Pirate Software
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| Pirate Software | ||||||||||
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.jpg?lang=en) Hall in 2024 | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Jason Thor Hall July 17, 1987 | |||||||||
| Origin | Washington (state), United States | |||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||
| Occupations |
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| Website | gopiratesoftware | |||||||||
| Twitch information | ||||||||||
| Channels | ||||||||||
| Genres | ||||||||||
| Followers | 1.2 million | |||||||||
| Associated acts | Ludwig Ahgren | |||||||||
| Website | piratesoftware | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Subscribers | 2.4 million[1] | |||||||||
| Views | 2.39 billion[1] | |||||||||
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Last updated: June 30th 2025 | ||||||||||
Jason Thor Hall (born July 17, 1987[citation needed]),[2] known online as Pirate Software,[3][4] is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, game developer and a former Blizzard Entertainment employee.[5][6] He is known for developing indie games, most notably Heartbound,[7][8] and maintaining a ferret rescue.[9] He gained popularity through YouTube Shorts.[9][better source needed]
Career
[edit]Hall worked as a security specialist for Blizzard.[5] He left the company in February 2016[citation needed] to work at Amazon Games as an automation engineer.[8]
Hall started his own independent video game company, Pirate Software, where he currently works as chief executive officer.[10] In June 23, 2016, he published his first game, Champions of Breakfast.[8][11]
In early 2017, Hall started his Twitch channel, "PirateSoftware", focusing on streams developing Heartbound and Q&A about game development.[9][better source needed] 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.[citation needed]
In late 2023, Hall gained popularity on YouTube Shorts, going from 13,000 subscribers to 1.1 million subscribers in a span of two months.[9][better source needed] At The Streamer Awards 2023 and 2024, Hall won the categories "Best Software and Game Development Streamer" and "League of Their Own".[12][13]
In June 2024, Hall along with Ludwig Ahgren launched their publishing label, Offbrand Games.[14][15][16] In July 2025, he parted ways with the company, citing review bombing of their games in response to Hall's statements regarding the Stop Killing Games movement, a claim disputed by critics.[17]
In addition to software development, Hall owns and operates a ferret rescue in Washington, which provided care for over 50 ferrets in 2024. The operation hosts a live feed of the ferrets on their Twitch channel, "FerretSoftware", to fund the venture.[9]
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 in search for his dog, Baron.[8][18]
In March 2016, Hall announced the development of Heartbound. In December 2016, the game was listed on Steam Greenlight. In February 2017, Pirate Software launched a Kickstarter for Heartbound, reaching $19,272 of its $5,000 goal in a month. In December 2018, an early access build of the game was released on Steam.[8][11] The initial reception of Heartbound was generally positive, with critics comparing it favorably to other titles in the genre such as Undertale.[8]
In January 2025, Steam marked the game as "abandoned" after 13 months of no updates to the game's stable branch.[19] On February 1, the game received a small update.[20] As of July 2025, the game's recent reviews on Steam were "overwhelmingly negative", and the overall reviews were "mixed".[note 1]
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 a chaotic pull, Hall fled the fight, resulting in the permanent death of two other high-level characters.[21] While fleeing, he justified his actions by stating that he was out of mana while also taking issue with how another party member communicated. Critics argued that Hall, as a mage, had the abilities to help save his teammates but prioritized his own survival.[22] Hall was kicked from the guild by its leader, Sodapoppin, following these events. Hall claimed that his removal was in response to his threats to report other streamers to Twitch, and he claimed that they were inciting their viewers to attack him. [23]
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 Hall as a cockroach character using audio clips from Hall's World of Warcraft controversy.[citation needed] Hall subsequently filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice with Valve Corporation, resulting in the game's removal from Steam. However, it was later clarified that Hall'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.[24][better source needed]
Opposition to Stop Killing Games movement
[edit]
In August 2024, Hall released two videos to his YouTube channel detailing his opposition to the Stop Killing Games movement and specifically Stop Destroying Videogames, its petition registered with the European Citizens' Initiative. Hall criticizes its supposed vague language and unrealistic goals, the resulting burden for indie developers, and the potential harm to the video games industry. It is believed Hall's response inaccurately represented the initiative's objectives leading to a decline in momentum for the movement.[25][26][27]
In June 2025, a month before the deadline of the European Citizens' Initiative petition with only 400,000+ out of the mandated 1 million valid signatures, Ross Scott, the founder of Stop Killing Games, published a video anticipating the end of the campaign. Directly addressing Hall's stance on the movement, Scott accuses him of spreading misinformation, arguing that Hall's critiques were based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the movement's goals.[26] Hall faced severe backlash after Scott's response, losing over 120,000 subscribers within a month.[28]
In June 2025, Hall left Offbrand Games after supposed review bombing of their games due to the backlash. However, many critics claimed that Offbrand Games' titles on Steam did not receive a significant increase in negative reviews in the days following Scott's video.[17]
On July 4, 2025, Hall reaffirmed his critique of Stop Killing Games and refused to apologize for his stance.[17][21] He also stated that he has received multiple death threats and has been swatted due to the controversy.[21][29]
Personal life
[edit]Jason Hall is the son of Joeyray Hall, who also worked for Blizzard as a cinematics artist[9][30] and whose likeness was used to design the griefer from the South Park episode Make Love, Not Warcraft.[31][32]
Hall adopted two ferrets that were previously used in animal testing, spurring him to the creation of the ferret rescue.[9]
Ludography
[edit]Video games and expansions
[edit] | This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2025) |
| Year | Title | Publisher | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| TBR | Kill The Moon | Pirate Software | Game director, programmer, artist |
| 2025 | Aethermancer | Offbrand Games | Director of strategy |
| Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime | |||
| 2024 | Rivals of Aether II | ||
| 2018 | Heartbound | Pirate Software | 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 | [12] |
| 2024 | League of Their Own | Won | [13][33] | |
| Streamer of the Year | Nominated |
Notes
[edit]- ^ Review scores on Steam are considered "mixed" when the percentage of positive reviews is between 69% and 40%; "overwhelmingly negative" when the percentage is lower than 15%. Steam reviews made in the last 30 days are considered recent. As of July 27, 2025, 61% of overall reviews and 8% of recent reviews were positive.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "About @PirateSoftware". YouTube.
- ^ Schuhmann (January 20, 2025). "Former Blizzard Employee Calls His Kick from the Twitch Guild Dumb, Explains What's Next for WoW HC". Mein-MMO. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
- ^ Weatherbed, Jess (April 2, 2024). "Twitch's Hype Train record smashed again by Pirate Software". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 27, 2025. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
- ^ Allsop, Ken (November 2, 2024). "The director of a long-awaited new MMORPG is fighting players in game as a PvP 'raid boss'". PCGamesN. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
- ^ a b Koselke, Anna (May 29, 2024). "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 July 18, 2025.
Jason Thor Hall, former Blizzard security specialist
- ^ Allsop, Ken (July 12, 2024). "Hit survival game Once Human will refund duplicate cosmetics after meeting with ex Blizzard dev". PCGamesN. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
- ^ Ostler, Anne-Marie (January 12, 2024). "Former MMO dev reveals the random mundane object that stopped World of Warcraft's first bots in their tracks". GamesRadar+. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
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 e f Jagneaux, David (January 27, 2017). "Heartbound First Hands-On Preview: Could This Be the Next Undertale?". IGN. Archived from the original on July 16, 2025. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g Asarch, Steven (July 9, 2024). "How streamer Pirate Software gained nearly two million subs in six months". Mashable. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
- ^ Mejia, Ozzie (June 7, 2024). "YouTube streamers Ludwig and Thor open publishing label, starts with Rivals 2". Shacknews. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
- ^ a b Paek, Jessica (January 10, 2019). "Thor, Pirate Software: Leaving AAA to go Indie". Game Developer. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
- ^ a b Michael, Cale; Taifalos, Nicholas (February 18, 2024). "Streamer Awards 2024: All results and winners for every category". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
- ^ a b "The 2024 Streamer Awards: All Nominations". Esports Illustrated On SI. November 12, 2024. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
- ^ McEvoy, Sophie (June 10, 2024). "Content studio Offbrand launches games publishing label". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
- ^ Mejia, Ozzie (June 7, 2024). "YouTube streamers Ludwig and Thor open publishing label, starts with Rivals 2". Shacknews. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
- ^ Michael, Cale (January 14, 2025). "Ludwig's Offbrand Games Goes From Competitive to Cozy With New Animal Adventure". Esports Illustrated On SI. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c Malik, Daniyal (July 3, 2025). "Pirate Software Leaves Off Brand Games as Stop Killing Games Reaches Goal". Esports Illustrated On SI. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
- ^ Yokoyama, Keiichi (July 29, 2020). "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 July 21, 2025.
- ^ Evangelho, Jason. "Valve Warns Millions Of Steam Users About Abandoned Games". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 5, 2025. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
- ^ Benedetto, Antonio G. Di (February 5, 2025). "Steam now warns you if an 'early access' PC game might be abandoned". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 27, 2025. Retrieved July 21, 2025.
- ^ a b c Sánchez, Miguel Ángel (July 15, 2025). "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 July 21, 2025.
- ^ Linhares, Nádia (January 13, 2025). "World of Warcraft: Who is Pirate Software?". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
- ^ Schuhmann (January 20, 2025). "Former Blizzard Employee Calls His Kick from the Twitch Guild Dumb, Explains What's Next for WoW HC". Mein-MMO. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
- ^ Mukherjee, Shreyan (January 30, 2025). "Pirate Software gets called out for alleged unlawful DMCA takedown against indie game". sportskeeda.com. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
- ^ Blazewicz, Jacob (June 24, 2025). "Your games could disappear overnight. The campaign to prevent this is failing". Gamepressure.com. Retrieved July 19, 2025.
- ^ a b Racinowska, Olga (June 27, 2025). "Inside the Stop Killing Games debate, Pirate Software apologizes to Ross Scott but Penguinz0 calls out the hypocrisy". Gamepressure.com. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
- ^ Maria, Josep Sempere (July 18, 2025). "Todo lo que debes saber sobre Stop Killing Games". Eurogamer.es (in Spanish). Retrieved July 21, 2025.
- ^ Ghosh, Shreya (July 14, 2025). "YouTuber Pirate Software loosing [sic] subscribers 'rapidly' since Stop Killing Games controversy". primetimer.com. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
- ^ "Pirate Software loses more than 100,000 YouTube subscribers after Stop Killing Games controversy". The Times of India. July 12, 2025. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
- ^ Marks, Tom (December 9, 2016). "Inside the early office culture of Blizzard, in their own words". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (October 2024). Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. New York City: Grand Central Publishing. pp. 120–121. ISBN 9781538725429.
- ^ Lydia (December 31, 2023). "17 years after the legendary WoW episode, we finally know who the MMORPG nerd from South Park is". Mein-MMO. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
- ^ DeSena, Gabby (December 8, 2024). "Recap: All 2024 Streamer Awards Winners". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 8, 2024.