This is a great thread. And the idea of PC Pirates is just silly. Is piracy more prevalent on PC? probably. But here are some interesting ideas.

First off, developers love saying how many people have torrented their games. But lets now take this into consideration, people tend to use downloaded games as a try before you buy system and I think that is for two reasons. One is because demos are very few and far between these days. A lot PC gamers are sick and tired of these lazily ported PC versions of games that suck because of a bad control system. I'd like to name Resident Evil 5 which i stopped playing because using a mouse was awful!

Of course pirated games are also distributed via LANs and flash drives, but I like to think of it as free advertising. As if people like the game then they'll possibly go buy it. And if you look at steam sales figures I think you might notice PC gaming is thriving and making a lot of money.

Lets take a quick look at console gamers though who love to trade games. How much of that money goes to the developers or publishers of the games. Absolutely none of it. Way to support the industry guys.

Finally, the people who really make sure PC games are delayed: Microsoft and Sony. Piracy is an excuse because developers can't say what's really gone down. Microsoft and Sony pay developers or threaten developers to release games on console first because that's how they make money. Consoles are sold at a loss that is subsidized by games. Its why console games are more expensive than PC. If you release a game like GTA 5 on console and PC at the same time, what are you going to buy? A low resolution version that is more expensive and you have to play it using a controller? No, you'll buy it on PC, where its cheaper, looks better and you can use a mouse and keyboard. That's the basic idea at least. I know this kinda sounds like a conspiracy theory but I think its whats going on.