That used to be the dominant model for getting software exposed to as many users as possible, video games or not. It’s the classic shareware/trialware model. Although, with internet downloads, the “sharing” aspect isn’t really that important anymore.
Oh man, I just realized/remembered that shareware was meant to be shared from one person to the other, as in "I have this cool software, here it is on a floppy", and then you had to contact the developer for a license.
Such a magical time that was.
"How can you be sure the copy wasn't modified? Why isn't the EXE signed?"
I want as many eyeballs on it as possible without needing a license, but I also don't want it to quite be a free giveaway.
I suppose I'm a trailblazer, after the video game space and Jetbrains, of course.