John Romero, the legendarily long-haired co-founder of id Software program and father of recreation collection Quake and Doom, has recounted a story about when id Software program labored with Taiwanese pirates to unfold Doom.
The story belongs to the 80s and early 90s, when video games used a Shareware enterprise mannequin. The primary a part of a recreation was launched totally free and you might order the remainder of it from an organization for a payment. It was the mannequin id Software program used for Wolfenstein, after which for Doom.
As a result of there was nothing stopping pirates from copying and reselling Shareware variations of a recreation as their very own, they did, and a cottage business sprang up round it. “You’d go to the shop and you’d see 10 completely different bins that every one had the identical shareware Doom in it,” Romero recounted in a QuakeCon 2026 panel at across the 20-minute mark (picked up by PC Gamer). “It was superior. We have been completely pleased with that.”
Why was id Software program pleased? As a result of game-pirates have been successfully doing distribution for the sport – and in a area id Software program wasn’t as acquainted with. “We knew in Taiwan that they have been copying it, 100%,” Romero stated. “That was the market again then.”
However as a substitute of making an attempt to battle it, id Software program leant into it, harnessing the attain these pirates already had with a view to unfold the sport. “So we contacted the largest pirates there and went, ‘Can you purchase bins from us? Actually low cost; actually actually low cost.’ So that they purchased tons of bins off of us so it could be reliable.” The message was easy: “Please do it. Do not give us any cash. Simply get it on the market.
It was in id Software program’s curiosity to assist the illegitimate apply. “We made cash when folks would truly order the remainder of the sport,” Romero stated. It additionally helped the studio set up a fanbase within the area that presumably have an interest within the different video games it made. “For us it was: distribution is king.”
It is a refreshing revelation in an business that is fought lengthy and laborious towards piracy, often burdening players with fussy copy protection systems with a view to minimise the piracy alternatives. It is a battle that is solely lately tipped in game-makers’ favour due to internet-required logins.
“We got here from an period within the 80s the place, man, copy safety was a struggle,” Romero recalled. “However there have been some publishers again then that didn’t try this, and we actually revered these publishers. However there’s all the time been a struggle that is by no means been received with copy safety, so we did not wish to waste our time with that.
“If folks wish to copy it, they are going to copy it. They may purchase it someday later, however we knew we did not have cash for all the things that we have been taking part in, so we’re like, ‘Let’s not copy shield it.’ If folks wish to play it, they will determine learn how to play it. We solely wanted sufficient to make the subsequent recreation.”
John Romero left id Software program the 12 months Quake was launched, in 1996, having fallen out with co-founder John Carmack. As we speak Romero has his personal studio in Eire, co-owned together with his spouse Brenda Romero, who’s had an illustrious profession in video games herself. Romero Video games was rocked final 12 months when Xbox pulled funding for a shooter it was making, causing the project to be redesigned in order to survive.
Quake turns 30 years previous this 12 months and Bethesda gave it a shock birthday current in a single day within the form of a brand new expansion, Dawn of the Machine. Nevertheless it’s not all birthday truffles and celebrations at id Software program proper now as it reels from the latest wave of devastating cuts to restructure the Xbox division.