This is definitely true. But it seems almost criminal that a huge chunk of a category of art is completely inaccessible legally. Video games are of course intrinsically tied to the technology that makes them possible. Unlike music or film, video games are not only the game ROM or ISO or whatever, but the platform in which it ran, and some might even say the display they were design for (see vector graphics displays). With a film or record, you can use a ton of different methods to experience that media that are standardized and convertible to another standardized platform. And since even the oldest ones are analogue, the copy is “ownable” in a way that video games mostly aren’t.

It also seems like a missed business opportunity. I’d absolutely pay for roms to play in emulators of my choice if only there was an iTunes for games that let me just buy a file and download for use wherever I can run it. But that basically doesn’t exist at all. Sometimes classic collections on steam will let you pull the file from it, but it’s not exactly the intent and it isn’t “easy” like buying a song on iTunes is/was.

Sadly, without some sort of legislation about this, we will continue to need to do things “illegally”