Correct. The copyright owner controls the rights related to copying.
Unless the copyright holder specifically grants free distribution rights (e.g. releasing as a public domain work such as with a CC0 licence) then they can decide to do what they want. That includes choosing not to distribute the work in any way.
So no, Championship Manager 01/02 is not available legally for free. It’s no more legal than downloading ROMs. No one will stop you but that’s not the same as legal.
I’m not defending this approach. I think IP law is a fucking shambles and needs massive reform for a number of reasons. The duration is ludicrous and it’s horrendously restrictive in a way that chokes the life out of human culture. I see someone downvoted me, which is pretty funny in and of itself. Sorry for pointing out how IP law works..?
Reading the instructions, no, it’s not. It was given away for free by Eidos and no longer is. Unless they granted distribution rights to someone back in the day then whoever is distributing the files is doing so illegally.
I don’t really care, I just find it funny that it’s touted as legally when that’s absolutely not how copyright law works at all.
For me this is more about open world games losing cool features than wanting to play a game with that feature. In GTA 4 it affected the choices I’d make whilst driving as it was entirely possible to make a vehicle nearly impossible to drive without coming close to blowing it up.
Because hardware, software, culture, incomes, demand, supply, and many, many other factors have all changed since the 1980s. It’s not a straight comparison. Inflation is a factor but it is not the only factor.
They can set the asking price to whatever they like but a lot of us cannot justify those amounts for what amounts to a toy. By this stage in a console generation I would expect a lot more games and a lot cheaper hardware. The reasons that haven’t happened aren’t of interest to me as a consumer (they’re of interest to me as a nerd!).
That’s the thing I find amusing in this thread. Consoles are a known quantity and it needs to either compete or undercut them. I have a Steam Deck that I paid £320 for (brought up to £400 by the SSD I added). I would most definitely not pay more than £450 for a Steam Box. It may well cost more than that but it is a luxury and I would seriously struggle to justify more than that.