Speaking in a recent interview, id Software co-CEO Todd Hollenshead stated his belief that hardware manufactures in the PC sector view piracy as a “hidden benefit,” given that consumers first need the hardware to run pirated content on their machine.

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.

Right. In other words, the PC software industry is fueling hardware sales that they aren’t receiving a cut from, due to piracy. The hardware folks are essentially doing nothing to stop it – aside from pure talk – simply because they benefit off it. It is a problem, but then again, what can they do? Unlike consoles, the PC is an open platform.

PC manufacturers view piracy as “hidden benefit” for consumers – Hollenshead [GI.biz]

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