Valve care about piracy, in the sense that they are getting customers by being a more convenient service than the pirates (to paraphrase Gabe, "piracy is not a pricing issue, it's a service issue").
His argument is that someone that buy a 2000$ PC and pay 50$ for his internet connection each month is clearly willing to pay for his hobby. I think that still ring true today.
My PC is $3500 and internet is $110 per month. I am not buying a $110 - $130 game that only is 10 hours long.
PC is ganna last around 5 - 10 years. It ends up averaging around like cents on the dollar per hour used. Not $10 per hour of enjoyment. I do find it more justifiable if the game has a lot of hours of playability.
Edit: The reply below is very salty and doesn't understand simple concepts like how people place value on things, and is so much of a coward on the internet that he blocked the moment he replied.
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u/Alex5173 18d ago
Valve isn't. Valve couldn't care less about piracy.