Many of these abandoned games are effectively orphan works. I think if anything, there needs to be a definition of "digital orphan works", because digital IP suffers from bit rot in a way traditional media doesn't.
A 50 year old book is still there, but even a 10 year old game might not even be available for purchase anywhere (and even if it is, it's probably not immediately playable on modern hardware).
Fundamentally, we need to overhaul copyright in light of the fundamental changes to intellectual property sales brought about by digital goods. I'm not optimistic that it will happen, but for a shitty game to be copyrighted for 100 years is just ludicrous. At some point, things need to pass into the public domain.
A 50 year old book is still there, but even a 10 year old game might not even be available for purchase anywhere (and even if it is, it's probably not immediately playable on modern hardware).
Fundamentally, we need to overhaul copyright in light of the fundamental changes to intellectual property sales brought about by digital goods. I'm not optimistic that it will happen, but for a shitty game to be copyrighted for 100 years is just ludicrous. At some point, things need to pass into the public domain.