https://www.thegamer.com/gog-private-investigators-off-the-grid-ip-rights-holders/ Menu TheGamer logo Sign in now [ ] Close * + Guides + Gaming News * + Triple-A Games [ ] Submenu o Features o News o Lists + Live-Service Games [ ] Submenu o Features o News o Lists + Indie Games [ ] Submenu o Features o News o Lists + Streaming [ ] Submenu o Features o News + Movies & Shows [ ] Submenu o Features o News * Videos * Podcast * Threads * + [ ] More Submenu o All Features o All Lists o Explainers o Reviews & Previews o Tabletop * Sign in * Newsletter [ ] * * * * * * * * Menu TheGamer logo Follow Followed Like Threads 11 More Action Summary Generate a summary of this story Sign in now [ ] Pokemon Legends: Z-A Battlefield 6 Ghost of Yotei Hades 2 Events Release Dates [ ] Close [ ] GOG Has Had To Hire Private Investigators To Track Down IP Rights Holders Blonde girl from Vampire_ The Masquerade looking directly at the camera. 4 By Jack Coleman Published 1 day ago Jack Coleman (He/Him) is a News Editor from Ireland. This is his third full year in games media, having previously worked freelance for various outlets, including DualShockers and NME. Previously, he's interviewed breakout indie developers, broken big news stories, reviewed massive releases and recounted his time living as a humble woodsman in Oblivion. A lifelong gamer, Jack is primarily interested in RPGs and narrative experiences. He's also been playing League of Legends for a decade, unfortunately. Sign in to your TheGamer account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread 11 Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I'm 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Approximately seventy years after video games first became a medium, the act of preserving older games has become more important than ever. The CDPR-owned GOG.com specialises in game preservation, tinkering with older games to ensure people can play these games without jumping through convoluted hoops to make them run on new hardware. However, the company's noble mission is far harder than the team behind the storefront initially expected. In an interview with The Game Business, Marcin Paczynski, GOG's senior business development manager, opened up about just how difficult game preservation can be. A Noble Goal three versions of lara croft from the remastered trilogy of the original games. via Aspyr "To be perfectly honest, it's harder than we thought it would be," Paczynski explained. "What we've found out is that games and how they work has deteriorated way faster than what we thought. And we are not talking only about the game not launching. We are talking about more subtle things as well, like the game not supporting modern controllers, or the game not supporting ultra-widescreen or modern resolutions, or even a simple thing like not being able to minimise the game, which is an essential feature today." On top of the software troubles, there's also the small matter of obtaining the intellectual property rights of an old game. Paczynski says they once hired a private investigator to find someone living off the grid in the UK. He had unknowingly inherited the rights to several games, but was super supportive of "preserving his family's legacy" when GOG tracked him down. Nightdive, a studio that primarily focuses on remastering and remaking classic titles, was actually created because the founder was annoyed he couldn't play System Shock. He tracked down the insurance company that inherited the rights to the franchise and purchased them, and then began working on remaking the iconic immersive sim. Pacyznski says digital rights management (DRM) features are especially frustrating to circumvent, which means they're working as designed. Heck, some rather famous games are unplayable without third-party patches because of DRM -- any old Xbox-to-PC that's saddled with a "Games for Windows Live" log-in comes to mind. Pacyznski suggests that triple-A developers remove DRM from games after a few years to make life easier for future game preservationists. Of course, this will never happen because executives don't care about preserving games. heroes-of-might-and-magic-iii-the-restoration-of-erathia-video-game-cover-art-tag.jpg Your Rating close ( ) 10 stars ( ) 9 stars ( ) 8 stars ( ) 7 stars ( ) 6 stars ( ) 5 stars ( ) 4 stars ( ) 3 stars ( ) 2 stars ( ) 1 star Rate Now 0/10 Your comment has not been saved Like Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia Turn-Based Strategy Systems PC-1 10/10 Released March 3, 1999 Developer(s) New World Computing Publisher(s) The 3DO Company [ ] Powered by TheGamer logo Expand Collapse * Triple-A Games Triple-A Games * GOG Follow Followed Like Share Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Flipboard Copy link Email Close Thread 11 Sign in to your TheGamer account We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful. Reply / Post Images Attachment(s) [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Please respect our community guidelines. No links, inappropriate language, or spam. Your comment has not been saved Send confirmation email Sort by: [Popular] * Nobody User Display Picture Nobody User Display Picture Nobody #VX698545 Member since 2024-10-29 0 Threads 8 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View I feel our current IP protection laws are too antiquated in the modern era. If we are truly trying to spur technological innovation, then pay walling access to older tech limits our ability to test hybridizing it with new ideas. 10-15 years should be plenty of time to reap monetary reward for your successful design. 2025-10-17 08:36:57 Upvote 3 Downvote Reply 2 Copy * Layla User Display Picture Layla User Display Picture Layla #DH285689 Member since 2025-10-17 0 Threads 3 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Let them make money for as long as they like... But when they choose to stop and stop supporting whatever game it is then they need to insure that preservation groups can safely and completely preserve those games. If a company wants to keep selling a game 25+ years later and keeps patching bugs great for them! But stuff like Nintendo attacking online forums that share NES roms while Nintendo abandoned WIi's online store is ridiculous. They should be allowing a preservation groups to do both... By donating what's needed for the group to keep online play available and accessing "the store" which should now have every entry for free... Better yet also included the source code so that community driven efforts to modernized and patch the game... 2025-10-17 15:05:10 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * Ian User Display Picture Ian User Display Picture Ian #EF593254 Member since 2024-09-16 0 Threads 3 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Copyright protection has always been a trade: You produce some IP, and it is protected for some period of time. Once that time has expired, the IP goes into the public domain. If the IP is no longer preserved, then you have reneged on your obligation to release the IP back to the public. Back when it all started, there was a protection of 14 years. It was felt that this would give you plenty of time to produce, distribute, and profit from your work. When it was all done, you have it to the people so they could improve or alter or simply reproduce the work. Sadly, large corporations have fixed this so they can profit in perpetuity, even if it's only through litigation. 2025-10-17 17:14:56 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * Bradly User Display Picture Bradly User Display Picture Bradly #YK011874 Member since 2025-10-17 0 Threads 1 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View If their not going to remake it the ip protection should not exist on older games. If they dont remake the game ip protection law should be 5 years. Art needs to be saved not loset to history. Games are different then movies. Movies protection law should. But for older games 5 years should be the limit 2025-10-17 10:17:31 Upvote 1 Downvote Reply 1 Copy * Christopher User Display Picture Christopher User Display Picture Christopher #QK522124 Member since 2025-10-17 0 Threads 1 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Alternative: If the release of the game is no longer maintained and operable on currently supported operating systems, the copyright is null and void. So, sure you can remaster it. But if the original isn't able to run, its free game for GOG and others to modify it to work on current systems 2025-10-17 13:41:18 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * Paul User Display Picture Paul User Display Picture Paul #WJ856719 Member since 2025-10-17 0 Threads 1 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View In my opinion as soon as you abandon a product or ip it should go to the public domain. If you are still using and protecting ip that's okay, but previous titles should be free if you are done with those too. Especially old television series that are being written off as losses. Like old tv series (stella comes to my mind) you cant even buy the episodes. They should be released in the public domain. 2025-10-17 15:44:26 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * Ian User Display Picture Ian User Display Picture Ian #EF593254 Member since 2024-09-16 0 Threads 3 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Might I propose a property tax on all intellectual property. If it's as valuable as these companies say it is, then why shouldn't they have to pay taxes on it? 2025-10-17 17:16:49 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * Matthew User Display Picture Matthew User Display Picture Matthew #NO724750 Member since 2025-08-04 0 Threads 26 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Everyone here is discussing abandonware when the issue is IP. Just because the E.T **video game** for atari 2600 hasnt been updated doesnt mean Steven Spielberg no longer owns it. 2025-10-17 17:51:51 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * Layla User Display Picture Layla User Display Picture Layla #DH285689 Member since 2025-10-17 0 Threads 3 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View We need to implement laws that require for game studios to shutdown or drop support from a game they much remove any/all drm and online conductivity that would prevent a single player game from launching. As well as require MMO & other online games to release a personal server instance of the game server. Meaning of Blizzard someday wants to shutdown WOW, they must release a WOW server... Or if EA wants to kill support for Mass Effect they need to remove its DRM and online sign on. They can continue to sell their game unsupported and even sell the servers w/o support (or start charging for support) As with online games give the gear to run at least single instance to a couple of the game preservation groups (it gets decommissioned anyway so giving away a couple pieces of gear) likewise game preservation groups should get support from their various national archives... IE the US library of Congress should have a budget item for supporting a US based non-profit game preservation groups. Where volunteers keep the equipment working and the archive pays for the equipment, bandwidth and storage. Further more when the game has support dropped and is transfered to the preservation groups a complete copy of the source code and game assets should be transferred to be held until the copyright expires. At that point the source code should become available. Or the company can choose to release the source code early. Then to defer costs the game preservation groups should have a server setup to share each game via torrent where they keep a single seed going but others could choose to also keep seeing. Taking care of a huge part of modern history is incredible important and it's heartbreaking that so few are to do it... Or worse companies like Nintendo actively attack groups that store roms for 40+ year old consoles... Nintendo doesn't make games for the NES, they don't collect royalties for them, but yet they spend more per year on legal fees to prevent preservation 2025-10-17 14:54:30 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * adam User Display Picture adam User Display Picture adam #QD803744 Member since 2025-10-17 0 Threads 1 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Exactly why would bigger game companies care about preserving their old games when they can remake/remaster them so they can sell it to us again for a premium, 2025-10-17 13:08:38 Upvote Downvote Reply 2 Copy * Layla User Display Picture Layla User Display Picture Layla #DH285689 Member since 2025-10-17 0 Threads 3 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View But most don't! And even when they do it's rarely similar to the original.... Just look at Oblivion it's almost a completely different game then the original. When a game company is done supporting a game then it needs to assist with making sure a preservation group is able to preserve the game for the future. And national archives (like the library of Congress should be supporting/running the preservation efforts and working with volunteers to keep games accessible) A company can maintain Rights to their IP without limiting preservation efforts. 2025-10-17 15:14:52 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * JLT0087 User Display Picture JLT0087 User Display Picture JLT0087 #DW028142 Member since 2023-10-23 0 Threads 1 Posts Following 0 Stories 0 Topics 0 Authors 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Sometimes it's not even a games company that ends up with the rights to an IP. 2025-10-17 16:43:32 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * Terms * Privacy * Feedback Recommended Julius from Saints Row looking at the camera. 2 days ago Original Saints Row Design Director Says Embracer Should Call Him To Reboot The Series mega blaziken looking down from a tree at some pokemon cards. 2 days ago We've Just Been Given Our First Look At Pokemon TCG Pocket's Upcoming Mega Evolutions Set Hornet fighting against Groal The Great in Hollow Knight: Silksong. 2 days ago Hollow Knight: Silksong Players Have Figured Out How To Completely Skip Its Worst Boss Fight Baby Steps and Skate Story combined in a collage. 2 days ago If You Already Thought Baby Steps Was Difficult, Playing It With A Body Motion Controller Will Truly Make You Stumble More from our brands XDA logo 3 compelling reasons to embrace video game remakes and remasters, not shun them GameRant logo The Open-World Games That Take The Longest To Beat XDA logo 42 classic PC games you can (and should) still play today GameRant logo Upcoming Free-To-Play Games People Are Excited For Colorful, graphic illustration of Steam logo DualShockers logo Steam's Visa, Mastercard, and censorship fiasco just keeps deteriorating A female character from Summer's Gone, shown crying with her mascara running DualShockers logo The video game fight against Visa, Mastercard, and censorship is only getting messier Fighting Securitrons in Fallout: New Vegas DualShockers logo Why Retailers Once Believed RPGs Were Unsellable, According To New Vegas Director Trending Now Tomonobu Itagaki Obituary Remembering Tomonobu Itagaki: From Ninja Gaiden To Dead Or Alive To Devil's Third Baldur's Gate 3 giant looming skeleton creature. 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