GDC 2007 had a panel on piracy. And even if you believe that they're just whining about the supposed "cost" of piracy to the business, if GDC has a panel on that, then THEY, the devs, believe it's a problem for THEM, the devs. Take id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead, who, according to Joystiq's coverage, points to internet piracy as the reason why Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has gone multiplatform.

Why? He says that console piracy is minimally relative to PC piracy. "By a large factor."

Here we go again. The nitty gritty of the economics of piracy to developers is more complicated than you think, which all depends on the popularity of the game in various territories, enforcement if intellectual property laws in those territories, the financial health and development portfolio of the developer... you get the drift, right? And our take is that ethics... is ultimately the responsibility of the guy practicing it, not to the guys preaching it.

Short version to chew on, though: professional devs need to eat, too. Easier job if you've got Gears of War in the bag and Unreal Tournament 3 in the side pocket, perhaps - pirates might as well be tilting at Catalan windmills. And while Quake Wars comes from a long-running franchise, if its developer is looking to consoles as part of a loss-mitigation strategy...