A routine nostalgia post on X turned into a major discussion point, after Sandy Petersen, the veteran designer behind Doom and Age of Empires, replied to it. The post, which simply asked, “Be honest, did you ever pirate games?”, received a lengthy reply from Petersen stating that piracy killed off companies like Atari, Amiga, and more.
Petersen argued that 70 to 90 percent of Doom‘s players pirated the game, and that around 50 percent of Age of Empires copies were pirated, with both cutting directly into development budgets and contributing to studio closures. Alongside Atari and Amiga, Petersen also named Cinemaware, and 3D Realms as casualities, and rejected the “try before you buy” defense outright. He pointed out that Doom offered nine free levels and Age of Empires included a free battle to let players try before committing.
Before other game development legends jumped into the discussion, the community was already skeptical. Sentiment split into a few camps, with many pointing out that Doom‘s commercial returns were substantial enough to make its creators wealthy regardless; pushback on the assumption that every pirated copy represented a lost sale; and a counter-narrative from developers and players who described piracy as the on-ramp that eventually led them to paid software and careers in the industry.
John Romero says shareware, not piracy, built Doom’s 20M install base
Over the past few years, id Software founder John Romero, regularly pops up on X to correct Sandy Petersen’s memories of the Doom days. And in keeping with the pattern, Romero was once again on the case, starting yet another tweet with “Hi Sandy, I hope you’re well”, before offering his views on Doom’s distribution strategy.
The first episode was designed to be copied freely, uploaded, passed around, and installed by as many people as possible. Those 20 million shareware installs were not pirates. They were the intended audience. Romero acknowledged that pirating the registered game was a separate issue, but pushed back on merging legal shareware distribution and actual piracy into a single damning number.
He also disputed the claim that piracy gutted id Software, noting that id is still around and still making games, and that the difficulties around Quake had more complicated causes than lost sales.
Hi Sandy, I hope you’re well. I have appreciated the recent discussions. I do not agree with your framing.
— John Romero 🤘🏽 (@romero) June 29, 2026
Regarding piracy, DOOM is a complicated example because shareware was the model. DOOM’s first episode was designed to be freely copied, passed around, uploaded, installed,… https://t.co/a7sAS5HseJ
Notch: “Piracy is actually good”
Notch, the creator of Minecraft, also weighed in with considerably less diplomacy. His take was a flat “piracy is actually good,” with a reference to his longstanding public position on the subject. Throughout Minecraft’s existence, the Swedish developer has argued for piracy as a way for gamers to enjoy his creation.
Just pirate it. If you still like it when you can afford it in the future, buy it then. —Notch, 2012
As the arms race between DRM-protected games and DRM-crack developers continues in 2026, the piracy discussion is more relevant than ever. Indie games with little to no anti-piracy protection are setting record-breaking sales numbers on platforms like Steam, suggesting players are happy to pay for games even when cracks exist.
Related—GTA 6 reportedly getting a disc edition after launch in December 2026
Meanwhile, AAA games and console platforms are placing ever greater emphasis on digital purchases, quietly removing the second-hand option for gamers on a budget. Where the line lies is down to your own moral compass, but it is clear that even titans of the industry have differing views on the topic.
