TWITCH streamer Pirate Software is making headlines after receiving backlash for his part in a controversy in the streaming world – but who is he?
The streamer – who’s real name is Jason “Thor” Hall – shot to fame on Twitch for making content about gaming, software and game development.
He joined the platform in March 2017 and has over 1.25 million followers on his live-streaming channel Pirate Software.
For at least 12 hours every day, Hall streams content on his hugely popular Twitch and YouTube channels.
Joeyray Hall, Hall’s father, was deeply involved in the gaming industry for more than two decades. When Hall was 16 years old, he had the opportunity to work as a game tester at Blizzard Entertainment, indicating a potential career path following his father’s footsteps.
However, Hall soon realised that the corporate world was not for him. he later said of the experience: “I was s*** at it. I was completely awful.”
After six months he quit to go into “3D modeling, texturing and programming.”
He started freelancing and ran his own corporation in EVE Online and Second Life.
After five years, Hall applied to Blizzard again and successfully landed a job contributing to major projects such as Overwatch and World of Warcraft. Subsequently, he transitioned to working at Amazon Games Studio, expanding his experience in the industry.
In 2016, Hall made a pivotal decision to focus on creating his own games. This led to the release of his debut title, Champions of Breakfast, which he published under the moniker Pirate Software, marking a significant milestone in his career.
The toaster shooter game was created in just 24 days and while not hugely popular, it was the beginning of a new phase in his career.
In 2017, he started streaming the development of his game Heartbound, the demo of which was played by Irish YouTuber JackSepticEye to his 30 million subscribers.
But it was not until 2023 that Hall’s popularity truly took off when he soared from 30,000 views a month to 200 million in one year.
Much of this success can be put down to the emergence of YouTube Shorts which Hall used to his advantage.
He released short clips of his stream highlights which caught the attention of huge streamers.
In June, the streamer announced that he had partnered with fellow Twitch streamer Ludwig Ahgren to co-found the live-event production company Off Brand, publishing indie titles.
Last year he also won Streamer Awards for Best Software and Game Development Streamer and League of Their Own.
CONTROVERSY
Despite his popularity, Hall has recently found himself in hot water with fans and fellow streamers.
It comes after Asmongold, real name Zack Hoyt, the co-founder of the streaming organization One True King (OTK) received backlash for various comments he made while streaming.
In October, he was briefly banned from Twitch due to comments which he has since apologised for.
Following his return to Twitch, Hall did a stream with Hoyt which saw Pirate Software dragged into the controversy with fans calling the collaboration a “disappointment.”
“You can’t just avoid politics in your community. Doing a video with someone who is one of *the* worst voices in games […] is a baffling decision,” an X user said.
“Asmongold is a detriment to games in every sense.”
Hall quickly took to X to defend his decision to stream with Hoyt about the game Ashes of Creation.
“In this instance another creator made a disparaging video about the game and Asmon didn’t have enough game knowledge to talk about it because he hasn’t had the chance to play it.
“This immediately makes the audience have a negative opinion of something with nobody there to say otherwise.
“I have over 500 hours in the game and refuted the video made by the other creator. As Asmon’s channel was the flashpoint for this it makes sense to talk to him about the situation and clear the air of bull****.
“…In the internet of today if you don’t say something then the room will fill up with the people who do.
“I chose to help set the record straight on this and I am glad to have done so.
“If you want to cancel me for talking to him that’s fine but I would do this again given the chance. The developers don’t deserve unwarranted hate.”
The streamer has also gotten himself in trouble after he took part in a World of Warcraft run that led to the deaths of two Level 60 characters after he seemed to run away or “roach out” from mobs.
ANIMAL LOVER
Outside of the world of gaming, Hall dedicates much of his time to his beloved furry friends – ferrets.
The game development streamer adopted two ferrets that had been used in labs which sparked a desire to save as many as he could.
He set up a ferret rescue program in Washington state that would rehabilitate the animals and give them loving homes.
“We take in ferrets that are either injured or not taken care of, or abandoned and we rehabilitate them and keep them forever,” he explained.
“It wasn’t even a thing of like, ‘I want to do this.’ It was like, ‘I’m doing it.'”
Hall hopes to create “the largest ferret rescue in the United States.”
