id Software"s CEO Todd Hollenshead has stated that he believes PC manufacturers" acceptance of piracy and the sharing of content the user does not pay for is the PC hardware industry"s "dirty little secret".
According to Hollenshead, manufacturers are secretly happy with levels of piracy in the industry as it helps to sell hardware.
"I think that there"s been this dirty little secret among hardware manufacturers, which is that the perception of free content - even if you"re supposed to pay for it on PCs - is some sort hidden benefit that you get when you buy a PC, like a right to download music for free or a right to download pirated movies and games," said Hollenshead in an exclusive interview published today.
"I think that if you went in and could see what"s going on in their minds, though they may never say that stuff and I"m not saying there"s some conspiracy or something like that - but I think the thing is they realise that trading content, copyrighted or not, is an expected benefit of owning a computer."