Hi there,

some time back I heard that you could send physical copies of old games to gog.com. Since I couldn't find any address or information on it (except for developers) I would be glad if you knew how and where to send the copy. Reason is that, since many people wishlisted it, I could send in my copy of "Star Wars Behind the Magic". Since I bought it for a lower price, the manual is included on one of the CD-ROMs. Unfortunately, I do not have the box anymore, but the discs are as good as new.

So, if any of you got information for me, I'd happily submit my game.

Thanks,

tbm83

Why would you send away your precious original copy without knowing if GOG can even update & sell it here? If LucasArts (now Disney) does not make an agreement with GOG about it your gift to GOG would be a mere... gift to GOG. You'd be better off contacting them by email first to express your interest & see what they reply. Still, I am not sure if things work like that...

Yes... Getting games here isn't a matter of the files and such. The files are out there for virtually every game in existence. The issue is licensing and distribution rights.

OK I see your point. But as far as I know, seeing the other Star Wars Games like Shadows of the Empire, Jedi Knight and such, are all available here. Were the agreements made before Lucas Arts was sold to Disney?

Something I also saw perhaps initially in the topic, was exchanging your owned game for a discount on a gog purhcase of the same game, like Swat 4 and its expansion and elite and gold updates. Now I am not trying to steal your topic, but that is what I initially thought when I saw the topic. I know that wouldn't work simply the cost alone, the mailing, would either be to expensive to you when factor the cost to mail, etc. For GOG of course won't work as they would have to devote staff/work hours to dealing with mailings, verification of serial number, etc. I know in the past on some games if you sent in your old copy they would provide you with a new one at no charge, but only a handful of games had this option, or the options to get the game on 1 DVD instead of 10 CD's or floppy to CD/DVD. Just thought I would add the thought when I first read the topic What about games that are listed as abandonware (I do understand they still might have creditors owed, which then means lawyers and cost to get the game here would be expensive.

The only thing I wonder is the copies on abandonware are strictly prohibited from being used for selling/profit making. I never thought to look at that in the abandonware website. For example, Megatraveller is there, I own the 5 1/4 version so I can never install it (not to mention it would involve dosbox), where would this sit in terms of legality of it being resold under GOG?

So, I just "filed" the question in the "Contact Us" form. I'll let you know what they say as soon as they get back to me :-)

Abandonware doesn't legally exist anywhere. What you are thinking of is games (or music, books and movies in general) that have fallen in public domain due to the copyright lapse. Technically speaking anyone can take a piece of something that has fallen into public domain and sell it, but the problem therein is, that not every country in the world has the same public domain rules and laws. What might be considered as PD in France might not be considered as such in the USA as an example.

The rules and laws around PD, in general, are a complex topic I am not even a fraction enough knowledgeable to actually discuss in further detail.

All those games that were made by LucasArts (and LucasFilm Games) now legally belong to Disney, so for each of these games that is sold on GOG there is a corresponding agreement between GOG and Disney. I am in no way a specialist in legal or business matters, but intuitively I can tell that if you want your game to appear in GOG for sale a separate agreement must be made for this game. If GOG was legally entitled to sell all of Disney-owned games I don't think they would keep it a secret from us loyal customers :)

In the US there is no such thing as abandonware. Period. I don't know about other countries. This is a funny concept that strikes me as odd. "Well, they're not selling it... so.... ANYONE can distribute it!!" Not how laws work in most places, I would imagine. But I am not a lawyer.

There is no software or game anywhere that has "fallen" into public domain. The software industry is too young for that.
There are only softwares and games that the authors/owners released in the public domain from the start, or after initially selling them.

When you buy a game, you are normally buying the right to use it for personal use. You're not allowed to make copies of it, even less selling the said copies.

Moreover one should ask, where and to whom should the profits go? GOG only take a cut from the games they sell, the rest goes to the IP owners.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

So, I just received an answer from GOG. The problem with "Star Wars Behind the Magic" seems to be that it is not specifcally a game but an encyclopedia about the classic Star Wars movies. Therefore they say that it is not suitable to be published via gog.com.

What a pity :-/

Think they'll take this off my hands?

@tinyE: Maybe they will if you ask them, but wouldn't you need an emulator to run it on Windows?

Does one of you have an idea how I could possibly run "Star Wars Behind the Magic" on my computer? I'm not totally sure but I think it could already have a 32 bit installer.

Haha oh cmon, that version isn't all that bad. Try growing up with the Amstrad CPC one! :p