Grandia...
I've read a lot of that type of scaremongering from execs in the music biz as well as the games industry, but that's all it is. 90% of sales on just about everything in Asia are lost to piracy because China is the biggest producer of fake goods in the world and its govt doesn't do much to stop it. They copy clothing brands, watches, official shirts, you name it - it's not just PC games. Somehow the other industries all survive regardless... I'd bet they fake console games, too.
Piracy is an easy thing to blame for lost sales for the simple reason that the amount it actually does affect the market is completely and totally unprovable. For 'estimates' in that article read 'wild guesses' - because that's all they are. There's simply no way of knowing for sure.
But if sales of Generic Game Part 50 are down you can complain about piracy as the cause rather than admit you rushed out a buggy game or one that's too repetitive or too short or otherwise just not worth consumers' time. It's an easy target for blame and no-one can prove you are wrong.
Look at the music industry - years and years of churning out generic and/or rubbish music while prices rose - of course the drop in sales was down to piracy... The PC games market is in a similar position.
Funny thing is, though, I bet if we asked Blizzard or Sony about how evil the internet is, they'd be surprised to hear it. MMOs are the biggest thing around right now, after all.
I'm not saying piracy is not a problem, mind - merely that it's been used as a scapegoat far too often.
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Raito - yep. Agreed. As with music, turning out a pretty product that is ultimately uninteresting beyond the cosmetic is a very bad thing. Long term interests are being sacrificed at the altar of short term gain. That's the real threat to the industry.
It's why I'm so happy to see companies like Bioware (Dragon Age) & Larian (DD2) not even looking for a publisher until their games are either done or very close to it. It's great that they can afford to do so, and to me it really shows that they care about their product and about their fans.
I know not every company can afford to do that, sadly. I wish they could.
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Questions to consider:
What was the last game you bought with only a few very minor bugs (Or none!) that had no effect on game play?
What was the last truly original game you bought, rather than something in a series or based strongly on other games?
When was the last time you had to upgrade your already expensive computer in order to play the latest series of game releases?
(Yes, the speed of having to upgrade or replace computers is also significant, I believe. Especially in a general economic downturn. A new computer costs a heck of a lot more than a console, after all. If people are sticking with old games a lot, it could easily be because the system requirements on new games are increasing all the time)
