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Comment by slau | Hacker News Reader

It’s really not a quagmire.

When you EOL the game and release the server, just strip the licensed content. Remove the logos. Nobody gives a flying toss anyway.

People want the community and the GAME. They don’t care whether the actual logo is there.

Heck, if the game connects to a community server, have it hide all licensed content. you’ve satisfied your contractual obligations. Whether people mod the game or not to re-add things has no bearing on you.

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The licenced design seems to include the front part of the car per the above comment, that would mean creating seperate models for EOL games.

No, even if the licensing agreement between the developer and the car maker ends, then according to first sale doctrine, the game buyers keep the licensed content. Removing it from user systems would be undue (but admittedly has happened such as with the in-game music in GTA).

The reason for that is that the game is continuing to be distributed and the nature of digital distribution is ephemeral so contents like music are removed from the distribution when the license expires. If you own the game on physical media or remove the connection to the digital distribution service (never patch it) then as a consumer you’re fine as you note with the first sale doctrine. It’s just legally the developer can no longer offer the content as part of future distributions. The same would be true for another physical media release.

That is not how it works. When car licenses expire then you can still download the racing games in your library from Steam etc., even after new sales are discontinued. You are already the owner of the licensed content and you get access to it anytime.

Steam even says that in the event of that they go out of business, measures are in place to ensure gamers' continued access to their games.

I don't think anyone is asking for developers to continue to distribute their games after they EOL them. They're just asking for a way to keep games that have already been distributed running.

There is no first sale doctrine in Europe, and nor does the US one apply to digitally distributed content.

Directive 2009/24/EC clearly makes reference to the first sale doctrine in Article 4

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