Is Playing Old Games Legal? (Abandonware)

What is abandonware?

Abandonware refers to old games and software that haven't been sold for years and are no longer actively distributed or supported by their publisher. The vast majority of titles on oldgame.cz fall into this category – games from the 80s and 90s you couldn't buy in any store today.

The term “abandonware” isn't a legal category in itself – the copyright on a game technically still exists. In practice, though, these are works no one looks after commercially, kept alive by the community.

Is playing and downloading old games legal?

For truly abandoned titles that aren't sold anywhere, the risk is minimal and playing for personal use is generally tolerated. It is a grey area, but with games 25–40 years old that nobody offers, there is no lost revenue at stake.

However, once a game is on sale again (for example on GOG.com or Steam as a digital remaster), it is no longer “abandoned”. We therefore don't host such titles and link to the official store instead.

How we handle it

Games still on commercial sale are not offered for play or download on oldgame.cz – for those you'll only see a link to a legal purchase (GOG, Steam, etc.) so you can support the makers.

In-browser play also often draws on established archives (such as the Internet Archive) that preserve these titles long-term for study and historical purposes.

Are you an author or rights holder?

We respect copyright. If you hold the rights to a game and don't want it here, let us know and we will remove the content promptly.