Got rambling on bluesky about it so I might as well post it here to make it official.
Having become frustrated with companies like Piko buying the rights to lots of old games, hoarding them, and generally just kinda being assholes about it, my goal for 2025 is to do what these companies won't and buy the rights to a 20+ year old game and make it public domain. It may be a terrible Klik & Play game that someone made when they were 10, but it will happen.
@eniko @voxel @MichaelKlamerus
Tell you what, a number of the people publishing "official" re-releases to which they've "bought the rights" do not appear to have the correct rights at all, but merely a trademark (which of course does not confer copyright or license to reproduce, port or sell the actual software).
Which means that exactly this is happening.
So the answer is "you get to make money off the back of other people's work". Including the efforts of the pirate preservationists whose de-DRM'd copies are in several cases (cough) Ziggurat (cough) are now being sold.
Michael
voxel
Eniko (moved ➡ gamedev.place)
13 barn owls in a trenchcoat