Game developers and publishers on 'abandonware'


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I came across an interesting article recently, published on Gamespot, where several publishers and developers were interviewed on their stance with regards to the so called 'abandonware' phenomenon. :woot:

Unsurprisingly, all publishers interviewed (EA, Sierra, Infogrames etc) felt rather upset about the whole issue and went with the IDSA line of 'it's illegal all the way'. But as IDSA is really supposed to be representative of developers, not publishers, it's very interesting to see what the developers that were interviewed had to say about it. What follows is directly quoted from the article.

From a true legal sense, my belief is that 'abandonware' does infringe on the copyright holders' legal protection...IF they care.

Electronic Arts, for example, does care about early Ultimas, as they don't want to lose protection on current Ultimas. Truly 'abandoned' properties are less worrisome. That being said, personally, I think that sites that support these old games are a good thing for both consumers and copyright owners. If the options are (a) having a game be lost forever and (b) having it available on one of these sites, I'd want it to be available.

On whether or not he cares if gamers are downloading his early works for free, Garriott says--excluding the legal issues--that he likes the fact that people care enough about his games when they are no longer economically viable. "It is a form of immortalization," he says. "I am very flattered by the interest, and I think most other creators are too. Understandably, publishers continue to worry about their legal rights being invaded; thus, this will be a difficult issue for some time, I expect."

The interviewers also talked to Tim Shafer, developer of Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and numerous other popular adventure games:

Schafer says that gamers seek out these classics for a few reasons but that it's primarily fun to go back and play the old games and see how much they've changed since the whole thing started. "And a lot of those games are just plain fun. I mean, if they weren't [fun], none of us would be here now, right? We'd all have real jobs," kids Schafer. "I think it's important, also, to go back and remember why you started liking games in the first place. There's a lot to learn from the old games because the emphasis was more on gameplay. Am I sounding like an old-timer now or what?"

Is it piracy? Yeah, sure. But so what? Most of the game makers aren't living off the revenue from those old games anymore. Most of the creative teams behind all those games have long since left the companies that published them, so there's no way the people who deserve to are still making royalties off them. So go ahead--steal this game! Spread the love!

Schafer says he enjoys knowing people are downloading the old games. "They may look rinky-dink by today's standards, but that doesn't mean they didn't take a hell of a lot of work to make, so it's nice to think that somebody may still be enjoying them. [Old games are] like old, beat-up teddy bears with one eye missing and the stuffing coming out. I can't speak for the rest of the industry, but personally, I'd rather my old games were stolen and played for free than forgotten about."

Next up: Al Lowe. No further presentation needed. Of note is the fact that he offers many of his non-Larry games for free download on his site even though Sierra still holds the copyrights! Read on:

Lowe reveals that he himself does like abandonware but agrees with Richard Garriott that it's permissible only "as long as it has truly been abandoned." He continues, "Unfortunately, in my case, the Leisure Suit Larry games are still being sold by Sierra and, thus, are not truly abandoned. Yeah, it may be hard to find them at a retail software store, but they're still my primary source of income. So if you see Larry on any site, it's illegal." He adds, "I would much rather see people download and play my games for free than to let them disappear into nothingness!"

If I owned the copyright on Total Annihilation, I would probably allow it to be shared for free by now (four years after it was originally released). It would also be true, however, that if I owned the Total Annihilation rights, I would have made a sequel by now, which would make that decision even easier.

In our business, our customers are very important, and recognizing that is always a good idea, in my opinion. I think for the most part it's fun to walk down memory lane and relive the days when we were kids and when these games were state-of-the-art wonders. Some of them are genuinely fun to play, however, so nostalgia aside, they are great games and may be a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. It is important that the owner of the game make the decision whether or not to provide it free of charge.

Now go ahead, mail your favourite developers and make them make that all-important decision to provide their oldies for free. Read the "Classics for free" sticky thread and contribute!

Edited by cappuchok
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