I don’t think anybody disputed the usefulness of abandonware. Sadly being useful does not make them legit.
"abandonware" is only another word, less nasty, for "piracy".

I think there are exceptions. For instance Civilization 1, the original can't be bought but I assume the companies still exist. They can't really sell it digitally without re-mastering it because in order to progress the game you need to answer questions that are given in the manual

I just realised Civ 2 also is abandonware

True abandonware sites are more about preserving old games, not piracy. If a game is sold somewhere, you usually get a message saying something like "this game is no longer abandonware, you can buy it: (link to GOG game page here)". In this way, GOG gets extra visits by probable new customers.

On the other hand, if "abandonware" site hosts every old game, totally ignores copyrights and take-down requests, that's the other story: it's warez and piracy then.

That's how I got brought to GOG. I was looking for another copy of Master of Magic, and the site I was using (Abandonia or HotU) linked to GOG to buy it.

But don't try to disguise it. No matter how noble their aim, it's still warez and piracy unless they have have the rights to distribute the content. From a legal standpoint, there is no differentiation.

Extremely doubtful. At some point the software was sold and they made money on it, the fact it isn't anymore is more technology than anything else.

Example, there's excel and writing programs on the Atari and Apple 2 computers. Do you really think Atari or Apple are going to care you're using 8bit software that according to copyright law is under copyright? You know, on hardware NO ONE IS USING ANYMORE! (Well enthusiasts aside).

You may choose to use the appropriated word piracy (robbing people at gunpoint while on boats) but i'd call it archiving. Otherwise they will disappear into a big black void and never be found again.

I'd rather we didn't lose our history, just because we put it on magnetic tape or discs and they were damaged and 'boo hoo software doesn't exist anymore because otherwise i might be called a pirate!'

I‘m not commenting about who should or should not care. I’m only pointing out that from a legal point of view "abandonware", "piracy" or "archiving" are all words put over a same thing.

If you read my messages carefully, you will notice that I did not give my opinion on that even a single time. That’s because I would not want to share on a public forum that my opinion on this topic goes against the law ;)

Not only that, but they are about great customer service!
There are tons of games that have been tweaked to work with modern systems reliably.

I was having a discussion on an unnamed forum about an unnamed games once. Someone was saying that his favourite game can't be run on any modern systems. (The guy had a legal disc copy of it.) I found that game on an unnamed abandonware site, where it was fully compatible with modern systems, had a very easy installer that installed all kinds of nice shortcuts and everything, and I think it even included manuals and walkthroughs and stuff.

Kind of like GOG, but only better.


If abandonware sites can accomplish all that, how is it possible that some older games are still not available because they "can't be run on modern systems"?
Publishers just don't want to do that, maybe because any playing hours spent on older games are theoretically away from playing hours spent on newer games, which are more profitable to publishers.


And I am still amazed that there isn't a single website in the known universe that would make old 8-bit and 16-bit games legally available. I am sure at least some games would be easy to get, not everything is in legal limbo.
But nope, we don't have that. Even on GOG.