Yeah in my non-legal opinion it still sounds like infringement, however, if the owner of the IP doesn't exist (and their assets weren't passed on to another party), then you're not really at risk of being shut down. I just would like to know what I'm getting into. What if I created all new textures for Project: X, but kept the level design intact? Would that still be illegal? Maybe if I made the port available as donationware, and send all the funds to the current IP holders could they still abject? They could, though it would prove to be a silly move on their part in my opinion.Īgain I will state that my only interest in Project: X is to make the game playable again, also update the visuals, and keep the original story and game play exactly the same. If you had a fair amount of the resources to Project: X, would it be okay to create a PORT of the game in order to restore it into a playable state? Or would this still violate copyright laws since I don't own the IP? Wouldn't the game be classified as Abandonware at this point since their is no more money to be made on project: X by its original authors? I have no interest in selling Project: X for money, so honestly I think I'm safe to continue my work.

Years later the company who programed and produced the game went out of business, as a result online play ceased never to be seen again. Now let's say 'Project: X' was a multiplayer only game that never made it out of the beta stage. I will refer to the game in question as 'project X'. I apologize if this sounds silly to ask, but would the IP laws still apply if you where merely trying to PORT a game? However I still have a few questions I'd like answered.

Great abandonware games