When do games become freeware

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Just one more thing! Perhaps the software is really old, and the company makes no effort to re-release or remaster it. Maybe the company that made it has long since gone under and no longer works on the software. This is what abandonware is.

Abandonware is when the original owner no longer cares for a piece of software. This is important because it creates some interesting thoughts about legality. Can you get into trouble? What about downloading a game that an existing developer released a long time ago but you can no longer purchase officially? There are arguments for and against the distribution of abandonware, but is it legal in the eyes of the law? First, just because the software is no longer actively supported does not mean it suddenly loses its copyright.

So technically, downloading abandonware is illegal. The question is, who will actively chase you because of it? Meanwhile, if the company does exist, they can file against you but may choose not to put resources into defending a product they stopped selling years ago. There are enthusiastic supporters for preserving old software. The site listed in this answer appears to have gone down or is unreachable. Thanks Robotnik; I've updated the answer to point to a Wikipedia page.

To put it simply, it isn't. Mark Mark 2, 10 10 silver badges 23 23 bronze badges. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password. Post as a guest Name. Email Required, but never shown. Screenshot of the Week. Submit your photo Hall of fame.

Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. Screenshot of Week 51 [Submissions Closed]. Linked Related Another reason for the lack of legal precedent may be a desire for goodwill. Electronic Arts have the legal resources to remove every free copy of System Shock on the market.

But what would be the point? Legal action could turn into a public relations disaster. Similarly, on titles they do care about, like the Ultima series, you no longer find those on abandonware sites see the section below on Good Old Games for further explanation. Because of the obstacles laid out above, abandonware appears relatively safe from a legal standpoint. Those who distribute abandonware are unlikely to end up in court, so long as they comply with any cease-and-desist notices.

There are numerous abandonware sites, all offering a very similar list of old titles for download. With so many sites, surely downloading abandonware is safe? The answer lies with the site you are downloading from. Major abandonware sites like MyAbandonware and Abandonia are safe, serving thousands of users every day. These sites also host almost every abandonware title, so you don't need to head into the unknown depths of the internet looking for a title on a sketchy website.

Check out the best sites where you can safely download an old PC game for free. Abandonware is illegal. That is understood. But there are other reasons why abandonware is an overall positive. The primary reason is preservation.

Abandonware sites preserve old games for anyone to access when many would simply disappear into the digital ether. Although there are some efforts to protect old games and their source code, such as the Internet Archive or the efforts of the British Library, these projects are selective.

Having the abandonware site option keeps even the more obscure titles alive. Yeah, sure. But so what? 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.