Interesting thread. Let me add to it. I had never heard about Larian - and very likely I might never have - if I had not stumbled over Dragon Knight Saga on Usenet a couple of years ago. I do not visit Game Stores, as I do not care about console games and I don't hang out on gaming sites a lot.
I installed DKS and was awed. Within a week, I bought the game.
In total, I have bought from Larian:
- Dragon Knight Saga
- Divine Divinity
- Dragon Commander (bought pre-release)
- Divinity Original Sin (Kickstarter Backer)
So I guess that there is a balance between the bad (pirates that never pay for games) and the good (people that learn about games that way and buy what they actually play). So torrents and Usenet can be free advertising for the game studios. I guess that Larian may see it in a similar way, which would explain their opposition to DRM. (D:OS does not have it, even on Steam. Dragon Commander was available without it, DKS had it removed as soon as Larian was allowed to severe ties with the publisher).
Even pirates fall into two groups: those who would not buy or could not afford to buy the game in any case (no real damage done to the studios) and those who refuse to pay for something they enjoy and could afford to buy. The latter is morally unacceptable, IMHO and damages the game developers.
BTW: I buy every game I play, but I buy blindly only where I trust the game's developers (i.e. D:OS, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen or Larian after Dragon Knight Saga).
