To be fair, piracy does drive down sales, as some of the people who would otherwise buy the game do pirate it.
Do we know that for sure? If games don’t have demos, and don’t have pirated copies available, how do you know that people who would have otherwise pirated it are just going to go ahead and buy it?
Also, isn’t the opposite true? If pirated copies of games are available, won’t some people treat them as demos and if they like the game then they will end up buying it to support the developer and to get official updates for the game?
Do we know that for sure? If games don’t have demos, and don’t have pirated copies available, how do you know that people who would have otherwise pirated it are just going to go ahead and buy it?
Also, isn’t the opposite true? If pirated copies of games are available, won’t some people treat them as demos and if they like the game then they will end up buying it to support the developer and to get official updates for the game?
It’s generally not an accurate statement to say that piracy drives down sales, at least when you look at overall measurements. You’re definitely correct in assuming pirates want to support developers (and media creators in general) that they enjoy the works of, because pirates are by far the largest purchasers of content compared to traditional content purchasers