[stetrain]

Even before you get to "value to shareholders" you have to actually pay your developer salaries to update the game. Where does that money come from when you're updating a game that's been on the market for 10 years and sales of new copies have tapered off?

Free major updates make your existing customers happy but don't pay salaries. This is why so many games have moved to some kind of ongoing revenue model with Battle Passes, cosmetics, item marketplaces, etc.

[ndriscoll]

This is one reason why we should either cut back copyright to more like 10-15 years and require source escrow (so public domain materials can come with source) to obtain copyright, or just require all computer programs come with source code as part of consumer protection laws. Then people can fix the engine themselves, or find a way to fund someone to do it.

Or just eliminate copyright entirely and focus on economic models that are based on funding creation. You raise money to build the thing, and once it's built, it's there for all.