PlayStation made the first move, and Xbox is expected to follow suit. In January 2028, Sony will stop producing physical discs for games on its consoles.…
Lifetime = console maker lifetime. What happens when a console maker is bankrupt?
In a sane universe, the law would be arranged such that when the rightsholding entity for a piece of media no longer exists and/or is no longer distributing it, copying and redistribution of it for personal and private use (i.e. what the industries have conditioned us to believe is “piracy”) would be legal. Anything out of print, so to speak, should be fair game. Notably this is already how it works with things like trademarks. If a company doesn’t actually exercise their ownership of them, they lose them.
This is more or less the basis of the abandonware movement, the current legality of the situation be damned.
Corpos: “Hey, you can’t copy that. We own it! If you just copy it, we won’t be able to profit from it!!!”
In a sane universe, the law would be arranged such that when the rightsholding entity for a piece of media no longer exists and/or is no longer distributing it, copying and redistribution of it for personal and private use (i.e. what the industries have conditioned us to believe is “piracy”) would be legal. Anything out of print, so to speak, should be fair game. Notably this is already how it works with things like trademarks. If a company doesn’t actually exercise their ownership of them, they lose them.
This is more or less the basis of the abandonware movement, the current legality of the situation be damned.
Corpos: “Hey, you can’t copy that. We own it! If you just copy it, we won’t be able to profit from it!!!”
Okay, so sell me one.
Also corpos: “No.”