The DMCA has recently passed a new exception which will allow gamers to bypass DRM restrictions on abandoned games.
This is not an issue that we are yet to face as DRM restrictions are a fairly new thing but games with DRM restrictions can easily become unplayable if the servers that run them were to go awry. On services like Uplay or Steam, this is not really a worry as these services are granted to go on for quite a while but some games still use the dreaded Windows Live or other archaic services to access content. What happens when gamers are forced to bypass DRM restrictions to be able to play old games? Is that illegal? Apparently, not so.
In fact, the Librarian of Congress has added another exception to the DMCA and that is that gamers are allowed to bypass DRM restrictions on abandoned games. This means that posting these things online would also be legal, which would help those that aren’t as tech savvy. It is nontheless still illegal for gamers to bypass DRM restrictions on games that have not been abandoned or on systems, regardless of the purpose, as this would enable illegal actions. In other words, even if you want to hack your PS4 to be able to play a Crash Bandicoot game (or some form of homebrew media), you are not allowed to legally as this compromises the legal integrity of the system.
Honestly, nobody even proposed banning DRM restrictions as a whole despite no proven effect to reduce pirating or hackers and how much it harms the paying consumer. At least DRM restrictions won’t ruin old games, they will just make them harder to play. The future certainly sounds exciting.
