people to share things. You can legally borrow a book from a friend because it's covered by Fair Use. You can't ask that friend to make a copy of the book, because that's a breach of the Fair Use laws. I don't know the precise specifics of the Fair Use laws, because I am not a lawyer. But I get the strong sense that anyone arguing the topic of piracy's legality should look them up, because the answers may lie within.

That's not my point here. My point is that the Fair Use laws are irritating and stupid. Fuck those laws, they can munch whale phallus.

The real difference between a bookstore, a library, an art gallery, and piracy is intention of the creators. Bookstores are designed in such a fashion that people can read the books before buying them. Or people--especially patient people--can go out of their ways to read the entire book in the bookstore, putting it back on the shelf, and smugly walk out. It's how the bookstore was designed. If the authors of books didn't want that to happen, they would use only digital distribution and just advertise in bookstores.
Same goes for artists. They sold their paintings to art galleries (for oodles of money), and the galleries then decided to display the art on the walls. Nobody did anything nobody else didn't want them to do. I suppose if the art purchased from the artist was burned to a crisp, they would be upset, but part of them knows that the crazy rich man who just bought a painting so he could burn it to cinders paid the original artist a metric fuckton (or, 2,204 shittons, if you use American Standard) of money for the permission to do that.

A pirate creates a copy of an existing game. Games are not displayed in any public context. The content is privately owned and distributed. In GameStop, you can't go in there, pick a game up off the shelf, rip open the box, and plug it into a laptop. (At least, you couldn't back in the days when GameStop carried PC games. Jerks.) This isn't a failure of GameStop to share its products, it's the agreement they have with the game developers. Nobody assumes that, under any circumstances, you can play a game for free by downloading off the internet. The people who DO assume that...allow you to play the game. For free. By downloading it off the internet. Welcome to Indie Gaming Central.
So if the developer says you can't, and they don't arrange it so that you can, you are betraying their trust by downloading their game. Screw Fair Use, it's just permission. Someone said "Don't Step On The Grass!", and so you can't step on the grass unless you ask them. Because it's their land.

All that bile spewed, I'm still on the fence about piracy in general. Laws have this nasty tendency of being written by lawyers, who have a nasty tendency of being human. Human beings are able to pretend that the needs of others do not matter. And so, collectively, the people who are ignored like to shout louder so that their voices are heard. Is the world demanding that the laws are unjust by downloading games? Is this a cultural revolution? Or is this more humanity acting like humans, and ignoring the needs of other people (the people in question here being game developers)? I'm not sure it's fair to lump them both into the same category, but any more specific category is impossible to distinguish. It's so close that differentiating the revolutionaries from the twitchy, angry simpletons is a laughable exercise of time-wasting.

Something else must be done. Discuss!

 

[Maibus]

I'm not a pirate, but expecting people to feel sorry for those HUGE conglomerates of video games for a few free bees is ridiculous, they don't give two shits about any of us, so why should we return the favor? Stealing is wrong, do not misread my statement, but trying to make people feel sorry for developers that make so much money that a few free games is a drop in an oil rig is somewhat on the poorly though out side.

A few free bees? Hmm. Lets look at some numbers shall we?
Last year:
CoD:MW2 - 4,100,000 pirated copies on PC, 970,000 pirated copies on 360
Sims 3 - 3,200,000 pirated copies on PC THIS IS MORE THAN 50% OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF COPIES SOLD
Prototype - 2,350,000 pirated copies on PC, 810,000 pirated copies on 360 THIS IS LITERALLY MORE THAN THE TOTAL NUMBER OF UNITS SOLD
Need For Speed Shift - 2,100,000 pirated copies on PC
Street Fighter IV - 1,850,000 pirated copies on PC, 840,000 pirated copies on 360.

Need I go on?

By the way, developers don't get all that much money you realize. The gaming industry is mainly comprised of big publishers and then small developers for whom one titles success or failure could make or break their company.

Wait you're telling me people actually wanted Street Fighter IV? And who didn't want MW2 or Sims 3? (besides me on the second choice), problem with those two selections is they have developers and publishers that both make more money that any of us will ever see. I get the feeling you think I support this when I don't, stealing is wrong, but still trying to make people feel sorry for the big monster corporations that view all of us as they're next pay checks is still ridiculous.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

why are people so hateful on people like jack? :-/

Because he seems to think that it is perfectly ok to steal stuff because he doesn't have the money to buy it, maybe? Has he tried to get a job? Probably not. Well, I can't afford to live on my own, drive a nice car, or have the insurance for a nice car. Using Jack's logic that means it is perfectly ok for me to go steal a nice car and have a nice house without paying for any of it...

already discussed the job part

fourthly: the economic state in jack's country is in a full turmoil, adults are so desperate for a job that they are willing to work extra hours for no money at freaking mcdonalds as a toilet washer or stuff like that so jack has no way of getting a job [not including the extreme work-load a school from jack's country necessitates.]

You never said if he ever tried to get a job. Plus, school is no excuse. If he has time to play pirated games and go around to all these sites on the internet all the time, then he has time for a job...

 

[Babitz]

why are people so hateful on people like jack? :-/

Because he seems to think that it is perfectly ok to steal stuff because he doesn't have the money to buy it, maybe? Has he tried to get a job? Probably not. Well, I can't afford to live on my own, drive a nice car, or have the insurance for a nice car. Using Jack's logic that means it is perfectly ok for me to go steal a nice car and have a nice house without paying for any of it...

already discussed the job part

fourthly: the economic state in jack's country is in a full turmoil, adults are so desperate for a job that they are willing to work extra hours for no money at freaking mcdonalds as a toilet washer or stuff like that so jack has no way of getting a job [not including the extreme work-load a school from jack's country necessitates.]

You never said if he ever tried to get a job. Plus, school is no excuse. If he has time to play pirated games and go around to all these sites on the internet all the time, then he has time for a job...

Yeah, there's loads of jobs out there in under developed countries for high school graders.

 

[secretsantaone]

3. Piracy has the same effect on game developers as renting games or buying used games, they don't get a single penny from them. These two are perfectly legal.

Except for the fact that rental retailers have to PURCHASE copies of the games, meaning more sales for the Dev. rental retailers also acquire copies for re-sale and provide another advertising outlet for the devs. This arrangement is still mutually beneficial.

The crackers buy the game first as well.

Biiig difference..... a couple dozen crackers can feed millions and millions of hacked copies while there are thousands of sales to retail establishments that are lucky if they make their money back on the rental itself. The ratio is so very different that you can't even compare the two in terms of lost sales.

Millions? I think not.

You make it sound like the retailer is struggling. Surely if it were the case they would stop running them?

The point is, beyond the original purchase, the devs see no more money. The retailer gets to sell the game, then sell the same game an indefinate amount of times without paying the developers. Bare in mind also the size of games retailers compared to the piracy scene, used games and renting costs the developers waaaaay more in imaginary currency.

 

[PhiMed]

The real question is: Why is piracy illegal? Supposedly it is because it leads to lost revenue for those who create the content. YES, in much the same way that libraries lead to lost revenue for books and are thus illegal. OH WAIT. To read an interesting viewpoint on online piracy from a content creator in general look up Eric Flint and the Baen Free Library (baen.com/library).

You do realise that each time a book is taken out from a libary money is paid to the those who'd get the money from a purchase, its not as much as they get from a sale, but it adds up.

Hmmm... Not sure if true... I'm thinking no, at least in my country.

 

[RathWolf]

I'm not a pirate, but expecting people to feel sorry for those HUGE conglomerates of video games for a few free bees is ridiculous, they don't give two shits about any of us, so why should we return the favor? Stealing is wrong, do not misread my statement, but trying to make people feel sorry for developers that make so much money that a few free games is a drop in an oil rig is somewhat on the poorly though out side.

A few free bees? Hmm. Lets look at some numbers shall we?
Last year:
CoD:MW2 - 4,100,000 pirated copies on PC, 970,000 pirated copies on 360
Sims 3 - 3,200,000 pirated copies on PC THIS IS MORE THAN 50% OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF COPIES SOLD
Prototype - 2,350,000 pirated copies on PC, 810,000 pirated copies on 360 THIS IS LITERALLY MORE THAN THE TOTAL NUMBER OF UNITS SOLD
Need For Speed Shift - 2,100,000 pirated copies on PC
Street Fighter IV - 1,850,000 pirated copies on PC, 840,000 pirated copies on 360.

Need I go on?

By the way, developers don't get all that much money you realize. The gaming industry is mainly comprised of big publishers and then small developers for whom one titles success or failure could make or break their company.

Wait you're telling me people actually wanted Street Fighter IV? And who didn't want MW2 or Sims 3? (besides me on the second choice), problem with those two selections is they have developers and publishers that both make more money that any of us will ever see. I get the feeling you think I support this when I don't, stealing is wrong, but still trying to make people feel sorry for the big monster corporations that view all of us as they're next pay checks is still ridiculous.

What I was trying to tell you in the last part is it's not some giant corporation system. You have the publishers,EA,Ubisoft, Activision, yeah, whoop-de-doo for them. But then you have the actual game developers. They're the ones that piracy hurts the most.

 

[Danglybits]

why are people so hateful on people like jack? :-/

Because he seems to think that it is perfectly ok to steal stuff because he doesn't have the money to buy it, maybe? Has he tried to get a job? Probably not. Well, I can't afford to live on my own, drive a nice car, or have the insurance for a nice car. Using Jack's logic that means it is perfectly ok for me to go steal a nice car and have a nice house without paying for any of it...

already discussed the job part

fourthly: the economic state in jack's country is in a full turmoil, adults are so desperate for a job that they are willing to work extra hours for no money at freaking mcdonalds as a toilet washer or stuff like that so jack has no way of getting a job [not including the extreme work-load a school from jack's country necessitates.]

You never said if he ever tried to get a job. Plus, school is no excuse. If he has time to play pirated games and go around to all these sites on the internet all the time, then he has time for a job...

Yeah, there's loads of jobs out there in under developed countries for high school graders.

If Jack and his country are so destitute, then he really doesn't have the time or the money to spend on games does he? Games are a luxury item and it sucks that there are haves and have-nots but at what point did not having enough money for something mean that you got it for free?

 

[PhiMed]

The Escapist as a whole supports drugs.

Hooray for sweeping unsubstantiated statements!

 

[Bat Vader]

1. Piracy is NOT theft. Piracy is piracy. No physical game is taken from another person, a copy is made.

Fail.

Theft - "the act of stealing"
Stealing - Comes from the word steal (obviously).
Steal [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steal] - "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force"

Dictionary: 1
You: 0

Do you take the property of another?

No?

No, you make a copy. It's not like someone walking into your house and taking your game.

1. Piracy is NOT theft. Piracy is piracy. No physical game is taken from another person, a copy is made.

Fail.

Theft - "the act of stealing"
Stealing - Comes from the word steal (obviously).
Steal [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steal] - "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force"

Dictionary: 1
You: 0

Do you take the property of another?

No?

No, you make a copy. It's not like someone walking into your house and taking your game.

Except making a copy means you get the game without paying for it. Yes, I understand not everyone can spend $60.00 on a new video game but how does that justify them downloading it?

 

[Jandau]

A man works for his new car, he's proud that he's been able to save up and afford it. A poor man sees the car and steals it, he can never afford this car so it's okay that he stole it.

The man who bought the car lost the car due to theft.

Do Pirates break into your house and take your games? Actually, that would be kinda cool... Maybe they'd be real Pirates then...

No, but they do go online, take a copy of data that took years to put together that needs to sell or the creators don't get the benefits (promotions, raises, having a job in the future) from it. It's sort of like if you were putting a logo design together for a company and you showed them the final product and they refused to pay you, only to go on to use the design anyways, but they did so in such a way that you can't profit from unless by going after them in court. If you were a logo designer then, you'd demand money up front and wouldn't let them have the design until they agreed to your terms (sounds a bit like DRM actually...)

If they actually came in with swords and guns dressed up like pirates and stole the game, I'd actually be impressed because they put some real effort into it.

I was just pointing out that the car theft analogy was flawed. Also, your analogy is flawed since the whole Logo thing implies that the company that stole your logo went on to profit from that logo. Most Pirates don't profit from the games they download. To use your own analogy, Pirating is closer to someone seeing the logo and thinking it would be cool to put on his T-Shirt, so he has it printed on a T-Shirt of his own without telling the logo designer...

 

[secretsantaone]

1. Piracy is NOT theft. Piracy is piracy. No physical game is taken from another person, a copy is made.

Fail.

Theft - "the act of stealing"
Stealing - Comes from the word steal (obviously).
Steal [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steal] - "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force"

Dictionary: 1
You: 0

Do you take the property of another?

No?

No, you make a copy. It's not like someone walking into your house and taking your game.

Do you take something that doesn't belong to you?
Yes.

Do you have permission?
No.

Then it is STEALING. Show me where it says that stealing must be a physical item. And if it doesn't, I guess I can take your bank account number, transfer you funds to my account, and enjoy myself. That isn't wrong... I'm not walking into your house and taking something, am I?

I swear I want to go around about beat people on this site with a logic stick. Downloading something is not making a copy of it. Where does the copying come in? It doesn't unless you download it and then copying it. Piracy isn't copying, copying something is copying. To copy it, you have to have it, and how do you have it without buying it? Stealing it.

Do you take something that doesn't belong to you?
No.

Do you make a copy of someone elses work?
Yes

Do you have permission?
No.

I would have lost all my money if you transfered it. If I make a copy of your game, you still have the game and now I do too. It's a different concept.

Downloading something IS making a copy of something. You're taking something that's been posted online or via torrents and COPYING it to your hard drive. The files exist on the server or on other people's PCs, the files now also exist on your PC. Copying.

You copy it from people who have already bought it.

I'm not trying to justify piracy here, it just annoys me when people charge in assuming things that simply aren't true, complicating the situation even more. It's the equivilant of assuming VIDEO GAEMS R BAD COS KIDS BECUM VIOLENT.

 

[secretsantaone]

1. Piracy is NOT theft. Piracy is piracy. No physical game is taken from another person, a copy is made.

Fail.

Theft - "the act of stealing"
Stealing - Comes from the word steal (obviously).
Steal [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steal] - "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force"

Dictionary: 1
You: 0

Do you take the property of another?

No?

No, you make a copy. It's not like someone walking into your house and taking your game.

1. Piracy is NOT theft. Piracy is piracy. No physical game is taken from another person, a copy is made.

Fail.

Theft - "the act of stealing"
Stealing - Comes from the word steal (obviously).
Steal [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steal] - "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force"

Dictionary: 1
You: 0

Do you take the property of another?

No?

No, you make a copy. It's not like someone walking into your house and taking your game.

Except making a copy means you get the game without paying for it. Yes, I understand not everyone can spend $60.00 on a new video game but how does that justify them downloading it?

I'm not justifying it, I'm saying that piracy and theft and different concepts.

 

[numaiomul]

<sad, sad snip>

At this point, You may want to get a mod to lock the thread, seeing how most everyone here thinks your OP was a pretty badly thought out one. If you get the thread locked, they'll probably leave you alone.

as yahtzee said:"you could point yourself at a wall and show power point presentation"
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/37-Mailbag-Showdown
though luck my friend [sorry i took that one personally for i think that a forum is made to discuss and if a subject is not important it will just cease to exist. besides i hate self-important pricks].

A few free bees? Hmm. Lets look at some numbers shall we?
Last year:
CoD:MW2 - 4,100,000 pirated copies on PC, 970,000 pirated copies on 360
Sims 3 - 3,200,000 pirated copies on PC THIS IS MORE THAN 50% OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF COPIES SOLD
Prototype - 2,350,000 pirated copies on PC, 810,000 pirated copies on 360 THIS IS LITERALLY MORE THAN THE TOTAL NUMBER OF UNITS SOLD
Need For Speed Shift - 2,100,000 pirated copies on PC
Street Fighter IV - 1,850,000 pirated copies on PC, 840,000 pirated copies on 360.

Need I go on?

By the way, developers don't get all that much money you realize. The gaming industry is mainly comprised of big publishers and then small developers for whom one titles success or failure could make or break their company.

from where do they have the numbers?