I think a big issue here is there's no physical item to buy. When you pirate something and like it, you might buy it to have the nice box and whatnot. At least, that's for me.
I am a pretty big otaku, and I pirate anime when I want to check it out. More often than not, unless it REALLY sucks(try before you buy!), DVDs, manga, and merch. from the series quickly fill my shelves. My room is beginning to look like something from Otacool http://www.figure.fm/feature/en/otacool/. If there was no DVD to put on my shelf, where's the incentive for me? I definitely understand this isn't true for everyone; some people genuinely want to get games and not pay. But I think the issue of buying some string of bits, that's generally no different than the one you downloaded, isn't a good incentive for many pirates to go legit.
Slashdot Mirror
I think a big issue here is there's no physical item to buy. When you pirate something and like it, you might buy it to have the nice box and whatnot. At least, that's for me. I am a pretty big otaku, and I pirate anime when I want to check it out. More often than not, unless it REALLY sucks(try before you buy!), DVDs, manga, and merch. from the series quickly fill my shelves. My room is beginning to look like something from Otacool http://www.figure.fm/feature/en/otacool/. If there was no DVD to put on my shelf, where's the incentive for me? I definitely understand this isn't true for everyone; some people genuinely want to get games and not pay. But I think the issue of buying some string of bits, that's generally no different than the one you downloaded, isn't a good incentive for many pirates to go legit.