Publishers Have Finally Said The Quiet Part Out Loud About Retro Games

Note that abandoned games (abandonware) are still exempt under renewal 14:

14. Video Games-Preservation and Abandoned Video Games:

The Software Preservation Network ("SPN") and LCA jointly petitioned to renew the exemption for individual play by gamers and preservation of video games by a library, archives, or museum for which outside server support has been discontinued, and preservation by a library, archives, or museum, of discontinued video games that never required server support. No oppositions were filed against renewal, and one individual filed a comment in support. Petitioners demonstrated that there is a continuing need and justification for the exemption. They stated that video game collection librarians report an ongoing need to preserve TPM-encumbered video games in their collections and that the "section] 1201 exemption has become a crucial tool in their ongoing efforts to save digital game culture before it disappears." They demonstrated personal knowledge and experience through past participation in section 1201 rulemakings and through their representation of members who have relied on this exemption.

The key wording is “exemption for individual play by gamers”. If you have the abandonware you can keep playing it.

What the article is really about is that the petition to exempt a kind of controlled digital lending for archived games to the public was not granted. That’s too bad but it’s not going to do anything to stop the retro game community.

This ruling mainly affects retro game researchers and historians such as Frank Cifaldi who will need to continue borrowing or purchasing physical copies of games rather than being able to borrow ROM files digitally to run on his emulator.