87% of video games released in the U.S. before 2010 are technically unavailable for legal purchase.
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87% of video games released in the U.S. before 2010 are technically unavailable for legal purchase.
As of 2026, libraries and archives can digitally preserve, but not digitally *share* games, and can provide on-premises access only. Libraries *are* allowed to share books, films, and music both onsite and remotely.
This is all very messed up.
@killyourfm Beyond the legal barriers, many old games cannot even run on modern hardware or operating systems for technical reasons.
Games should be made open source to preserve them for future generations.
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87% of video games released in the U.S. before 2010 are technically unavailable for legal purchase.
As of 2026, libraries and archives can digitally preserve, but not digitally *share* games, and can provide on-premises access only. Libraries *are* allowed to share books, films, and music both onsite and remotely.
This is all very messed up.
@killyourfm So...one could build a MAME cabinet at a local library and they can legally run all the old games on it, there, on site? As in, one could, as long as one was on library owned property, just build a whole arcade of old games for zero dollars? I feel like if the local hobbyist community donated the hardware this might be an easy sell for some libraries.
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@killyourfm So...one could build a MAME cabinet at a local library and they can legally run all the old games on it, there, on site? As in, one could, as long as one was on library owned property, just build a whole arcade of old games for zero dollars? I feel like if the local hobbyist community donated the hardware this might be an easy sell for some libraries.
@dirtwizard666 Fascinating idea! I'm not sure of the legalities there, but it might be worth asking your local library about it.
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@killyourfm So...one could build a MAME cabinet at a local library and they can legally run all the old games on it, there, on site? As in, one could, as long as one was on library owned property, just build a whole arcade of old games for zero dollars? I feel like if the local hobbyist community donated the hardware this might be an easy sell for some libraries.
@dirtwizard666 @killyourfm the specific exemption is for
"Video games in the form of computer programs embodied in physical or downloaded formats that have been lawfully acquired as complete games, that do not require access to an external computer server for gameplay, and that are no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace, solely for the purpose of preservation of the game in a playable form by an eligible library, archives, or museum, where such activities are carried out without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage and the video game is not distributed or made available outside of the physical premises of the eligible library, archives, or museum."
so you would need to actually acquire the games in order to do this -
@killyourfm this is a futher reason i don't have any interest in owning anything nintendo. They are just horrible through and through.
@rasmus91 @killyourfm after the past few years of lawsuits, I am not buying anything from Nintendo anymore.
If ever I do, it will be once it can be bought second hand so they don’t get anything from it.
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@killyourfm There needs to be a rule, that when someone abandons distribution and support of a game title, they are now longer allowed to take legal action or in anyway prohibit, or hinder, others from sharing that game. Futhermore, the moment the decision is made to no longer distribute and support a game, there needs to be a patch made available, that circumvents any DRM.
@rasmus91 @killyourfm So what you're saying is copyright revocation needs to be a thing for abandonware?
You can't count on the copyright holder to make a patch to disable DRM... but you probably could count on someone in the community doing that.
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@killyourfm There needs to be a rule, that when someone abandons distribution and support of a game title, they are now longer allowed to take legal action or in anyway prohibit, or hinder, others from sharing that game. Futhermore, the moment the decision is made to no longer distribute and support a game, there needs to be a patch made available, that circumvents any DRM.
@rasmus91 @killyourfm not just games, all software...
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