It is not an exaggeration to say that 99.9% of the games in here would have disappeared from the world if there hadn't been a piracy scene while they were initially released. Anyone who tells you there's no excuse for piracy has never seriously worked in software preservation.

— Frank Cifaldi the Last (@frankcifaldi) October 1, 2019

The only reason much from this era will be preserved is due to piracy. Otherwise, it’d be completely lost. Pirates are the (as yet) unsung heroes of our time, working to keep the corporate wish to wrest your own culture from you. Which is, in the end, our history — a history that belongs to all of us and should not be subject to willful destruction for the sake of non-existent profits.