These sites also host almost every abandonware title, so you don't need to head into the unknown depths of the internet looking for a title on a sketchy website.Ĭheck out the best sites where you can safely download an old PC game for free. Major abandonware sites like MyAbandonware and Abandonia are safe, serving thousands of users every day. The answer lies with the site you are downloading from. With so many sites, surely downloading abandonware is safe? There are numerous abandonware sites, all offering a very similar list of old titles for download. Those who distribute abandonware are unlikely to end up in court, so long as they comply with any cease-and-desist notices. Similarly, on titles they do care about, like the Ultima series, you no longer find those on abandonware sites (see the section below on Good Old Games for further explanation).īecause of the obstacles laid out above, abandonware appears relatively safe from a legal standpoint. But what would be the point? Legal action could turn into a public relations disaster. Electronic Arts have the legal resources to remove every free copy of System Shock on the market. Once a game is released in this way, it can't be reclaimed-but the developer might still hold copyright on new or altered versions of the game.Īnother reason for the lack of legal precedent may be a desire for goodwill. Though rare, several games have been released under General Public License, Creative Commons, and other publicly available licenses. Of course, if a developer releases software for free, the story is different. For example, abandonware site Home of the Underdogs was founded in Thailand, while Abandonia is based in Sweden. Those abandonware sites that continue to offer every abandonware title imaginable skirt international law, using hosting services in countries with a relaxed approach to piracy, copyright enforcement, and so on. There is little use in taking a publisher to court. When that happens, the abandonware site takes down the offending title in response. Companies enforcing existing copyright tend to send a cease-and-desist letter before filing a lawsuit. At least, none that I could find prosecuting someone for downloading and playing an abandonware title. But are you likely to find the authorities knocking at your door? Or, end up in front of a judge for breaking copyright? That's highly unlikely.ĭespite the illegality of abandonware, there are no court cases relating to it. To answer that specific question, no, it is not legal to download abandonware. For example, you can find classic action-adventure game, System Shock, on heaps of abandonware sites, yet the current copyright holder, Electronic Arts, does nothing about it. In other cases, the owner still exists but does not enforce the existing copyright. Not seeing any active giveaways at the moment? Feel free to pop up to our general Game freebies news section, where you can browse through dozens of titles from numerous sources, which you can get right now.The majority of content on abandonware sites no longer have an owner to enforce the copyright actively, so no one can sue. Therefore, come here often if you enjoy collecting free games from GOG. On GG.deals we promptly write news articles about free GOG PC games, which you can find under this preset. You’d normally find this information on the main page of GOG, but it is not always very visible, which makes it easy to skip your attention and miss out. You can do so easily and at no cost by checking out free Steam keys. Therefore, we recommend you keep enlarging your collection on this platform too. In addition, it is possible to get free games, thanks to GOG Connect, you should be able to claim free GOG games if you own them on Steam. Moreover, in this freebie section you can find free DLCs, goodies packs and other additional content which would be still a great thing to receive free of charge. Among them you can most certainly expect some undying classics, as well as famous and not-so-obvious indie games. Nonetheless, this popular DRM-free platform tends to please its users regular free GOG codes. There is no regular timetable or constant tendency for GOG freebies to appear, unlike it happens with Epic Games Store free games.
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