Doesn't work that way.
Devs still own rights to their work and anyone trying to finish them could lose that work if the original dev decides to take it back or claim any money made on it.
Far safer to make original works than try and take someone else's.
I understand that is how most devs & people in general think, & forgive me for asking this way, but did you even read my argument? Because I addressed everything you just said rather clearly. Quote from my prior post: " Now obviously, I know that a lot of people are hesitant to do so because of the possibility of the original dev going after them for "stealing" their IP, (intellectual property), though that's easily mitigated, especially when there is demonstrable evidence that the original creator abandoned the content, like here with BSS. They can't argue that the new dev was stealing anything or taking income away from them, since they willingly abandoned it. Additionally if the games were remade as "fan games" or "mods" that just add content to the original game, or were done for free, (meaning basically passion projects where no income was received directly for that game, hence why I positioned it as doing it for credit rather than monetary gain), then likewise, there is no real copyright violation argument, especially when considering things like fair use."
Just with Fair Use alone, As long as it's commentary / critique, or parody or it's transformative in nature. Someone doing a remake or a "fan fic" type game is exactly that. It could also be positioned as a "parody" of the game. ALL of that falls under fair use & therefore does not create a copyright violation. Consider for a moment all of the various parodies of content. Look at Spaceballs as a prime example. That was a parody of Star Wars. Now sure, you could argue that there was enough differences to make it squeak by, (Lonestar & Barf instead of Han Solo & Chewbacca, Lord Helmet instead of Darth Vader, etc...), so ok, what about the mountain of all the porn parodies of mainstream IPs? Full original IP is used in those, yet they still get cranked out without issue. Why? because they are PARODIES, which falls under fair use.
So just with fair use alone, there's MANY ways a dev could finish the game without risk of any copyright issues as long as they understand how to do it & present it in a manner that falls under the fair use guidelines.
But even beyond that, there's various other ways to avoid copyright issues. For example, if the dev did it without monetary compensation, (meaning not using it as a vehicle to collect income), then the IP owner cannot claim lost income because A, the new dev did not make any income or other revenue from the related IP, & B, the IP owner abandoned the IP, so they have no credible argument for demonstrating monetary losses due to the new dev's actions, as the act of abandonment by the IP owner illustrates that his own monetary losses would already have occurred from his own choice to abandon the project in the first place. An IP owner cannot reasonably argue that they would have made any SGA from a project that they abandoned & are not actually continuing to create. Now you might argue "well if the new dev can't monetize the game, what would be the point of continuing it?" Like I said already, not monetizing it is just 1 of many ways to avoid copyright issues. If they choose to make a parody of the game, they can monetize the shit out of it, no problem. But even if they go the non monetized route, money isn't the only currency of value. Like I said, if an enterprising dev decided to take a few of these abandoned games & finished them without pay, people in these kinds of communities would take note & that would gain that dev a lot of respect & credit in these communities. So when that dev goes to create their OWN games, instead of them being just another Dev that the potential funding base would look at with skepticism, (i.e. "Ok we got another 0.1 from dev fillintheblank, I'll wait a while to see if this goes anywhere or just becomes another abandoned game"), but instead, that Dev would already have a reputation as the guy whom finished a bunch of other incomplete games. That would translate into potential backers saying "fuck yeah, I'll donate to this guys game. I already know he's not going to abandon it & it's going to be good because he's already established his credibility with his craft & his ability to follow through & finish games from all those other games he finished". That equates to significantly higher income for that dev on their own projects WAY faster & in way higher volumes because he's already earned that trust & credibility. Not to mention, it would make fantastic practice for newer devs.
I even cited an observable real example that you can look up right here on this website right now of a dev finishing another dev's abandoned game. Again, I quote: " Look at Nergal's "Urban Demons" game. That was a remake of Wootch's abandoned "Urban X Life" game. No one remembers Wootch or his game, but many were BIG fan's of Nergal's remake & massive supporters of it."
Clearly Nergal had no problem remaking & finishing wootch's game & went on to create his own games too & he was very successful, both with community merit as well as monetarily. So there's actual referencable evidence that a game CAN be taken over & finished by another dev successfully. Again, forgive me for asking this way but did you even read my argument? Because your response seems to be entirely oblivious to the fact that I already thoroughly addressed your response already.
Now that all said, would most devs still opt for playing it safe & not taking the risk? yeah, most would. That's understandable &, just like with any opportunity, there's always a certain degree of risk involved. Also, just like with any opportunity, those whom play it safe & let it pass by, miss out. It's only those that take those opportunities that get the benefits of them & this opportunity could be a gold mine to any dev out there that has the balls to take it. Nergal already had the balls to do it once & he's now reaping the rewards, so he was already the Jackie Robinson of this kind of thing. He demonstrated that it can be done by doing it. So all we need now are at least 1 or 2 devs that have some balls & are willing to follow in the path he already paved. I'd do it myself but I don't have the time, nor the specific skills needed to develop games, which is why I'm encouraging any devs out there that do have the balls to take an honestly near non existent risk to get to that gold mine. Hell, even if they did them all as monetized parodies, there's enough abandoned games here to keep them swimming in cash for years.