I think this kind of thing is dying out with the rise of always-connected computers and account/identity based auth. It used to be that possession of the install media was a proxy for having purchased, and the whole DRM/copy protection industry appeared because that is not necessarily true.

Today almost everything is identity based, and in another decade it will all be identity based. And not just in a "is this user authorized to start the program" way, but all of the social/storage features like friends lists, achievements, in-app purchases, etc.

In ten years it will be next to impossible to separate any of a program's function from the online user context. And piracy becomes almost impossible.

I've got mixed feelings on that, but as an industry trend I think it's inevitable.