Not exactly the same, but in Japan (where obviously many of the great games of the 80s and 90s were authored) there's a mechanism to acquire a license from the government to publish abandonware. The government collects a royalty from the new distributor that it holds in case a valid copyright holder comes forward.

Little Samson, a late-era NES game that because of its rarity can sell for thousands, was developed by a now-defunct company and is getting a re-release next year using this process.

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/10/daunting-limited-...

If the developer was a work for hire and never owned the copyright then no.

If the developer licensed the game to a publisher then maybe.

Video game copyrights were rarely ever held by a single person, even in the early days of the industry.