Is online piracy a really serious problem? My opinion: nope.

[Aerows]

187. No, it isn't

If people are going to buy your product, they will buy it. If they aren't going to buy your product but can get it for free they may utilize it and then decide to buy it. In many cases, they had no intention of buying it in the first place, and if they hadn't have gotten it via pirating, they certainly wouldn't have paid for it. It actually works to the BENEFIT of many companies, because they get the opportunity to see how popular their product really is if there is interest in downloading it, and it can generate sales.

It has been proven time and again that the companies themselves often release pirated versions of their product, despite giving lip service to whining about piracy.

I've downloaded things that I've actually bought in the past, too. EA lost all of my licenses for my games when they went to that stupid Origins service. I don't feel badly in the slightest downloading Mass Effect again when I already paid for it once, and Mass Effect 2 that I got for free as a bonus for pre-ordering Dragon Age 2. I buy games that I like, and with the draconian DRM that some companies use, sometimes it feels nearly impossible to actually "own" a game, even if you actually paid for it.