Game companies want to avoid people downloading cracked games. If every game someone wants is available legally, then that person might decide to be 100% legal. But if some stuff isn't available legally, that person might turn to cracks for those, and then once on the cracks, continue using cracks in other situations.
Fallout 3 best example.
I bought the CD from the UK, shipped to Germany.
Disc was defective.
With tricks I managed to install it, barely.
Returning wasn't an option.
Years later I see it on Steam and buy it, to find out it's the German version, no English text or audio and censored too.
Valve didn't have a refund policy back then. So I threw away money because of this.
I them downloaded the Gog version off the internet. I already paid for this game, twice.
Another reason is the 2 hour no refund policy.
If I spend a lot of money for a virtual product and those 2 hours are absolutely not enough to see if I like a game or not, I expect a lot more time than 2 hours to be able to evaluate if a game is worth the purchase.
That's why I download a pirate copy 1st because most games are not worth the money. Most games are lazy, optimized for marketing and the 2 hour period and after that the quality drops hard.
If there are no pirate releases I won't buy it.
Guardians of the Galaxy for instance. 60 eur. Recently cracked. I'm glad I didn't give in and spend 60 eur for this. I played it for 2 days and uninstalled.
Warhammer Total War 3.
Bought it from a Hong Kong shop.
It was released unfinished and I bought it ONLY because I bought the 1st and 2nd iteration on Steam. I don't have all the DLCs.
TCO of the trilogy including the DLCs which are for the most part nothing but reskins with minor changes is over 250 eur.
For what's essentially one game.
Last time they got my money. That's a scam in my book.
I'm still waiting on them to release the grand map called Immortal Empires.
It will eventually get cracked.
And then I'll download the while thing including all DLCs. I already paid 190 eur for the 3 and some DLCs. My freaking 10 year old Samsung Pro 840 SSD cost that much and still serves me well. It's a lot of money. No one was interested in playing part 1 once part 2 was out, likewise no one will be interested in parts 1+2 once they release IE.
Fool me once...
If you buy a lot of brand new AAA games with all the DLC it'll be expensive. If you buy a few games, old games, games on sale, and play them for a long time, it's a lot less expensive. You also don't need as expensive of hardware to play old games.
