Yuzo Koshiro, the legendary composer and developer behind the newly released Earthion, recently took to X to speak out against piracy after an unofficial ROM of the game began circulating online. The game, developed by Ancient Corp., is currently only available via Steam, with a physical Mega Drive cartridge planned for release in 2026. In his message, Yuzo Koshiro Responds to Earthion ROM Leak, emphasizing the importance of supporting official releases.
Koshiro’s tweet highlights the difficulty many small indie developers face: protecting their work in a digital age where pirated content can spread quickly. He went on to say that piracy hurts small teams and that Earthion was a passion project, asking fans to support the game through official means.
This raises an interesting dilemma. While it’s important to support developers, especially those producing high-quality, niche retro-inspired titles, some players argue that once they’ve purchased a game, they should be allowed to use or back it up as they see fit, including extracting ROMs for personal use or hardware compatibility.
Where Do You Stand?
We’re curious to hear your thoughts:
- Should fans who legally purchased Earthion have the right to use it as a ROM, especially for use on original hardware or flashcarts?
- Does the lack of an official ROM option make unauthorized versions more justifiable?
- Or is it important to respect the developer’s vision and distribution model, even if that means limited compatibility?
Let us know what you think in the comments. Respectful discussion is welcome, we want to hear a wide range of perspectives on this evolving topic.
Hacking of the ROM to play on other devices was always going to happen. Especially with the ROM file just sitting there in the Steam directory structure teasing everyone with it’s pouty “come hack me” lips.
I bought the game on Steam immediately, played it, didn’t like all the kerfuffle with getting arcade sticks to work and turning off the filters and immediately tried to decrypt it myself to play on the MiSTer.
Turns out i’m not clever enough for all that.
But I have sourced the ROM files and play on my MiSTer quite happily knowing I paid for it.
As for respecting the dev’s wishes – people won’t do that. Maybe the people who paid for WinRar will. They might decide to buy it anyway in some instances, but most will play it, like it, then move on.
On this issue, it’s clear that we need to support game developers, especially small development groups that don’t have a lot of financial backing. The time and effort they’ve put into the game is worth it. In this case, the only option available right now is through the Steam platform for PC. That said, I’m a big fan of SEGA games, especially the Streets of Rage series, but above all, I want to play as faithfully as possible to the original. For me, that means being able to play on a CRT screen using an FPGA and native or arcade controllers. Once you’ve tried that, there’s no going back. The problem is that when I ran the game on my PC and played for a while, I wasn’t getting the kind of gameplay and visual experience I expected. Scanline support is average, and using a USB joystick wasn’t exciting to me. The thing is, I don’t currently own a Genesis or Mega Drive machine, so if I don’t have an original machine to play the cartridge on and the PC version doesn’t give me the experience I expect from this game, what alternatives have you left for the rest of the players who want that extra bit of feeling the essence of the game in its original state?
Just sell the ROM, what’s the point of refusing if it’s leaked anyway?
Make it easier to purchase a legitimate copy for those who want to play it on original hardware.
If they don’t offer the ROM for sale, they are practically asking everyone to use the pilfered one. Gamers wanna game.
I Personally believe not selling the ROM was a big mistake. That being said I strongly feel that if I make a digital purchase (in this case on steam) i’ve done my part in supporting the devs and I should be able to do what I want with the game for personal use.
I’ve grabbed the ROM from a dodgy site. I’m not really into shooters, but if I enjoy it I’ll grab the Switch version when It comes out.
For me, piracy is an ideal way to try a game before spending money. I spend an enormous amount of money on games every year so I’m not going to feel too bad about it.
This game was on the radar of allot of Megadrive users, such as myself,, not switch, Steam etc. All the teasers and trailers were recorded of a crt. It makes no sense not releasing the rom or cart first.
Personally I think that if you purchase the game on steam you should have access to the ROM to use on your own hardware. The game will be pirated no matter what so it’s keeping it encrypted is not likely to make a difference, and will enhance the experience of those that own it. I feel like holding out for a limited run cart that’s not going to be out for months isn’t a great approach…
Yeah the more I think about this the more it’s kinda irritating that a mega drive game isn’t available to play on the mega drive and it will be cart only in 2025…