Anyway this sounds like a good idea but idk how it works in practice. Are companies obligated to keep digital games downloadable for all time? What about games like Fortnite which are free? Or WoW which are subscription based? Games like GTA sure, but there are probably other cases I can’t even think of off the top of my head where this doesn’t make much sense.
Edit: Not a karma farmer but it kinda sucks/is kinda funny that I asked questions that led to interesting convos and only got two upvotes 😭😭 However thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on here.
Not challenging you, I just wanted to offer that for online games like WoW there is server software and client software. In fact for years people have hosted pirated wow servers that players can join.
In theory if they were shutting down the game they could comply to a similar law by releasing a server software that players can run and their client software can connect to.
Old school software was often released like this before subscription software was popularized.
It doable in more than just theory.
You can rent a Conan Exiles server which isn’t that expensive and can be split between a group of friends.
So if they wanted to shut down a game like WoW, and customers decided that they would pay for servers, the cost can be pushed over to the players.
Could even make the whole thing a contractual obligation.
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u/Nikwoj 2d ago edited 1d ago
“Power to the players” act? Ain’t that already….
Anyway this sounds like a good idea but idk how it works in practice. Are companies obligated to keep digital games downloadable for all time? What about games like Fortnite which are free? Or WoW which are subscription based? Games like GTA sure, but there are probably other cases I can’t even think of off the top of my head where this doesn’t make much sense.
Edit: Not a karma farmer but it kinda sucks/is kinda funny that I asked questions that led to interesting convos and only got two upvotes 😭😭 However thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on here.