John Romero, co-founder of id Software, father of the Quake and Doom series, and legendary developer known for his long hair, recently shared a story about id Software's collaboration with Taiwanese pirates to distribute Doom.
This story dates back to the 1980s and early 1990s, when the shareware business model was common in the gaming industry: the first episode of a game was offered for free, and players could pay the publisher to order the remaining full content. id Software's Wolfenstein and the subsequent Doom both adopted this distribution model.
With no technical restrictions in place, pirates could freely copy and share the game, repackaging it as their own product for resale, which gave rise to a nascent piracy industry. Recalling this at a roundtable forum during QuakeCon 2026, Romero said: "You'd go into a store and see ten different box designs, all containing the same shareware version of Doom. It was awesome, and we were totally fine with it."
Why did id Software welcome piracy? Because these pirates were essentially helping them distribute the game, reaching regional markets that id Software was unfamiliar with at the time. Romero stated: "We knew for certain that people in Taiwan were copying our games. One hundred percent. That was just the market reality back then."
Instead of cracking down on piracy, id Software went with the flow, leveraging the existing distribution networks of these pirates to expand the game's reach. "We contacted the biggest local pirates and asked them, 'Do you want to buy packaging boxes directly from us? At a very, very cheap price.' So they purchased large quantities of boxes from us, making their products look more legitimate." Our stance was clear: "Go ahead, no need to give us a cut, just spread the game."
Supporting this unconventional approach actually aligned with id Software's business interests. Romero explained: "We only made money when players actually paid to order the full version of the game." This also helped the studio build a fanbase locally, who would likely be interested in their other titles as well. "For us, distribution channels were king."
In an industry that has long waged a fierce war against piracy, even burdening players with cumbersome anti-piracy measures to squeeze out illegal copies, this story stands out as remarkably different. It wasn't until recent years, with the widespread adoption of mandatory online login systems, that publishers finally began to gain the upper hand in the battle against piracy.
Romero recalled: "We lived through the 80s, when anti-piracy felt like an endless war. But there were also some publishers who didn't use encryption, and we greatly admired them. There are never any real winners in the anti-piracy battle, so we didn't want to waste our time on it."
"People who want to pirate will always find a way. They might even buy the game later on. We've been in situations where we couldn't afford games ourselves, so we decided: let's just skip the anti-piracy encryption. Those who want to play will find a way; we just need to make enough money to fund our next game."
In 1996, the same year Quake was released, John Romero left id Software due to disagreements with co-founder John Carmack. Today, Romero runs his own studio in Ireland alongside his wife, Brenda Romero, who is also highly accomplished in the gaming industry. Last year, Xbox terminated financial support for a shooter game from Romero Games, forcing the project to undergo significant restructuring to continue, which severely impacted the studio.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Quake, and Bethesda recently delivered a surprise birthday gift—the new expansion pack, Machine Dawn. However, id Software isn't entirely in celebratory spirits right now. The latest round of massive layoffs and restructuring within the Xbox division has dealt a significant blow to the studio, which remains in a state of turbulent adjustment.