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 John Romero: DOOM's Free Players Weren't Pirates - briefly
(hx) 11:15 PM CEST - Aug,07 2026
DOOM co-creator John Romero has pushed back against claims that piracy was a main driver of the game’s success and hurt id Software.

The discussion started after former id Software designer Sandy Petersen said 70–90% of DOOM players pirated the game, costing the studio millions.

Romero explained that original DOOM was released as shareware, with the first episode designed to be freely copied and shared legally.

He noted the game reached about 20 million free shareware installs and sold over 2 million full copies.

Those free players should not be counted as pirates, Romero said, because they used the game exactly as id Software intended.

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