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no idea if this will convey the message i'm trying to convey but preservation != piracy, even if they can be associated in a lot of cases
you can preserve something but not pirate it (e.g. preserving old versions of game builds without bastardising the files to run w/o Steam), you can pirate something but not truly preserve it (like publishing versions of the game with the files and executables hacked up and functionality outright removed for whatever reason)
sure, a lot of the time with the latter it's "preserved" in the way that the software is usable but you aren't getting the exact binary the developers shipped
even if they're DRM protected and "useless" for actually playing it i find it worthwhile to preserve this kind of thing
same kind of issues come up with lossy repacks or re-encodings of stuff (not just software)
i also believe that a lot of DRM removal patches should be open sourced - someone should be able to take a verifiably clean copy of their software, one they obtained legitimately while they could, and apply a patch safely, even years in the future
the only time i've seen this done in recent memory is the Goldberg Steam emulator (which also shims matchmaking with LAN support) and the Steamless patcher
separating the act of preservation from piracy is a good idea, the focus should be "making sure this can be played and enjoyed in the future" not "making sure people right now can play this game without paying no matter the sacrifices"
this might even have a very slim chance of having corporations not strike you down since you're not really potentially cutting into their profits by doing this