"Games as a service" is fraud.

The problem is that for game ROMs specifically, opening them to the public domain devalues potential opportunities for re-releases and remasters. The Nintendo virtual console service and S/NES classic are prominent examples. So it isn't so simple that there is "no harm done" by forcing game ROMs to fall into public domain. That all being said, I still agree with you. I really don't care how much money Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony wants to make on decades-old games, at a certain point it becomes a cultural artifact. Snow White and other century-old movie properties should be public domain nowadays as well. At this point we're debating about the core values of trademark law though, and I'm not sure you wanted to do that. A similar debate revolves around what the law should say about "dead" games. These are games that, for example, rely on a central server that has been shut down. Many of these games were incredibly popular in their day, and some "radicals" (like myself, lol) argue that game companies should be compelled to release the server source code in an effort to preserve the game. Here's a great overview/rant on this topic: [this video]

> but that doesn’t happen Doesn't happen yet . Entire industries are trying to bypass basic property law so you "own" your purchases in name only and the manufacturer has control de facto . The video game industry has been saying "buy or product" when they really mean "subscribe to our service"[1] for a long time. Bricking old multiplayer gamed had been common practice for years, and now some singleplayer games have been unnecessarily bricked when the publisher e.g. shut down the DRM server. Companies like John Deere have been extending this strategy into their hardware for a while. The damage doesn't even have to be "bricking your device"; HN regularly features stories about forced updates that remove paid-for features. > Have Apple pull something like this and you’ll see on the NYT. Apple got close when their devices suddenly stopped running 3rd party software in the recent "OCSP Apocalypse". [1] [this video]