Def Leppard also noted that piracy usually leads to fans that pay more than people that don't pirate at all.

For many, people can't afford to just spend what might be a lot to them right now for something they don't know if they will like it or not. Its a risk not worth the cost, and not every library has every new book/manga/movie/music album/video game/etc. Since most of these don't have adequate "demos" for them to try out, they either:

A) Don't buy it ever B) Pirate it

The ones that pirate might find out they actually like the thing, and when their fortunes turn around they end up being the biggest spenders that shareholders dream about. Is every pirate that way? No of course not. Most pirates download the data just because they can with no intent of ever buying it (IE, NOT a lost sale). But a sizable number of them go on to spend more than they would have if they didn't pirate.

I will throw myself under the bus and admit this about myself. NieR Automata. I heard positive things about it, but at the time it was a lot of money for me to risk if I didn't like the game. When it got cracked I pirated the game and played it. Loved the game.

Loved the game so much I bought it on Steam (at full price). Then I bought it on Xbox. Three times, twice as gifts for other people. Then I bought 2 gift copies on PS4. Then I bought NieR 2010 on the Xbox store. Then I imported a Japanese copy of NieR Gestalt. Then I pre-ordered the White Snow edition of the 1.22 remake. I even spent money on the mobile gacha game NieR Reincarnation (which was actually a fun game, I will add). I even bought copies of the Drakengard games to play those. And I eagerly await another chance to buy another Yoko Taro game. I don't even like Square Enix. I just like Yoko Taro's games and I want more of them.

All because I pirated one copy. That's 12+ sales from a single vector of piracy. That's a shareholder's wet dream. They don't realize I am only that way because piracy allowed me to take a risk on an experience I didn't know I would like or not. By taking away my opportunity to play the game at no cost of risk, they eliminate people like me that turn into 12+sales from a single vector of piracy.

But I suppose they wouldn't be businessmen if they weren't bending over thousands to pinch pennies.