If you ask any video game historian, they will name a lot of video game development companies. Some of them ended up being part of bigger publishers, others, on the other hand, disappeared. We veterans always have a place in our memory for the works of Broderbund, Microprose, Sierra and many other labels that gave us many good times. Well, if you want to revive them again on your PC, it’s easy, in addition, you can do it without spending anything and without having to go hack.
What is Abandonware?
Abandonware is the set of software and hardware on which all intellectual property has been lost and this can be for three different reasons:
- The parent company no longer exists and no one has claimed the intellectual property to exploit it.
- Cases in which its creators continue to exist, but have decided to release the source code in a completely free license.
- Commercially it is not considered a viable product at present and ownership has not been renewed.
A very famous case is the one that John Carmack and the folks at id Software made with their games Doom, Quake and others. From time to time, they were released under the GPL license, which meant that any user could freely modify and distribute them. Not only to play them, but also to learn the ins and outs of the code. Although in general, Abandonware products are usually distributed as is in stores, but in digital format. That is, without its exposed source code.
legal exceptions
The problem comes from the large number of laws in the world and the way they are distributed. For example, there are cases where the original creator no longer has the rights by relinquishing them, but the distributor of those in some regions maintains them. This is a problem, especially on older consoles, where the manufacturer licensed an Atari, SEGA, Nintendo, SONY, or Microsoft game to release on their console. Not in vain, at the time third parties were called licensees, for this reason.
That’s why Abandonware focuses on PC software and if you see a console title and the manufacturer still exists as a company, then don’t doubt it’s game ROMs, which is not is not the same thing. So unless the creator has officially released it, they can’t really be considered discontinued games.
Old hardware dependencies
Because many games are already old, they have hardware dependencies that no longer exist, in some cases our PC hardware has ways of emulating how these systems work. Although in general our recommendation is that you pull DOSBox-Xsince this version allows the smooth running of games with 3D graphics optimized for 3Dfx Interactive cards, that is, the famous Voodoo.
What titles can I find?
Well, there are several famous historical titles that you can find through Abandonware to enjoy them again on your PC or experience them for the first time. We’re not going to worry about the requirements, because they’re light enough that even the simplest of computers can run it with no problem. The list of titles is huge, however, because in the few decades since the existence of the video game industry, it has become a graveyard that is not small.
Officially, the games that are Abandonware are:
- The original version of Under a steel skythey recently announced a remaster, but if you have a GOG account they offer you this game and several Abandonware titles such as:
- Tyrian 2000.
- Stargunner
- Classic shadow warrior.
- Before Destiny and Halo, Bungie’s work was Marathonfor PC, only the second opus was released and it is a saga that was born on Mac. Well, all of them are abandonware, but you will need an emulator to enjoy them.
- The first three installments of Doom and Quake for PCas good as Heretic, Hexen and both Wolfstein original as the Return to Castle Wolfestein today they are Abandonware.
- The first two Grand Theft Auto they were released by Rockstar Games at the time.
- If you like strategy, know that the first red alert of the two Westwood studios is Abandonware.
- The first two Elder Scrolls, that’s to say, Arena there daggerfall.
What happens to some famous sagas that we named in the title?
Well, abandonware releases are tricky because they are the ones that were released under a different label or received an upgraded version. That is, it’s the same situation as console ROMS and they technically can’t be considered Abandonware, but they don’t have a commercial outlet and that’s why their creators ignore them and allow people to take advantage of them, as they see them as undercover promotional material for new releases.
So we can find famous sagas games like Prince of Persia, Command and conquer, Diablo, Sim City, Monkey Island, DOOM II, Heroes of Might and Magic, LOTR, Duke Nukem 3D and many more online and play them legally.
Where can I find Abandonware titles?
Well, there are several ways to do it:
- Obviously, in many websites about Abandonware, which you will find through the search engine.
- In Internet Archive.
What old game do you want to replay or discover? Tell us about it in the comments.
Table of Contents
