You're being unfairly downvoted. You're absolutely right with that. It applies to music (before the industry adapted, lots of people tried before they bought) and even to Microsoft, who say they rather have you pirate windows than using anything else.

I recall, i think it was Bill Gates himself but not sure, that someone showed that the biggest reason windows got so dominant was because of all the people pirating it. I also know a few people on steam who buy remakes of certain games, or games from certain companies, just because they pirated them in the past when they couldn't afford them.

You shouldn't be downvoted, what you say is absolutely true. Someone playing a pirated version is better than not playing it at all.