Will it be okay to torrent a digital game you've purchased after the servers get shut down?

[starcraft]

ishiki said:

definitely not any moral objection... But, I don't have any moral objection on torrenting unnavailable games whether you've bought them or not, if the company can't make the effort to sell you a game (Virtual Console, PSN, XBN, Steam Etc)... when they do make an effort I buy FF7 3 times XD., and the only way to buy certain ones is third party which doesn't benefit them anyways at extreme prices.

I think as long as you torrent the game for the original device you bought it for and not one that took extra work. IE, you torrent the PS3 version of the PS3 port of PS2 game, not the PS4 version it. But, I know my pesronal moral rules are arbitrary, and anyone elses may be different and I ain't gonna judge.

However, legally atleast in U.S as far as I'm aware. the only legal way is to make a personal backup copy. Torrenting itself is not allowed because you are sharing it, etc. You're not allowed to buy a game for Wii and then torrent it for use in dolphin (you need a hitachi DVD-rom otherwise). You're supposed to rip it yourself. The same would likely apply for digital distribution.

Whilst on principle I agree with you, in reality often people simply decide that because a game isn't immediately available to them in their preferred form, they will torrent it.  For example, games that see re-release on one or two platforms, but not the ones someone already onws.