Quote:
Originally posted by Un4given
Even if they wouldn't have purchased all of the software, they likely would have purchased some. In your scenario, even if he purchased 50-100 of the 200 titles originally pirated, that is still an increase of sales of 25-50%. If we look at that, how mamy companies wouldn't like to see an increase in sales 25-50% on those copies that were being pirated. Using the numbers you originally posted, 25-50% of the roughly $6.5 billion lost dollars would amount to between $1.6-3.2 billion dollars in revenue for software developers.
Also, if you think for a minute that software developers aren't fully aware of that fact that there is no way for them to stop all piracy, and that they don't figure that in to the overall cost when pricing a product, you are sadly mistaken. They know full well that can't mark up the product enough to cover all piracy losses, but it is very much a consideration when pricing is determined.
Like I said, even if the people that pirate software would never have purchase what they had stolen, they do impact the price to us consumers that do pay for our software.
Oh, and that money figure was based solely on the US numbers, not the wordwide losses. If you look at the world wide numbers, that would mean increases of $7-14.5 billion dollars in increased revenue.
"Even if they wouldn't have purchased all of the software, they likely would have purchased some. In your scenario, even if he purchased 50-100 of the 200 titles originally pirated, that is still an increase of sales of 25-50%."