87% of video games published in the United States before 2010 are not legally accessible today. This is one of the main conclusions of the study published by the non-profit organization Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network association.
The study highlights the few measures for the preservation of videogames that have historically been carried out by companies that own their rights, but also the difficulties and challenges involved in making videogames legally accessible over time, affordable and faithful to the original works.
"Only 13% of video game history is represented in the current market," says the Video Game History Foundation through its website. "In fact, no period of video game history defined in this study exceeded even 20% representation," he adds.
As the study, titled Survey of the Video Game Reissue Market in the United States, points out, the 13% figure is comparable to the commercial availability of two other media at risk, pre-World War II audio recordings (10% or less) and American silent films (14%).
However, the study shows an even more alarming fact. Until 1985, this percentage of 13% was consistent across all platforms (consoles and computers), but dropped drastically to 3% when it comes to video games released before 1985, a fundamental period for understanding the origin of the so-called tenth art.
The author of the study, Phil Salvador, is one of the heads of the American Video Game History Foundation, one of the most internationally recognized organizations for the study and preservation of videogames. In his report, he details that the study was carried out by analyzing data from 4,000 video games published in the United States before 2010.
The sample included games from all platforms, but mainly from three specific systems: the Commodore 64 computer, the best-selling computer of the 1980s, of which less than 5% of its games are accessible today; the Game Boy portable console, the most successful portable console during the 90s; and PlayStation 2, the best-selling desktop console during the first decade of the 2000s – and also the best-selling in history.
"Imagine if the only way to watch Titanic was through a used VHS tape and keeping an old player in good condition to watch it," says the Video Game History Foundation through its website.
“What if no library, not even the Library of Congress, could do better? They could keep and digitize that Titanic VHS, but you'd have to go there to see it. It sounds crazy, but this is the reality we live with video games, a 180 billion dollar industry whose games and history are disappearing, "says the statement from the non-profit organization.
One of the biggest difficulties in preserving classic video games has less to do with storage than with the ability to play them today. Unlike the cinematographic medium, the video game requires machines (computers and consoles) and specific control devices, something that greatly hinders conservation and maintenance tasks.
In addition to the difficulties of running these classic games in optimal conditions, another obstacle that their preservation encounters is the intellectual property rights behind each title. In this sense, the study cites the case of GoldenEye 007, a game that was recently relaunched after all the companies involved (Microsoft, Nintendo, Rare Limited, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Eon Productions and Danjaq LLC) reached an agreement to reissue it earlier this year.
The problem of the preservation of video games is a topic that has gained interest in recent years with different initiatives around the world. At the beginning of 2022, the Culture and Sports Commission of the Congress of Deputies approved a change in the legal deposit law in Spain that obliges Spanish video game development companies to register at least one copy of each title in the National Library produced. The objective of this measure is to recover the collection of video games produced in Spain over the last 40 years.
