Aside from the legal side of things, the problem with downloads of movies/games, etc is that it gives a false impression to the producers as to what people want.
To clarify; two games come out. One is crap but sells x amount anyway. The second game is awesome, however because of the piracy the actual store sales equal that of the crap game. Therefore the producers think that the crap game is actually good.
You can see this in action with some of the utter crap that comes out in all markets. Stuff that the film and game reviewers condemn yet are consistently repeated and you also read about the new ideas and the unique games that never make release, or the games that the producers put pressure on the programmers to change to what they see as a more successful formula. Often resulting in broken or hastily released games.
To clarify; two games come out. One is crap but sells x amount anyway. The second game is awesome, however because of the piracy the actual store sales equal that of the crap game. Therefore the producers think that the crap game is actually good.
You can see this in action with some of the utter crap that comes out in all markets. Stuff that the film and game reviewers condemn yet are consistently repeated and you also read about the new ideas and the unique games that never make release, or the games that the producers put pressure on the programmers to change to what they see as a more successful formula. Often resulting in broken or hastily released games.