Doom co-creator reveals how id Software used pirates to get the game to more people

Doom is one of the most influential games ever made, but id Software didn’t rely on traditional retailers to get it into players’ hands. Instead, the studio once worked directly with Taiwanese pirates to help distribute it.

Released in 1993, Doom helped popularize the first-person shooter genre with its fast-paced combat, labyrinthine levels, and multiplayer support. It was developed by id Software, the studio co-founded by John Romero, who worked as a designer and programmer on the game.

Essentially, Doom was released using a shareware model. Its entire first episode could be copied and distributed for free, while players who wanted the remaining two episodes had to order the full game directly from id Software.

That approach helped Doom spread rapidly, but it also meant countless unofficial sellers began packaging and selling the free shareware episode themselves. Rather than trying to stop them, id Software decided to use them to its advantage.

id Software worked with Taiwanese pirates to distribute Doom

During a QuakeCon 2026 panel, Romero explained that stores would often carry several unofficial versions of Doom containing the exact same shareware episode.

“You would go to the store, and you would see 10 different boxes that all had the same shareware Doom in it,” Romero said. “It was awesome. We were totally happy with that.”

The practice was especially common in Taiwan, where unofficial copies of games were widely available at the time: “We knew in Taiwan that they were copying it, 100 percent,” Romero explained. “That was the market back then.”

Rather than attempt to shut down the sellers, id Software “contacted the biggest pirates there and went, ‘Can you buy boxes from us? Really cheap; really, really cheap.’ So they bought tons of boxes off of us so it would be legitimate.”

Essentially, id Software sold official Doom boxes to local distributors for very little money. Those sellers could then package and distribute the free shareware episode, allowing more people to discover the game through the legitimate physical release.

“We made money when people would actually order the rest of the game,” Romero explained. It also gave id Software a chance to build an audience in Taiwan that could return for its future releases. “For us it was, distribution is king.”

The studio took a similarly relaxed approach to copy protection. Romero said id Software knew players would find ways to copy Doom regardless, so it focused on reaching as many people as possible.

“If people want to copy it, they’re going to copy it. They might buy it sometime later, but we knew we didn’t have money for everything that we were playing, so we’re like, ‘Let’s not copy protect it.’ If people want to play it, they’ll figure out how to play it. We only needed enough to make the next game.”