it kinda depends. There games which you can only crack but it is fine as long as you have paied them befor like in your childhood (example NFS MW and NFS Carbon, or Empire Earth).
However if you get these games without ever buying them (old ones, remakes, remasters, etc...) then it falls under piracy.
I am also thinking on getting NFS MW cause I somehow really want to have a good arcade-racing game again and doing insane cop-chases (and yes, I bought these in the past)