This is a list of commercial video games released as freeware; games that, in their original license, were not considered

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the f ...

, but were re-released at a later date with a freeware license, sometimes as publicity for a forthcoming sequel or compilation release. Some of the following games are not

freely redistributable software Freely redistributable software (FRS) is software that anyone is free to redistribute. The term has been used to mean two types of free to redistribute software, distinguished by the legal modifiability and limitations on purpose of use of the sof ...

, as they have only been made available as a free download as freeware, but may only be downloaded from certain websites and with the explicit permission of the copyright owner. Consult the

software license agreement An end-user license agreement or EULA () is a legal contract between a software supplier and a customer or end-user, generally made available to the customer via a retailer acting as an intermediary. A EULA specifies in detail the rights and restr ...

. For games that were originally released as freeware, see

List of freeware video games This is a selected list of freeware video games implemented as traditional executable files that must be downloaded and installed. Freeware games are games that are released as freeware and can be downloaded and played, free of charge, for an unli ...

. For

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

games, and proprietary games re-released as FLOSS, see List of open source video games. For proprietary games with released source code (and proprietary or freeware content), see

List of commercial video games with available source code This is a list of commercial video games with available source code. The source code of these commercially developed and distributed video games is available to the public or the games' communities. In several of the cases listed here, the gam ...

Available games

The following formerly paid games have been made available as freeware, and are still in that status:

Games no longer freely distributed

The following are commercial games that were once released as free downloads but were not

. * ''

Airborne Ranger ''Airborne Ranger'' is an action game developed and published by MicroProse for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1987 and the Amstrad CPC and IBM PC compatibles in 1988. Ports to the Amiga and Atari ST by Imagitec Design were released in 1989 ...

'' (1988), a stealth 2D game by

MicroProse MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizatio ...

. It was released as freeware by Atari to promote ''Airborne Rangers''. A free registration was required to download the game. After ''Airborne Rangers'' wasn't released, the ''

'' page and the download link were removed. The game is still mentioned as freeware and many forums and sites have the now dead link to the game page. The legal situation now is unclear because the installer has no disclaimer. * '' Area 51'' (2005), a first person shooter by

Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (series), Rampage'' ...

. Its free release was sponsored by the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. It later changed hands and its freeware status was removed. * ''

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

'' (1992), a

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

. * ''

Battlefield 1942 ''Battlefield 1942'' is a 2002 first-person shooter video game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game can be played in single-player mode against the video game AI or in multiplayer mode a ...

'' (2002), a first person shooter by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

, was available on

Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * Origin (comics), ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * The Origin (Buffy comic), ''The Origin'' (Bu ...

until it was removed, due to

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

shutting down. * ''

Betrayal at Krondor ''Betrayal at Krondor'' is an MS-DOS-based role-playing video game developed by Dynamix and released by Sierra Entertainment, Sierra On-Line in the summer of 1993 in video gaming, 1993. ''Betrayal at Krondor'' takes place largely in Midkemia, the ...

'' (1993), a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

Dynamix Dynamix, Inc. was an American developer of video games from 1984 to 2001, best known for the flight simulator ''Red Baron'', the puzzle game '' The Incredible Machine'', the '' Front Page Sports'' series, ''Betrayal at Krondor,'' and the online ...

. * ''

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...

'' (1992), a city-building game by Sierra. * ''

Dragonsphere ''Dragonsphere'' is a point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by MicroProse in 1994. It has graphics which were considered high-quality at the time it was published, considered a novelty. It is still a cult classic for many. ...

'' (1994), a point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by MicroProse. Released as freeware by

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

in 2011 on

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through its ...

. The rights were brought by

Tommo Tommo Inc. is an American video game publisher based in City of Industry, California. Founded in 1990, Tommo started out as a small independent distributor of imported video games. Since 2006, Tommo also operates a publishing subsidiary, UFO In ...

in 2015 and, after the expiration of the deal with Atari, began to charge for it. * '' Gateway'' (1992), an adventure game by Legend Entertainment. * '' Grand Theft Auto'' (1997) * '' Grand Theft Auto 2'' (1999) * ''

Red Baron 3D ''Red Baron II'' is a video game for the PC, developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra On-Line. It is the follow-up to the flight simulation '' Red Baron'', released in 1990. ''Red Baron II'' was released in December 1997. A patch was release ...

'' (1998), a flight game by Sierra. * '' Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War'' (2006), a real-time strategy/

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

Stainless Steel Studios Stainless Steel Studios (SSSI) was a video game developer, started in 1997 by Rick Goodman and Dara-Lynn Pelechatz. The company was based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and focused on the development of real-time strategy games. History Stainless S ...

and

. Re-released as ad-supported freeware, sponsored by the

. * ''

The Sims 2 ''The Sims 2'' is a 2004 strategy game, strategic life simulation game, life simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second major title in ''The Sims'' series, and is the sequel to ''The Sims (video ...

'' (2004), a life simulation game by Maxis and

. It was released as freeware for a limited time on Origin on July 16, 2014 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of ''The Sims 2''. It was removed from Origin on July 31, 2014. * '' The Suffering'' (2004), a horror third/first person shooter developed by

Surreal Software Surreal Software was an American video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, known for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'', '' The Suffering'' and '' Drakan' ...

and published by

. It was released free in September 2008 sponsored by the

, but is no longer available due to a new copyright holder. * ''

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon'' is a series of military tactical shooter video games published by Ubisoft. In the series, the player is in charge of a fictional, newly conceived squad of U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers from Delta Company, 1st Ba ...

'' (2001), a tactical shooter by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

. Released in an ad-supported free download version in 2007 for a limited time; available to US residents only. *''

Wild Metal Country ''Wild Metal Country'' is an action video game developed by DMA Design. The game was published by Gremlin Interactive and released for Microsoft Windows in May 1999. A Dreamcast port, known as ''Wild Metal'', was released in February 2000 by Roc ...

'' (1999), was released as freeware in 2004 but is no longer available on the download page. * '' Zero Tolerance'' (1994), a first person shooter developed by Technopop for

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

. The ROMs of the game and its sequel were formerly offered by the owner Randel Reiss for

free download Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content such as audio, video, e-books, video games, and other so ...

. In 2021, however, the rights to both games were purchased by

Piko Interactive Piko Interactive LLC is an American video game publisher based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in early 2013 by Eli Galindo, the company focuses on physical re-releases of games from older video game consoles and digitally released ports to newer ...

, leding the download links for the ROMs to disappear from Technopop's website. * ''

Zork I ''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and ...

'', ''

Zork II ''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and ...

'', ''

Zork III ''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded an ...

'', text adventure games by

Infocom Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone (software), Cornerstone''. ...

References

{{No cost computer games Freeware games