Panickd wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 16:34:
On another note: Why don't companies like EA, Activision, etc. all host their old games that no one in their right mind would pay money for as free downloads? It wouldn't cost them anything, it would be good PR and it would save people from having to trudge to various sites looking for old gems. Seems like there would only be winners in that scenario.
Because once they make it free officially, then it's free no matter what later. As someone pointed out, if this sequel goes big they might decide to repackage the original up in DOSBox and sell it for a few dollars. And the same goes with all IP, once free you can't put it back in the box and many companies like to resell old IP when they reboot it for a few extra bucks. Sure, they could try to package it as a collection but people will still give away their legally free copies.
It's just cheaper and easier to turn a blind eye to the old IP and only have it taken down when money is involved. Also, sites like GoG.com kill any companies ideas of releasing old games for free since they can all see old/dead IP can be still sold for quite some money on sites like GoG. Some games like Ultima 4 are free on GoG since they already had made it free so (I know it's in a bundle so your really paying for Ultima 5 and 6), and now I don't think any company wants to risk giving up a potential cash cow
*automatically refuses to place horse heads in anyone's bed*