Hmmm... So we're basically in a situation where Cloanto is already doing for the Amiga what GOG is doing for PC games. Based on that I can understand where Cloanto might come to the table with GOG asking, "where is the incentive for us to split our profits with you to do what we are already doing?" I'm not sure how big Amiga Forever is, but I would assume GOG at best can just offer increased exposure and market potential. I totally get though where the debate stalls from Cloanto's perspective. I guess the only alternative is for one company to buy the other! LOL

Hmm, surely there will be enough old games, but will GOG be able to sell them DRM free (online or other service dependence)? So many good games nowadays require steamworks, ...

Not exactly. Cloanto markets a package called Amiga Forever that includes the Kickstart ROMs and Workbench images, which are not available legally anywhere else. They include the most popular Amiga emulators, and front-ends to manage them. They also bundle in some Amiga software, but this is just the stuff they have gotten the rights to include. They do not sell any other Amiga software apart from Amiga Forever. So there is no Amiga games store at Cloanto, nor an Amiga applications store. Any Amiga games you want to play on emulation have to come from your own images, from titles freely released on places like Back To The Roots, or otherwise from "abandonware" sites (which is a whole other debate).

So there is room in the marketplace for a vendor who sells Amiga games via emulation. The main difference with the Amiga as opposed to some other emulators is the fact that the Kickstart ROMs must be licensed, as well as the game itself from whomever holds those rights. It's an extra layer of complication, and unless GOG or another vendor works out terms with Cloanto to license the ROMs, no one is likely to be bringing out Amiga games for sale that way.

The only workaround I can see that doesn't involve Cloanto is writing an emulator from the ground up that doesn't need Kickstart, but that would be complex and could still run afoul of technical rights.

Please note that I am not saying that Cloanto would not negotiate terms to use the Kickstart ROMs, nor that those terms would be unreasonable. Merely that no vendor like GOG has, to my knowledge, initiated any such action to determine what the actual process and terms would be.

If someone were to negotiate favourable terms with Cloanto and with one of the emulators (such as WinUAE) for distribution, then there would be a large catalogue of games requiring little further technical work needed in order to sell. The remaining, and often more challenging, issue would be to obtain the rights to the games themselves from the copyholders, just as is done with every other commercial release.

Instead of focusing on Kickstart ROMs, would it not be possible to use the AROS m68k ROMs as a free replacement for games that would be compatible with it? If not, then nevermind me. I don't really know much about Amiga anyway. >.>

That's a good suggestion and one I would have to investigate further. Assuming the AROS ROMs can substiture for the Kickstart ROMs well enough to run emulation, the remaining issues that stand out to me are:

1) Are the AROS ROMs legal? (I'm betting they are)

2) Do their license terms allow them to be included in a commercial product?

3) What are their redistribution terms?

4) Is there still active support and development going on with them?

Definite food for thought, and I will be checking into this further. Might have to set up a testbed of my own when I get the time and run these through their paces.

Thanks!