Sorry to pile on, JDR!
, but this is absolutely wrong thinking. And it comes from a place of fear.
To think that an industry which has billions of fans worldwide is going to suddenly cease to exist is not logical thinking. Even if 75% of gamers pirated games, the industry would still exist.
Now, if you want to play semantics and say the "industry" will cease to exist, maybe it could happen. But something new would certainly rise in it's place. There is too much of a demand for it not to.
The only thing that would happen if everyone started downloading for free (and also coincides with what is starting to happen now), is that the gaming industry would naturally evolve. You'd see more free-to-play games from big companies and big developers. This is most likely the future of gaming.
The music industry is evolving, too. But what needs to stop is the senseless persecution of people who download things for free. It's like these industries are desperately trying to cling to an archaic way of operating. Free downloading is here and it's not going away, so these industries need to change with the times.
It may be a painful process, but it's going to happen, so these industries would be best served to just embrace it and start thinking of new ways to deal with these issues.
Maybe the future of intellectual "property" is that all of it is public property that can be had for free? Who knows?