for the most part, you can't play those pirated games online. a lot of people pirate them to see if/how it runs on their system. shyt, I know I pirated Crysis 2 and BF3. later on I copped BF3, because it was dirt cheap, and there's several benefits to owning a legit copy. I mean who wants to be stuck playing the BF3 campaign
we've also came a long way since 2011. in 2010 Steam had 25 million users, and now in 2015 there's over 100 million. GTA V just sold more than 2 million copies on PC. the new Steam Refunds policy is also a huge step, because now people can buy games and not worry about being stuck with a game that doesn't run well on their system
what just happened with Arkham Knight was an example of the power of the refund system. WB probably initially saw some pretty significant sales on PC, but then the money started going in the other direction. if the initial sales weren't there, they probably would have said "fukk PC" and kept it moving. but they saw the potential to make money on PC, and realized they fuct it up
piracy is still an issue, as there's always incentive to get something for 'free'. but Steam, and PC gaming in general, has been adding a lot of incentive to getting a legit copy of the game. as a reformed PC pirate, I eventually saw that it was a lot less hassle to just buy the game. you can play online, get achievements and such, and you get patches and other forms of support right away. plus if you're willing to wait, you can get shyt dirt cheap