One thing that leaps out at me about this ruling is that courts understand the internet a lot better nowadays. A decade or so ago Sony would have probably gotten away with the argument that Cox profited from the users’ piracy; nowadays judges themselves use the internet and are going to go “lolno, they probably would have been Cox customers anyway. It’s not like anyone pays for internet connection solely to pirate. And in most areas people don’t even have a choice of provider, so how is Cox profiting from this?”
Video game piracy has led to more purchases from me, because I’ll download a game to try on a whim that I wouldn’t have purchased, find out that’s it really good and buy it
It has been shown that pirates spend more on media than anyone else, so companies are effectively attacking their best customers because they are short sighted idiots
Same, I blame games not having a trial version anymore. Streams free weekends are actually great for this. I’ve bought a couple free weekend games I’ve played in the past.
Best way to get me to not pirate your game and buy it is to have a decent demo available. Against the Storm is a bizarre pitch (Rouge-lite City builder), but they had a good demo that allows unlimited play on the standard biome with a level cap. Was incredibly easy to try it and play enough to decide I like it.