Downloading Retro Video Games For Free
Update just did more research. So the development houses were producing these games and offering them for sale until 2018 after which they were taken down from online stores. The expensive hard copies out there for sale all belong to 3rd parties who profit off them as “antique” pieces rather than just the value of the gameplay experience. Furthermore many other independent video game programers have downloaded these roms and heavily modified them to release their own version of the “Hacked game” which falls under fair use and no one sees as problematic. However technically these hacked roms are fabricated using the original copyrighted ROM file too so it’s kind of a weird loophole there. Given this situation I’ve concluded that it’s fine to get those free roms unless or until the soft copies reappear for sale some time in the future on their official online stores which is when I would have to buy the soft copy for those games before playing them since they will then reconsider them a source of revenue (opinion I’ve reached with my own logic).
I hate to make things complicated but video games aren’t a need so is it okay to benefit from this loophole? I mean, it can be said for products you need but luxury products? In my knowledge, majority of video games company is against any form of copyright violation of their video games even if they refuse to make them available for purchase on reasonable terms. Here is an example of a company’s stance on old games: Isn’t it okay to download Nintendo ROMs for games that are no longer distributed in the stores or commercially exploited? Aren’t they considered “public domain”? No, the current availability of a game in stores is irrelevant as to its copyright status. Copyrights do not enter the public domain just because they are no longer commercially exploited or widely available. Therefore, the copyrights of games are valid even if the games are not found on store shelves, and using, copying and/or distributing those games violates Nintendo’s intellectual property rights. Source.