Pirating is almost always service issue and not a pricing issue - Gabe Newell.
The argument is based on a legal, convenient and high quality service. The expected outcome that users prefer that over pirating.
The product is legal.
The product is also conveniently accessible (Steam).
Guess what’s the problem hence.
In the case of LE sentiment is really… really bad towards it by now. The trust in the service is at an all-time low with basically failed releases, release scheduled being not even remotely appropriate for the type of content release and it’s also low quality when things release.
It’s a issue of high-quality service hence.
Compare it to a game like ‘Icarus’ which provides a boatload of DLC… but they also provide a weekly update with new content. Every… single… week. 'Here’s a new light!, ‘Here’s a new backpack!’, ‘Here’s that new item which solves this miniscule issue!’. They provide good service hence.
I personally am very fraudulent with my money. I consume tons of entertainment, Anime, Light-Novels, Games. Those are my core hobbies besides the ‘functional’ ones like personal carpentry projects, gardening, convenience upgrades for my home and so on. I pirate the majority of content I consume actually. I pay for every good content I consume with a priority list.
Read Overlord? Great story! I’ve already consumed it… it was good… here get money, your product is worth it!
Anime? Same. Got quite a bit of Manga sitting around.
Funds are limited though, I can only spend what I earn, and when I reach the end of the road and I got only 5% of available content I wanna consume paid for then that means 95% won’t get money. And the only difference it makes if I consume it or not is hence if I can recommend it to others or not, which then provide revenue to the creators.
Digital goods have no relevant distribution cost and no physical scarcity, but companies still think they work with the same framework.