Piracy did hurt the PS2, it just had a high enough install base to counteract the negative effects. I remember buying a second hand PS2 for Guitar Hero. The af

Piracy did hurt the PS2, it just had a high enough install base to counteract the negative effects. I remember buying a second hand PS2 for Guitar Hero. The aforementioned game was pretty much the only original game that came with it, it was also bundled with a Swap Magic disc and about 100 pirated games. Clearly pirated PS2 games weren't hard to come by. However, the PS2 was hugely successful, so from the point of view of a game publisher even if you lose a high proportion of potential sales to piracy you can still make a profit. This article gives some insight into how important strong software sales were to the survival of the Dreamcast: http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/7/4599588/why-did-the-dreamcast-fail-segas-marketing-veteran-looks-back http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/7/4599588/why-did-the-dreamcas... Whilst the Dreamcast did not have the worst ever attach rate, any downturn in sales was not something sustainable. As I said in a different comment, if the Dreamcast had been released with a DVD drive (even if this bumped up the retail price) then this would have helped immensely, not only to counteract piracy (DVD burners were much rarer at the time), but also to take away one of the big reasons for waiting for a PS2. Whether they could've afforded to do so in 1998 is another matter.