"If buying isn't ownership, then piracy isn't stealing."
I dislike this mantra so much. It's nothing more than just a silly virtue signaling meme to me.
Let me be clear, as a lifelong gamer who has been playing video games since the early 90s and has amassed a multi-generational collection of physical games that I hold dearly; I wholeheartedly support physical media and I abhor corporate greed and gaslighting from multi-billion dollar companies like Sony that try to convince we, the people, of a false dichotomy that we can't have both physical and digital media, and that physical media must be artificially and forcefully expired. I'm also not a pearl clutcher about piracy and I won't pretend I have never, ever pirated a game when I was much younger and broke; but I also refuse to glorify it either, much less pretend it's some kind of rebellious, activist action. It's slackivism at best because my ultimate problem with this mantra and mentality is this.
Physical media is not being saved when you pirate a game; the only thing you are doing by pirating a game is entertaining yourself for free. It's an entirely self-serving act that saves nothing but your own money in your wallet...I suppose just like Sony wants to. But nothing gets saved outside of the exchange of currency. At best you're just acting entitled and spiteful and punishing a developer/studio for the decision of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. If you agree with the concept of "voting with your wallet" then this would be the equivalent of no longer voting at all and removing yourself from the electoral process entirely. Congratulations, you just did exactly what your enemies want and voluntarily removed yourself and your voice and influence from the entire equation.
The answer to decisions or elections you dislike isn't to stop voting; it's to increase positive, uplifting efforts that counteract the decisions and developments that you dislike while, yes, still "voting". If there is a video game that you see and you like, and it has a physical version, you should buy that game, even if or especially if it's on Sony Playstation. It's not about "supporting Sony" or not, or being a "corporate shill"; it's about supporting physical media. Do you hate Sony (or any company) more than you love physical media, that you would refuse to buy a Sony Playstation physical game? Besides, pirating console games is much more difficult compared to PC games anyway, and piracy has its own risks, not just legally but literally to your device and whatever sensitive info might be on it.
Also, this entire mantra is kind of a spiteful non-sequitur because the act and concept of piracy has nothing to really do with "ownership" or the argument around physical media; piracy is about whether you appropriately paid for the piece of entertainment you are consuming or not, physical or digital. "Ownership" involves what actual claim and rights you have to something. Yes, the word "theft" is often used to describe piracy but ownership and what "ownership" means is secondary in a piracy discussion to the primary question of whether you paid for it or not. The violative "theft" in piracy is a theft of service, akin to dining and dashing. Creators of a work are entitled to be compensated for your consumption of it, like chefs and cooks are entitled to compensation for you consuming their food.
So again, I am no pearl clutcher about individual piracy but if you do it 1) at least have the wherewithal to be discreet about it and not loud and proud (a seemingly forgotten thing in today's clout-chasing terminally online era) and 2) do not be stupid enough to distribute it, especially for profit. Because at that point you are explicitly violating and you get what you deserve.
In regards to Nintendo specifically and r/SwitchPirates, whether you like or dislike them or their games, they are the one remaining video game company that is still, for now at least, supporting physical media. Sony has declared they are ending their physical discs in 2028 and XBox discs have long been essentially game key cards, with incomplete or no data on the disc and requiring a download. What sense does it make to antagonize the one remaining company supporting physical media, a genuine video game company that isn't a tech conglomerate, with blatant, loud, proud piracy? Seems to me like the kind of selfish, entitled action that would counterintuitively antagonize them to embracing all-digital just like Sony.
P.S. Reddit is a dumb snarky hivemind cesspool anyway. Seriously, how stupid do you have to be to advertise your piracy on REDDIT of all places? Do Redditors know that their echo chamber isn't hermetically sealed off from outside onlookers and that the internet isn't an alternate universe from reality?
News source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/nintendo-wins-4-5-million-from-reddit-mod-who-sold-pirated-switch-games/ar-AA2cZ6Ol