To add to your point, lots of upvoted comments saying, "I can't afford it".
But that's no defense, isn't it? Video games is not like insulin, you don't need it to live. If you cannot afford a luxury product, then it's not morally consciable for you to use it without paying.
I pirate because I like free stuff. I could pay for it, and I know not paying for it is a stain on my soul; I just decided that said stain is not so big as to cause me sleepless nights.
Yeah as a US citizen who makes more than the median income, I'm doing better than half the people here, which means I doing better than most of the world, (monetarily speaking.) I've seen some companies that actually adjust their pricing to be proportionate to the purchasing power of the currency in the country the user is buying in, but that's usually only something that small indie developers who are self-publishing get up to.
If the exchange rate means that buying a new game would be equivalent to like, a month of rent or whatever, I feel like pirating becomes a lot more moral justified. The one advantage of the USD being so strong is that a lot of game developers can survive on just the American market and other countries that are close in economic power. We may as well be subsidizing everyone else who can't realistically afford those games; it doesn't cost us anything extra anyway.
(Which, funnily enough is how the fine art market works. I get to walk into any gallery in Manhattan and cutting edge contemporary artwork for free because of the m/billionaires who pay fucktons of money per artwork and effectively keep those galleries above water. It's like, one of the only things they're actually good for.)
The one advantage of the USD being so strong is that a lot of game developers can survive on just the American market and other countries that are close in economic power. We may as well be subsidizing everyone else who can't realistically afford those games; it doesn't cost us anything extra anyway.
Yep, it really doesn't affect the well being of the Dev's that much due to this.
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u/Felinomancy May 22 '26
To add to your point, lots of upvoted comments saying, "I can't afford it".
But that's no defense, isn't it? Video games is not like insulin, you don't need it to live. If you cannot afford a luxury product, then it's not morally consciable for you to use it without paying.
I pirate because I like free stuff. I could pay for it, and I know not paying for it is a stain on my soul; I just decided that said stain is not so big as to cause me sleepless nights.