3 ms·

What should really happen is a law that video games get declared public domain and have their source code released after 10 years. All assets and dependencies w

What should really happen is a law that video games get declared public domain and have their source code released after 10 years. All assets and dependencies would get automatically released under a license allowing for their use in that game and derivatives of it. As it is, the source is mostly just lost to time, making humanity poorer.

flohofwoe 3y ago
There's a lot of games that have a shelf life of more than a decade. Maybe make that "10 years after the game is no longer sold".
- arlcode 3y ago
  That (maybe) would have worked in the olden days of physical disks or catridges. Today it is trivial to keep the game on steam with zero sales (or almost zero). If lawmakers wanted to pass a law that actually made this happen they needed to stipulate a cut off date (and potential compensation) as well as rigid rules about what one can do with the released code.
  - account42 3y ago
    > and potential compensation Why would there be a need for compensation. Copyright is only granted in the first place so that more things will (eventually) enter the commons. Rolling back the perversion that is the current copyright terms doesn't need anything to balance it out since the current sitation is already so unbalanced in the other direction.
- concordDance 3y ago
  Very few and they still make 90+% of sales before then. A price worth paying
  - flohofwoe 3y ago
    That dynamic has changed a lot with multiplayer games which are in continuous development. For instance DayZ just hit record player numbers after nearly a decade: https://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/11nlu70/recently_dayz_has_been_reaching_record_highs_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/11nlu70/recently_dayz... But even if that's an outlier, online games can have a surprisingly long tail where the game remains profitable even if the player count doesn't grow anymore (as long as the developer supports the game at least).
- account42 3y ago
  Practically only games that are continuously updated have longer shelf lifes. In that case only the original version would have to be opened after 10 years and later modifications would have to wait ten years after their release.
nerdix 3y ago
Would be nice but remastering 10+ year old games is very profitable these days so I'd imagine that the industry would lobby very hard against it.
- scheeseman486 3y ago
  Doom, Quake and System Shock all have high profile remasters in spite of their source releases. Hell, one could argue they had high profile remasters because the source ports kept the game and communities alive. Meanwhile, look at Unreal. Not even sold anymore.

flohofwoe 3y ago

There's a lot of games that have a shelf life of more than a decade. Maybe make that "10 years after the game is no longer sold".

arlcode 3y ago
That (maybe) would have worked in the olden days of physical disks or catridges. Today it is trivial to keep the game on steam with zero sales (or almost zero). If lawmakers wanted to pass a law that actually made this happen they needed to stipulate a cut off date (and potential compensation) as well as rigid rules about what one can do with the released code.
- account42 3y ago
  > and potential compensation Why would there be a need for compensation. Copyright is only granted in the first place so that more things will (eventually) enter the commons. Rolling back the perversion that is the current copyright terms doesn't need anything to balance it out since the current sitation is already so unbalanced in the other direction.
concordDance 3y ago
Very few and they still make 90+% of sales before then. A price worth paying
- flohofwoe 3y ago
  That dynamic has changed a lot with multiplayer games which are in continuous development. For instance DayZ just hit record player numbers after nearly a decade: https://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/11nlu70/recently_dayz_has_been_reaching_record_highs_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/11nlu70/recently_dayz... But even if that's an outlier, online games can have a surprisingly long tail where the game remains profitable even if the player count doesn't grow anymore (as long as the developer supports the game at least).
account42 3y ago
Practically only games that are continuously updated have longer shelf lifes. In that case only the original version would have to be opened after 10 years and later modifications would have to wait ten years after their release.

nerdix 3y ago

Would be nice but remastering 10+ year old games is very profitable these days so I'd imagine that the industry would lobby very hard against it.

scheeseman486 3y ago
Doom, Quake and System Shock all have high profile remasters in spite of their source releases. Hell, one could argue they had high profile remasters because the source ports kept the game and communities alive. Meanwhile, look at Unreal. Not even sold anymore.