GameSphere Magazine — last updated on 1 October 2026
GameSphere Magazine publishes long-form reviews of classic PC, arcade and console games. Those articles mix three different kinds of material, and this page explains which is which, because the licensing terms are not the same for all of them.
In short:
- Everything we write — our text, our own screenshots, photographs and video — is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0). You may reuse it, change it and sell it, as long as you credit us and link back.
- Articles by contributors are published under the same licence, but the copyright belongs to the person who wrote them, and the credit goes to them rather than to us.
- Everything someone else made — game screenshots, box art, artwork, logos, screenshots sourced from MobyGames and other databases, advertising banners, and every embedded YouTube video — stays the property of its rightsholder. Nothing on this page gives you any right to it.
1. Material created by GameSphere Magazine — CC BY 4.0
Original content created by GameSphere Magazine is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This covers:
- all review text, editorial text, guides, lists, comparisons and page copy written for this site by GameSphere Magazine;
- screenshots, captures and photographs taken by us;
- video and audio produced by us;
- original graphics, diagrams, tables, rankings and data compilations made by us.
It does not cover articles written by contributors, which are dealt with in section 2 below, nor advertising banners, which are dealt with in section 3.5.
1.1 What you may do
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
- Adapt — remix, translate, shorten, expand or build upon it.
- For any purpose, including commercially. No permission request is needed and no fee is payable.
The licence is worldwide, royalty-free and cannot be revoked as long as you follow its terms.
1.2 What you must do
Give credit. Name GameSphere Magazine as the source, link to the licence, and link back to the original page where practical. If you changed the material, say so. A credit that satisfies the licence looks like this:
“[Article title]” by GameSphere Magazine (https://gamespheremagazine.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Modified from the original.
Drop the last sentence if you reproduced the text unchanged.
Do not add restrictions. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that stop anyone else from doing what the licence permits.
Do not imply endorsement. The licence does not allow you to word a credit in a way that suggests we endorsed, reviewed or collaborated on your work.
1.3 Three things this licence does not do
It does not cover the games themselves. When we capture a screenshot or a video clip from a game, our licence applies only to whatever rights we might hold in that capture. The game shown in it — its art, characters, interface, music and code — belongs to its developer or publisher, and we cannot license it to you. Section 3 applies to that layer.
It does not cover third-party material reproduced inside our pages. A quoted passage, an embedded video, an advertising banner, or an image credited to another source does not fall under our licence merely by appearing on the same page as CC BY text.
It does not cover our name or logo. CC BY does not grant trademark rights. Do not use the GameSphere Magazine name, logo or branding in a way that suggests we wrote, endorsed or approved your work.
2. Articles by contributors
Some articles are written by people other than the editor of GameSphere Magazine. They always appear under the contributor’s own byline.
2.1 Who owns them
The contributor keeps the copyright in their text and in the photographs they supply. They have given GameSphere Magazine permission to publish that material, and they remain free to publish it elsewhere themselves.
2.2 The same licence, a different credit
Contributed articles are published under the same CC BY 4.0 licence as the rest of the site, with the contributor’s agreement. You may therefore reuse, translate, adapt and commercially exploit them on the same terms as our own material — but the credit is owed to the author, not to GameSphere Magazine. A credit that satisfies the licence looks like this:
“[Article title]” by [Author name], first published by GameSphere Magazine (https://gamespheremagazine.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0.
If an individual article states different terms at the foot of the page, those terms apply to that article instead.
2.3 Partner contributions and disclosure
Some contributors have a commercial interest in what they write about: they may sell the hardware or the games discussed, have made or published a game, or run a shop, a project or a business connected to the subject. Where that is the case, a disclosure box appears at the top of the article, naming the contributor and the business, project or product concerned, and stating whether any payment was involved.
No contributor pays to be published and none is paid to write. Contributions are accepted on their merits alone, whoever sends them.
GameSphere Magazine does not sell advertising, sponsored articles or links, and publishes no paid placements. A contributor’s article is published because it is worth reading, not because anyone paid for it. Links to a contributor’s own business carry rel=”nofollow” so that they pass no search-ranking benefit.
2.4 Images in contributed articles
Photographs supplied by a contributor are their own work and are covered by section 2.2. Product photographs belonging to a shop or a manufacturer remain the property of that business and are used with permission; they are not covered by the CC BY licence unless the article says so. Game screenshots inside a contributed article fall under section 3, exactly as in our own articles.
3. Third-party material
3.1 Game screenshots, artwork and other copyrighted media
Screenshots, box art, promotional artwork, character art, logos and audio from video games remain the copyright of their respective developers, publishers and rightsholders. They are reproduced here in limited quantity for the purposes of criticism, review, illustration and reporting — the quotation and review exceptions found in EU copyright law (Directive 2001/29/EC, Article 5(3)(d), as implemented in national law) and in comparable doctrines elsewhere, including fair use in the United States.
No claim of ownership is made over this material, and its inclusion does not imply any affiliation with, sponsorship by, or endorsement from the rightsholder.
3.2 Screenshots sourced from MobyGames
Some illustrations are taken from the MobyGames database and are credited as Screenshot via MobyGames with a link to https://www.mobygames.com. MobyGames permits the use of a limited number of screenshots per article on condition of that credit and link; its own terms of use and FAQ govern any further reuse. If you want to reuse such an image, take it from MobyGames under their terms rather than from us.
3.3 Material from other sites and archives
Where an image, clip or document comes from another site, archive, press kit or contributor, the source is named in the caption or in a credit line at the foot of the article. That source’s licence or terms govern the material, not this page. Where the material is under a named licence (for example Creative Commons BY), the licence and the required attribution are stated with it.
3.4 Embedded YouTube videos
Videos embedded in our articles are not hosted by GameSphere Magazine. They are served by YouTube from the uploader’s own channel, remain the property of the uploader or of the rightsholder in the footage, and are governed by the YouTube Terms of Service and by whatever licence the uploader has chosen. If a video is deleted or made private by its owner, it disappears from our pages too.
Embedding a video is a link, not a republication. We claim no rights in the embedded material, and this page grants you none. To reuse a video, deal with the channel that uploaded it.
3.5 Advertising banners
Banners shown on this site are the artwork of whoever they advertise — an online shop, a game developer or publisher, a hardware maker, a preservation project, an event, or an individual seller or creator. The images, logos, brand names and slogans in them belong to that advertiser and are displayed with their permission. They are not covered by the CC BY 4.0 licence, and nothing on this page gives you any right to copy, adapt or reuse them.
Banner placements are unpaid: see section 4 of our Terms and Conditions.
4. If you want to reuse something from this site
| What it is | What you may do |
|---|---|
| Our review text, guides, lists, editorial | Reuse freely under CC BY 4.0, with credit to GameSphere Magazine and a link. |
| Our own photographs, captures and video | Same licence for our rights; any game imagery inside them still belongs to its publisher. |
| An article under a contributor’s byline | Reuse freely under CC BY 4.0, but credit the author by name, not us. |
| A product photograph in a contributed article | Belongs to the business that supplied it. Ask them. |
| An advertising banner | Belongs to the advertiser. Not reusable. Ask them. |
| A screenshot credited to MobyGames | Follow MobyGames’ terms and credit them. |
| An image or clip credited to another source | Follow that source’s terms. |
| An embedded YouTube video | Contact the uploading channel. |
Rule of thumb: look at the byline and look for a credit line. If a piece of media carries a credit, it is someone else’s and you must go to them. If the article carries someone’s byline, credit them. If there is no credit and the article is ours, CC BY 4.0 applies with credit to us. If you are unsure, ask and we will tell you which it is.
5. Notice to rightsholders
If you hold rights in material published here and you would like it removed, replaced, or credited differently, contact us and it will be handled promptly and without argument. Please include:
- the URL of the page concerned;
- identification of the specific material;
- a statement of your rights in it;
- the outcome you want (removal, a credit, a link, a different image).
Contact: dimoskoptsis@gmail.com
6. Permission requests and questions
If you need terms beyond CC BY 4.0 — a translation of the whole archive, syndication, print use, or reuse without a visible credit — write to dimoskoptsis@gmail.com and ask. Such requests are usually granted. For a contributed article we will put you in touch with its author, since the rights are theirs.
7. Trademarks
Game titles, series names, console and platform names, company names and logos appearing on this site are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. They are used descriptively, to identify the products under discussion, and their use here does not indicate any affiliation or endorsement.
8. Changes to this page
We may update this page as the site changes. A Creative Commons licence already granted cannot be revoked: anyone who obtained material under CC BY 4.0 keeps those rights, whatever this page says later. Any change therefore applies only to material published after the date at the top.
9. No warranty
Content is provided as-is, for information and entertainment. Technical advice about emulators, hardware modification and old software is offered in good faith but without any warranty; you follow it at your own risk. Opinions expressed by a contributor are their own.
