[watwut]

Yeah, if all it takes is to wait 5 years to have it for free, many people will wait.

People wait for steam sales of just released games and that can take 2 years and you still pay. If they were sure it is free after 5, they gonna wait.

[ncallaway]

If the studio expected > $500 of potential sales in years 5-10, then they would pay the fee and the game wouldn’t enter the public domain for 10 years.

Every game that experiences even a moderate success would probably be locked up for 15 years in this scenario, and every game that experiences even a hint of success would be locked up for 10 years.

I cannot imagine that the number of people who are willing to wait 10-15 years to play a game instead of spending $20 now will materially harm the same of a game.

[watwut]

Waiting 5 years for small obscure game is easier then waiting for some massively successful game everyone talks about. Likewise, limiting your selection to 5 years old games is easier when you go for small niche games.

This would hit the small and niche companies hardest.

[ChoGGi]

I've been waiting since 2005 for we love katamari to come out for PC.

Okay, I've probably just been waiting since katamari damacy came out...

[rcxdude]

Given the statistics of most game's sales over time, I don't think this applies to most consumers.

[seba_dos1]

Except in the proposed scenario they're not sure it's going to be free at all? If they want it for free, they usually can find a torrent anyway.

[mitchdoogle]

This would only work for games that have virtually no sales, otherwise you'd probably be waiting at least 10 years