Abandonware

#1 From an IP perspective, it's completely and totally illegal in any Berne nations (no matter how much people hate the current copyright laws or disagree with them, they still haven't changed them). From a classic gameplay perspective, I love playing things that I already own but don't have a 5 1/4" (or 8") floppy drive for anymore.

#2 Pretty much what David said.

Yeah, it's illegal. And while there is still real money to be made in the game by the guys who put their blood, sweat, and tears into making it and selling it, I'm very much against piracy of these products. I've been burned by it - pretty much anybody who's worked at a game studio that struggled or went under in spite of the fact that everybody seemed to have had or played their games has.

But you get to the point where there's no longer even a legal or reasonable option to purchase the game in any form, well... it's still illegal, as is going over the speed limit by 2 miles per hour. And yeah, technically you could still get busted for it. But personally, I'd rather see people have the chance to play the game and enjoy it. I won't say I advocate it... but I do feel the law is unreasonable.

Fortunately, there are some options to obtain some of these classic games legally. So in my mind, they ain't abandonware.

#3 Partly "abandonware problem" has been created by IP holders themselves. I see no reason why all the old games could not be sold still, via net, with no support (that would be terrible burden).
Of course, not everyone would buy them and there would still be illegal abandonware sites around, but at least then you could see much cleared where the line dividing love for old games and piracy is.
And its nice (although small) flow of additional income, after all.
Currently, all the fuss about it is silly. "We dont sell them and we get all pissed when you download them for free". Pfft.

#4 Yeah, it makes no sense to me. There are emulators out there for all kinds of platforms now --- including DOS (I LOVE DosBox --- particularly since I have a pretty huge collection of DOS games from the early-to-mid 90's!!). While it would never be a major profit center, it would make sense to make these available for cheap as a service to both customers and the original artists.

Of course, the problem COULD be that these IP holders are afraid that if they made these old games available, modern customers would discover that many of the games coming out today are just prettier but worse-playing versions of games that have been out for 20 years ;)

#5 Hehe, Jay, not that people would suddenly stop buying new stuff. There would be more of those snobs who thoughtfully say stuff like "i..dunno.. year 1986 version was better, In My Humble Opinion" :) and then they'd rush to buy something new to refresh retina. I know i would, long exposure to low resolutions make my brain fry. I have to adapt to Fallout every time i revisit it. And thats Cute And Recent Graphics, man! :)

#6 I think the whole "put it aside to move onto bigger and better things" is killing the game market. There are still alot of people who like to play the old ones and it's a shame that more companies don't go about giving there old titles out for free even as an insentive to get people to come back to there web site. I mean, if there not selling it, then why not?

Companies like sierra, rockstar and others have done this in the past with games like grand theft auto and the like. I really think it is a good marketing tool if it is used.

I can listen to clasic rock and watch old movies on the classic movie channel, so why is it that if a game is not being sold anymore that I can't find it on a classic pay and play type platform?

I honestly think if it was up to the developers, it would be more common. So I guess I blame the big companies.

These guys think that the old stuff makes them look outdated or whatever, but to me it's just a damn shame......

Games are interactive art and should be treated so. Atleast that's how I feel.

#7 @Nauris

Irregardless if you release the product for free or charge for it people will demand support for issue that they have. As the software gets older and older there is less compatability ensured between the game and the current OS and hardware that you are running. The last thing you want or need is bad publicity because Timmy McTool makes a big fuss about how crappy your products are and then having to spend time supporting him or her regardless if you intended to or not.

It sounds nice as a consumer to say "give it to me for free and I wont bug you for support issues" but that just wont happen. Even if you don't do that there are plenty of people who will. As such its best to pretend to have a blind eye for this stuff and keep everyone in line by letting them know that they are but a moments notice away from being swated like the gnat they are if they attempt to profit off of it.

#8 Foster, if presented right, I dont think any of those would be problems. Sell the game from separate section of the site, stating *clearly* that due to its old age company doesnt provide support for it anymore (perhaps under different license as well). Its not that companies support new products with patches for long anyway.

As with everything, you have to get your customers used to certain business models. The last thing companies would actually want, is turn the blind eye, as its IP could spring into free domain accidentally such way.

With current crop of emulators compatibility isnt that much of a problem, which means that the main one is ideological - unlike with music and movies, old games are not considered any good. In music industry, oldies market is very important, after all, why couldnt it be the same with games?

#9 Having made a couple of "free, no support use at your own risk" programs I couldn't agree with L Foster more!

You do get hounded for tech support, to add features, "bug" reports, etc. From the "customers" perspective they feel it wouldn't take much to add, to fix, to help them, for information on the next version even when there is not next version. AKA some do expect support and will hound you for it. Even if your response is "No support. Sorry" it still takes time to filter through the e-mails, phone calls, faxes, letters, etc.

Take a look from a users perspective. They feel its worth some bugging to try to get support even if the product is free. After all, how much does it cost you in time and money to send a few e-mails? How much time and money does it take to filter through the "few e-mails" sent by more than a few people?

Not to say that some company couldn't make a go of it, but I really see it as a down side without much up side. Some people will have trouble with old games. Some systems wont be able to play them correctly. People will e-mail and call in their issues. Also from my experience they will also use tactics such as "Company X has a free program and it works on my machine. Maybe I do all my shopping at Company X. Their programs work. Yours don't." or post on boards saying how sloppy your customer support is. Leaving out the fact that it was a free program with no support.

#10 What do you guys think about the Chrono Ressurection project www.opcoder.com/projects/chrono/ that was halted by Square-Enix (SE). A group of indies took the Unreal engine and decided to re-create the SNES classic, Chrono Trigger. It was amazing looking and even though SE made the original game in or around 1995 they still sent the indie group a cease and desist order. I think this is another twist on what you guys are talking about.

My personal feelings on this is SE has every right to protect their IP but on the other hand this small indie group did such an incredible job, that if I were SE I would have made a deal with them, let them continue production and publish the final game. I can't see SE's development studios giving a Chrono remake the attention and quality this group did. I can't see it being that high on their priority list. Or at least I honestly can't see SE doing a better job than the indie group.

-Ajari-

#11 That's actually extremely common, especially if the IP has been used in recent titles such as Chrono Cross.

#12 I think "ressurected" projects like that are silly. If you're going to go to all that trouble to make a game, it's just as easy and more rewarding to alter the names, storyline, etc. as it is to copy over the data from an existing game. The only benefit is that you usually save time by stealling the art, music, etc. from the original game.

Using other people's IP without permission is illegal, and it's good that it is. I think it works the same as with any other copyright, so after 75 years (or whatever it is), the material becomes public domain. Obviously, no video game has been around that long yet.

On the flipside, I think it's good for companies to produce updated versions of their old games for new platforms. This is generally easier than creating a whole new game because a company that actually owns the IP will already have all the materials for the original game. This especially good if the game is expanded slightly because old games are generally rather small.

Another option is for companies to make their oldest games into legal abandonware by making them freely downloadable on their websites.