@snow IMHO #piracy should only be considered "#theft" [with damages being limited to the cost of properly licensing it!] if the pirated material was still offered for licensing new under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
- I.e. if a #game has been #delisted and the #platform it was released on is #EoL'd then there should be no claim to "damages" as the #IP holder did not provide a way to #license said content or otherwise comply with #copyright.
In the past, #EA did offer to replace broken discs / cartridges for a nominal fee [AFAIK €10 per disc or €15 for double-discs] if people mailed in the original (broken) media. I'd say that is should apply to everything, tho granted that only allows people in theory to deal with #DiscRot (assuming the publisher is able and willing to perpetually honour this service), not allowing them to legally attain new licenses.
- As a matter of fact #Adobe canceled #OneTimePurchase options for their #CreativeSuite after they got successfully sued into allowing people to #sell and #transfer #licenses for their #CS6 and other products.
#Valve & #Steam legally workaround this by merely providing access and not a #license per-se.
- Still, I think #piracy in almost all cases is (as GabeN correctly said:) "A services problem!" and if a product is fairly priced and then people will be willing to pay for it.
I just think that the rampant Enshittification of even #PhysicalMedia is unsustainable and I wish for an #OpenSource #competitor to #BDXL and it's #OnlineDRM!
