Well if there is one thing that is for certain piracy will never disappear. They come out with something new to block them. Someone will come up with a way to work around it and then cash in on it for themselves.
As for the safe bet that was mentioned earlier.
Companies especially corporations go where the money is. They don't care how many bridges they burn along the way to get there its just that they get there.
So if it means pissing off the hardcore gaming community to cash in on the huge boom in casual gaming thats happened in the past decade they will do it until that cash cow runs dry and then go for something else.
They don't care about you... they don't care about me... they only care about the figures that sit in their bank accounts.
The only thing I personally think they are shooting themselves in the foot with is jumping to the whole it has to be online to work thing.
Not everyone has cable internet. Some places still can't even get cable internet believe it or not. Some your small town residents that live on back country roads that comcast and verizon have yet to stake claim to. I mean yes the majority of us have finally moved onto cable over the years but not everyone has it.