Right. Because they are still making and selling classic arcade machines... oh right. But some folks refuse to just let all that code go extinct in dead arcade machines in barns and sheds around the world.
http://www.namcoamerica.com/game.php?gameid=32
Point is: what qualifies you to decide how those old assets should be used? Because you love the game more than the original publisher allegedly does?
So by that logic, why does anyone care at all what the original MAME contributors think of their code being switched into an open-source license? Why are their requests any more or less important than the publishers?
The point of this hand-grenade was merely to point this out, unpopular an opinion as it is. This whole thinking of "I'm a fan therefore I decide" took us over the cliff a long time ago and there's no going back.
Unfortunately I never had any contracts offering me royalties on future republished or derivative works unlike some of my peers. Not that they could claim any these days, anyway. But I think it still should be put in the discourse for posterity.
MAME has thousands of ROMs and games, it would be near impossible to get a license to sell each and every ROM.
StarROMs tried that with the Atari arcade ROMs but failed.
One can't own information as if it were property.
Sounds like you're angry at the wrong people.