Shareware: a business model sorted by release date

Shareware is a type of software distribution model that allows users to try a program before purchasing it. It's a marketing strategy and distribution method that was particularly popular in the early days of personal computing, primarily during the 1980s and 1990s.
Shareware games were released for free with limited functionality (for example: no saving, missing levels, time limit), often via a BBS (Bulletin Board System), a floppy disc or a CD included in a printed magazine or by direct download (when internet was in its infancy). If the user liked the shareware product, they could pay to obtain an upgrade and unlock the full game. When digital distribution started to become popular, shareware games slowly faded into oblivion.

Most popular shareware games

Doom

shooterDOS

Tyrian 2000

shooterDOS

Death Rally

racingDOS

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Softporn Adventure

DOS1981freewareNSFW3.9/5 Sierra On-Line

Amazing Maze

DOS19833.2/5

Digger

DOS19834.2/5 Windmill Software

Digger is an abandoned action game developed and released by Windmill Software back in 1983 for PC only. Gameplay is a mix of two classics: Dig Dug and Mr. Do!: dig down, get gems, avoid death, reach the next level and so on.

Robotron 2084

DOS19833.9/5 Williams Entertainment

Space Miner

DOS19833.5/5

DND

DOS19844.1/5

Flightmare

DOS1984freeware3.6/5

8088 Othello

DOS19853.6/5

Air Traffic Controller

DOS19854.2/5 Cascoly Software

Armchair Quarterback

DOS19854.1/5

Monopoly

DOS19853.8/5

Spacewar

DOS19854/5

Spacewar is one of the earliest digital computer games and is often considered the first interactive video game. It was created in 1962 by Steve Russell, Martin Graetz, and Wayne Wiitanen at the MIT. The game was developed on the PDP-1 minicomputer; this is a DOS port, released in 1985.Spacewar! features two spaceships, controlled by players, that ...