Out of the loop

I'm a software developer too, funny that.

I have also read the proposal. They ask that if it is not feasible, that publishers put an expiration date on their products, to clarify that the "game purchase" is actually the purchase of a limited-time license that is not guaranteed to continue working. The current practices are deceptive.

So firstly, that's extremely easy to achieve, no more onerous than a decent warranty (or even a disclaimer that there is no warranty and it's never guaranteed to work), but also, there are third party hosting companies that game publishers could hand off hosting duties to without open-sourcing, creating a final "single player only" patch, or otherwise creating a gentler off-ramp to allow the community to continue to maintain games on their own dime.