Doom creator id Software used Taiwanese pirates to help distribute the game, John Romero reveals
John Romero has said that id Software deliberately worked with Taiwanese pirates to help distribute Doom during the shareware era of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Rather than trying to stop copied versions being sold, the studio saw them as a low-cost way to expand the game’s reach in a market it did not know well, with revenue expected from players who later bought the full game.
Romero said id contacted major Taiwanese pirates and sold them large quantities of boxes at very low prices so the distribution could be legitimate, while asking them simply to get the game widely circulated. He argued that copy protection was an unwinnable battle and said id’s priority was earning enough from sales to make its next game; the approach also helped establish an audience for future titles.
In short
- id Software used Taiwanese pirates to widen Doom’s distribution.
- Shareware copies helped attract eventual full-game buyers.
- Romero says copy protection was not worth fighting.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
In the early 1990s, international distribution was prohibitively expensive and copy protection was futile. By selling large quantities to pirates at low prices for legitimate bulk distribution, id Software found a pragmatic solution that expanded global reach, funded development, and ensured more players accessed the game. This represented shrewd adaptation to market conditions where traditional channels were simply unavailable.
The case against
Profiting from piracy, even indirectly through bulk sales, undermines the intellectual property protections necessary for sustainable creative industries. Companies have a responsibility to develop legitimate distribution channels rather than circumvent legal frameworks when they prove inconvenient. This approach, however pragmatic in the short term, sets a concerning precedent that corporations can sidestep copyright law to maximise reach and revenue.
Explained simply
Doom is a fast-paced computer game released by id Software in 1993. John Romero was one of the studio’s developers, and the game became widely known as players shared copies and played it on home computers.
At the time, shareware games were often distributed in a free, limited version, with players asked to pay for the complete game. Copying games without permission was common in some markets, including Taiwan, where local sellers could reach players unfamiliar to overseas developers.
The account describes id Software choosing to work with those sellers rather than focus on stopping copies. It shows how game makers in the early PC era weighed control over distribution against reaching more players and earning enough to fund future games.
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