Pirating games is bad but in some places (like Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China), certain publishers refuse to pay taxes to the governments or have their products licensed and registered in these countries as copyrighted material. As such, the authorities don't have any legal right to bust the piraters nor do they even have the inclination to do so. It's like complaining to the police that you had your marijuana stash ripped off.
On the other hand there are companies like Microsoft, Intel and IBM which sponsor the technological infrastructure of these countries so the police actually do something about pirated Windows XP.
If more publishers were willing to lose a little profit (by say 60%) by having their products licensed and by lowering the price of these products to make them affordable to the locals, I'm sure they'd see a 1000%+ increase in profit. It's a pity that their marketing people are comprised of talking monkeys who care only about the short-term profits made from selling an overpriced copy of Homeworld 2 for RM160 (or 160 zloty, about 40 US dollars, but equates into 160 US dollars for locals due to local currency and local monthly pay) instead of selling them at respectable prices. What this does only encourages further piracy and screw up profit making in the region.
To blame piracy on the loss of sales is ridiculous. I'm sure most people would prefer to pay RM30 for a legitimate copy, neatly packaged with bonus goodies (like the TOEE Polish version) instead of shelling out RM10 for a jewel case. Sure, the pirates would still be around, but as it is, most people who can afford to buy gaming computers can sure as hell afford to pay RM30.
What's really stupid about the marketing strategy of large publishers over here (VU and Atari) is to really skimp on the packaging by not including a manual, jewel case or anything like that. Instead you get paper sleeves and the game cds. Just name a person who wouldn't feel ripped off paying RM160 for that.
There's plenty of local Asian game makers that pack their products with plenty of goodies, including cloth maps, figurines, guide books and all sorts and sell their products for reasonable prices (RM15-RM50). You just won't find too many pirated versions of those products because people would prefer to buy those original ones instead. The big publishers could really learn a thing or two from these independent guys instead of launching multimillion dollar campaigns to fight piracy.
Some would argue that this overpricing scheme is just another example of arrogant Western imperialism, to prove to the East its dominance over the market and over 'luxury items' like computer games. I'd disagree with that and state simply that some people just don't belong in the business of making money, but that's how it looks like to a lot of people.