Draft:Pirate Software
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| Pirate Software | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Hall in 2024 | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Jason Thor Hall | |||||||||
| Origin | Washington (state), United States | |||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||
| Occupations |
| |||||||||
| Website | gopiratesoftware | |||||||||
| Twitch information | ||||||||||
| Channels | ||||||||||
| Genres | ||||||||||
| Followers | 1.2 million | |||||||||
| Associated acts | Ludwig Ahgren | |||||||||
| Website | piratesoftware | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Subscribers | 2.5 million[1] | |||||||||
| Views | 2.39 billion[1] | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: June 30th 2025 | ||||||||||
Jason Thor Hall, known professionally as Pirate Software,[2][3] is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and game developer. Formerly a Blizzard Entertainment employee,[4][5] he is known for developing indie games, most notably Heartbound.[6][7]
Career
[edit]Hall started work by himself as a freelance security researcher and developer from January 2002 until 2004 when he was hired from nepotism by his father Joey Ray Hall at Blizzard Entertainment. Hall started worked as a QA analyst, then promoted to the following: QA hacks and assistant lead in October 2012, associate test engineer in November 2013, associate application security engineer in April 2014, associate security engineer in February 2015, and senior red team specialist in April 2015.[4]
Hall left the company in February 2016 to work at Amazon Games as an automation engineer. Alongside, he started his own independent video game company, Pirate Software. In June 23, 2016, he published his first game, Champions of Breakfast.[7][8]
In March 2017, Hall started his Twitch channel, "PirateSoftware", focusing on streams developing Heartbound and Q&A about game development. Hall left Amazon Games in September 2016 to work at the Eagle Research Group as a cyber security specialist until leaving in November 2017 to work on his indie projects. In June 2024, Hall along with Ludwig Ahgren opened a publishing label Offbrand Games.[9][10][11]
In late 2023, Hall was gaining popularity on YouTube Shorts, going from 13,000 subscribers to 1.1 million subscribers in a span of two months. At The Streamer Awards 2024, Hall won the categories "Best Software and Game Development Streamer" and "League of Their Own".[citation needed]
Hall left Offbrand Games in July 2025 due to supposed review bombs of their games from Hall's statements regarding the Stop Killing Games movement.[12]
As of present day, Hall works as a chief executive officer at his own company Pirate Software.[citation needed]
Heartbound
[edit]Heartbound is an early access indie role-playing video game developed and published by Hall. The game centers around a boy who deals with depression, anxiety, and fear as he embarks on a journey through different locations in search for his dog, Baron.[7][13]
In March 2016, Hall announced Heartbound and put it on Steam Greenlight in December 2016. A Kickstarter campaign was started for Heartbound in February 2017 for a month, reaching $19,272 of its $5,000 goal. An early access build was later released in December 2018.[7][8]
While the initial reception of Heartbound was generally positive, it slowly declined following years of minor updates with little changes. In January 2025, the game was marked as "abandoned" on Steam after 13 months of no updates. On February 1, the game received a small update, which was presumably done solely to remove the "abandoned" tag. As of February 2025, the game's recent reviews on Steam were "mostly negative".[note 1][14]
Controversies
[edit]Hardcore World of Warcraft incident
[edit]In January 2025, Hall participated in a World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore dungeon run with fellow Twitch streamers in the "OnlyFangs" guild. During the run, Hall fled, or what the community refers as roached, during a chaotic pull despite his mage character, resulting in the death of two high-level characters.[15] While fleeing, he attempted to justify his actions, stating that he was out of mana, despite later casting an Ice Barrier on himself. Critics argued that Hall, as a mage, had the abilities to help save his teammates, but prioritized his own survival.[16]
When confronted, Hall blamed poor communication and did not take accountability for his mistake. His refusal to take accountability and his perceived arrogance during discussions led him to being kicked from the guild.[16]
False DMCA on indie developer
[edit]In January 2025, indie game developer Brandon Ferrentino shared a video clip of his game Idle Streaming Bonanza, which depicted Hill as a cockroach character using audio clips from Hill’s World of Warcraft controversy. Hill subsequently filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice with Valve Corporation, resulting in the game’s removal from the Steam platform. However, it was later clarified that Hill’s likeness and voice were only present in a private developer build and had not appeared in any public releases of the game. Following this revelation, Ferrentino filed a DMCA counter-notice to seek the game's reinstatement.[17]
Hill defended the takedown, asserting that no one should use his likeness or voice in a game without his explicit permission. Hill was unaware that the content in question had never been part of the public version. He also indicated his intention to pursue legal action against Ferrentino.[citation needed]
Opposition to Stop Killing Games movement
[edit]In August 2024, Hall released a video to his YouTube channel discussing his opposition to the Stop Killing Games initiative. His stance and criticism was the initiative's supposed vague and unrealistic goals, burdensome for indie developers, and how it would potentially harm the video games industry. It's believed Hall's response set a bad representation to the initiative.[18][19][20]
In June 2025, the founder of Stop Killing Games, Ross Scott, published a video a month after the end of the initiative. The video directly calls out Hall and his misrepresentation of the movement's goal and spreading misinformation. Scott argued that Hall's critiques were based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what the movement was asking for.[19]
The response from Scott gained Hall severe backlash, losing over 120,000 subscribers within a month. In June 2025, Hall left Offbrand Games after supposed review bombs of their games due to the backlash. However, critics countered his claims, suggesting that Offbrand Games' titles were not being review bombed.[12]
Hall made a response in July 4, 2025, doubling down on his statements and refusing to apologize for his misrepresentation.[15] He additionally refuses to talk to Scott. He stated that he hopes the initiative's outcome would be unsatisfactory if it succeeds.[citation needed]
He states that he has received multiple death threats and has been swatted due to the drama.[15]
Exaggerated claims and professional credentials
[edit]Speculation on Hall's experience started in 2025, stating his inconsistent work portfolio. Hall's LinkedIn profile states he worked in Blizzard Entertainment from 2009 to 2015 as multiple non-programming roles. However, Hall states to have worked in Blizzard since 2004 and states to have worked as a programmer, opposing what is said in his online portfolio. Hall also states to have worked as a penetration tester for the US Department of Energy, but isn't allowed to discuss it because of a non-disclosure agreement he signed.[citation needed]
Other programmers, most notably Coding Jesus, decided to look into Hall's code for Earthbound, discovering amateur coding decisions that doesn't reflect his supposed 20 years of gaming industry experience. When confronted on this, Hall stated that he intended the code to be bad because of his game's alternate reality game. He additionally states that the game is optimized enough, claiming the game to be able to run on a smart fridge, directing his viewers to a video of it running on a Samsung smart fridge. However, it was later discovered the game was just running on a laptop screen-mirrored to the smart fridge's display.[citation needed]
Overly defensive behavior
[edit]Hill is infamous for defending himself when any criticism is aimed at him. Critics reported multiple cases of Hill deleting comments or banning viewers for bringing up certain topics.[citation needed]
Hall dislikes being labeled a nepo baby despite gaining his job at Blizzard Entertainment from his father, who was a senior project manager at the company. Hall admitted this in an old video, however now he dislikes it when it is mentioned. In July 2024, Hill was interviewed for an article by Mashable. When it was published, Hill publicly expressed his disgust of the article which labeled him once as a nepo baby. Hill reportedly had contacted Mashable to take out any mention of him as a nepo baby, though the article is still unedited.[21]
His overly defensive behavior is a fundamental part of his controversies. Hill constantly doubles down on his statements despite all paths leading against him. Hill has also been reported for banning members on his Discord server for his game Heartbound, stating how the game is still unfinished and lacking in updates despite development starting in 2016.[citation needed]
In July 2025, Hill's father, Joey Ray Hall stated that Hill did not greet him during his birthday. When confronted, Hill laughed it off and in an attempt to defend himself, admits that he hasn't messaged him for a year since his last birthday, stating his last message was still his father's last year birthday greeting.[citation needed]
DEFCON black badges
[edit]Hall claims to own three black badges from DEFCON, a highly prestigious hacking conference. He states to have done them individually. However, multiple reports suggest that these badges were earned as part of a team.[citation needed]
Their team's solutions would be used in an episode of Mr. Robot. Hall replied to one of the clues including the step-by-step guide on the first clue, claiming they took their solution without credit, specifically to Hall.[citation needed]
Hypocrisy and cheating in video games
[edit]Hill has been called out multiple times for cheating in multiple video games, such as Animal Well, Outer Wilds, Dota 2, and others. He has been accused of reading off puzzle solutions for games and claiming he solved it by himself, even though the puzzles he solved took multiple days to solve from their respective communities. Hill is often seen looking over at his phone, his other monitor, or leaving to supposedly go to the restroom, to then return and immediately be able to solve the puzzle.[citation needed]
In addition, these cheating allegations oppose his claim that he never cheats at video games because he states it ruins his enjoyment of them.[citation needed]
Ludography
[edit]Video games and expansions
[edit]| Year | Title | Publisher | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| TBR | Kill The Moon | Pirate Software | Game director, programmer, artist |
| Heartbound | Game director, programmer, writer, artist | ||
| 2016 | Champions of Breakfast | Game director, programmer, artist | |
| 2015 | Heroes of the Storm | Blizzard Entertainment | QA Hacks, assistant lead, associate test engineer |
| 2014 | Diablo III: Reaper of Souls | ||
| Hearthstone | Associate test engineer | ||
| 2013 | StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm | QA Hacks, assistant lead, associate test engineer | |
| 2012 | Diablo III | General QA, QA Automation, associate test engineer | |
| World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria | QA Hacks, assistant lead, associate test engineer | ||
| 2010 | World of Warcraft: Cataclysm | QA Hacks, assistant lead | |
| StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty | General QA, QA Automation, QA Hacks, assistant lead | ||
| 2004 | World of Warcraft | General QA, QA Automation |
Awards and nominations
[edit]| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | The Streamer Awards | Best Software and Game Development Streamer | Won | [22] |
| 2024 | League of Their Own | Won | [23][24] | |
| Streamer of the Year | Nominated |
Notes
[edit]- ^ Review scores on Steam are considered "mostly negative" when the percentage of positive reviews is between 20% and 39%. Steam reviews made in the last 30 days are considered recent.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "About @PirateSoftware". YouTube.
- ^ Weatherbed, Jess (2024-04-02). "Twitch's Hype Train record smashed again by Pirate Software". The Verge. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ Allsop, Ken (2024-11-02). "The director of a long-awaited new MMORPG is fighting players in game as a PvP 'raid boss'". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ a b Koselke, Anna (2024-05-29). "Hades 2 developers left all of the roguelike's code "exposed" says iconic indie dev, making it "the easiest to mod game ever"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 2025-07-18.
Jason Thor Hall, former Blizzard security specialist
- ^ Allsop, Ken (2024-07-12). "Hit survival game Once Human will refund duplicate cosmetics after meeting with ex Blizzard dev". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ Ostler, Anne-Marie (2024-01-12). "Former MMO dev reveals the random mundane object that stopped World of Warcraft's first bots in their tracks". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
While Hall has parted ways with Blizzard, he's still very much involved in making games. His latest project is Heartbound
- ^ a b c d Jagneaux, David (2017-01-27). "Heartbound First Hands-On Preview: Could This Be the Next Undertale?". IGN. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ a b Paek, Jessica (2019-01-10). "Thor, Pirate Software: Leaving AAA to go Indie". Game Developer. Retrieved 2025-07-18.
- ^ McEvoy, Sophie (2024-06-10). "Content studio Offbrand launches games publishing label". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ Mejia, Ozzie (2024-06-07). "YouTube streamers Ludwig and Thor open publishing label, starts with Rivals 2". Shacknews. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ Michael, Cale (2025-01-14). "Ludwig's Offbrand Games Goes From Competitive to Cozy With New Animal Adventure". Esports Illustrated On SI. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ a b Malik, Daniyal (2025-07-03). "Pirate Software Leaves Off Brand Games as Stop Killing Games Reaches Goal". Esports Illustrated On SI. Retrieved 2025-07-18.
- ^ Yokoyama, Keiichi (2020-07-29). "Steamで高評価のドット絵RPG『Heartbound』日本語に対応。『MOTHER』シリーズの影響を受ける、少年と犬の絆描くRPG". AUTOMATON (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Benedetto, Antonio G. Di (2025-02-05). "Steam now warns you if an 'early access' PC game might be abandoned". The Verge. Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ a b c Sánchez, Miguel Ángel (2025-07-15). "Uno de los grandes detractores de Stop Killing Games denuncia que ha recibido miles de amenazas de muerte, tras perder más de 100.000 seguidores". Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ a b Linhares, Nádia (2025-01-13). "World of Warcraft: Who is Pirate Software?". Dot Esports. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ Hernandez, Gab (2025-02-01). "What's going on with the PirateSoftware DMCA drama?". win.gg. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
- ^ Blazewicz, Jacob (2025-06-24). "Your games could disappear overnight. The campaign to prevent this is failing". Gamepressure.com. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ a b Racinowska, Olga (2025-06-27). "Inside the Stop Killing Games debate, Pirate Software apologizes to Ross Scott but Penguinz0 calls out the hypocrisy". Gamepressure.com. Retrieved 2025-07-18.
- ^ Maria, Josep Sempere (2025-07-18). "Todo lo que debes saber sobre Stop Killing Games". Eurogamer.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-07-21.
- ^ Asarch, Steven (2024-07-09). "How streamer Pirate Software gained nearly two million subs in six months". Mashable. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
- ^ Michael, Cale; Taifalos, Nicholas (18 February 2024). "Streamer Awards 2024: All results and winners for every category". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ^ "The 2024 Streamer Awards: All Nominations". Esports Illustrated On SI. 2024-11-12. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
- ^ DeSena, Gabby (December 8, 2024). "Recap: All 2024 Streamer Awards Winners". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
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