Do games go into public domain?

In order for a game to become public domain, its copyright has to expire, be declared public domain by the owners, or fall into public domain through some other circumstances. What public domain really means is that a work of art, whether movie, book, or game, are not protected by intellectual property laws.

How long until Mario is public domain?

Unfortunately, in the past 200 years, Congress has dramatically expanded copyright terms. For a work with a corporate author — in this case Nintendo — copyrights now last 95 years. That means “Super Mario Brothers” is scheduled to fall into the public domain in January 2082.