I can remember getting a DVD from Netflix, getting sick of all the unskipable previews, and downloading a pirate version before they had even finished. It's so true. When it's easier to pirate, the publishers need to sit down and rethink their whole existence.

In that time frame (where Netflix was still sending truckloads of DVDs across the country) I don't see how downloading the pirated version of a DVD would be faster than using DVD shrink on the Netflix DVD though.

0: This is more commonly/obviously supported for torrents containing multiple files, eg a TV show where you can get episode-1.mp4, then episode-2.mp4, etc.

Gabe literally built a DRM platform.

But he correctly identified that if you just said something people want to hear in an interview then even if you operate in literally the exact opposite fashion people adore it.

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Big_List_of_DRM-Free_G...

I know like a decade ago, steam emulators existed that could replace the steam DLLs for offline games (or potentially, but more risky: online games that don't rely on valve's servers).

I've not looked into it since, but honestly I'd be totally unsurprised if they never engaged in a war with the pirates on those tools, and they are no harder these days. My impression has always been that the Steam DRM is more intended to prevent casual copying than to be a real piracy deterrent. (This meshes with games on steam often including more invasive DRM systems on top of the Steam one.)

What about all the piracy that happened because of intrusive DRM? It certainly prevented that kind of piracy.