Earlier quoted context omitted.
Game companies are learning old IP can be modernized for fresh new profits so most likely a lot of old game copyrights will become retroactively enforced and sources hunted down and expunged as they're remastered and made exclusively available in whatever online shop or subscription service. https://www.polygon.com/2018/7/22/17600008/nintendo-roms-law... https://www.maxim.com/entertainment/best-video-games-remaste...
People have been reworking old IP, neglecting or enforcing various rights, etc for years. I don't think it's some new trend game companies recently learned or that it affects how aggressive (or not) owners are that much. Old sources in particular are not all that valuable in many cases, beside historically.
I think this is being fueled by movie and game outliers today being able to achieve their first $billion in their first week. That outsized ROI on gaming, like movies, completely changes the calculus on what old stuff is worth today. FAANG will throw billions into making games as soon as their movie pipelines are sorted.