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The Video Game History Foundation, in partnership with the Software Preservation Network, have unveiled a new study regarding the current state of classic video games and their commercial availability today.

The results obtained in the study for the US; which goes into great detail going all the way back in 1960, going through each of the video game generations up to 2009, and how much of their library has been preserved or is available to any extend in the modern day, has shown that overall a minuscule 13% of all classic video games up to that date are currently available in some form in the modern day. To make matters worse, their study revealed that no video game generation has even surpassed the 20% mark when it comes to availability.

Availability rate of historical games, by period, between 1960 and 2009. (n = 1500, ±2.5%, 95% CI)
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Basically, it means that nearly around 8 or 9 out of 10 games, the user has to go out of their way to access these classics, from options going to retaining the original releases (alongside their hardware, both in working conditions that is), to travel to another country's library, and of course, the most common form of piracy, or "self-preservation" as some might call it.

The goal of this study is expand the exceptions that libraries and organizations focused on preservation get, which for some reason seem to be heavily limited compared to other media, like movies, books and music, and while the US Copyright Office claims that the industry already does enough to preserve the games, the study shows quite the contrary, with absolutely no sign of it getting better to any extend.

The study brings up this important facts about gaming preservation:

• 87% of classic games are not in release, and are considered critically endangered
• Availability is low across every platform and time period tracked in the study
• Libraries and archives can digitally preserve, but not digitally share video games, and can provide on-premises access only
• Libraries and archives are allowed to digitally share other media types, such as books, film, and audio, and are not restricted to on-premises access
• The Entertainment Software Association, the video game industry’s lobbying group, has consistently fought against expanding video game preservation within libraries and archives

The culprit of the limitation is the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), Title 17, section 1201 according to VGHF. The DMCA will have a new rulemaking proceedure scheduled for 2024, which they hope the study will help to make a change into the limiting DMCA law.

Video Game History Foundation Study

 

[Deleted member 158512]

Played, sure. But mahjong's a mystery to me. Never get to see the titties.


But seriously, if you ever delved into the 'bootlegs' section of a full Famicom romset, there's a bunch of those type games.

I am well aware! There was a website called “mahjong in mame” that tried to document them (or maybe it was just the arcade titles)

 

[Taleweaver]

Ignoring completely the part where I said it may be HISTORICALLY relevant, meaning it either pioneered something in video games that nobody else thought to implement, or is a reminder of some event that took place during its lifetime. I mean, E.T. the Extraterrestrial and Superman 64 are both commercial failures and complete crap games that very few people actually like to play, but they are relevant BECAUSE of their failures, and thus IMHO should be archived if only for that reason.

I get your point here, but I politely disagree. See, by that logic, any game with a large marketing budget automatically has historical relevance enough to be preserved.
The nuance is that games should be merited and catalogued on what they tried to pull off within their medium. Games like daggerfall or the first ultima come to mind here (and no, I wouldn't recall them if their respective sequels hadn't gained recognition). Et and superman 64 were just cash grabs afaik. Interesting for a marketing perspective, but not historically relevant to properly keep playable.

 

[DuoForce]

AARRRRGGGHHHH

 

[SeventhSon7]

There needs to be a law that makes it legal to distribute out-of-print/abandonware games without any repercussions. If the company isn't selling it nor are they making any profit from someone reselling their game (often at hugely inflated prices), why should we care about the copyright?

View attachment 382825

I agree, games for depreciated platforms should go into the public domain, as well as other works (publications, films) if they are not currently in-print. The copyright should "accelerate" to expiration and go to the public.

 

[Deleted member 608654]

Played, sure. But mahjong's a mystery to me. Never get to see the titties.


But seriously, if you ever delved into the 'bootlegs' section of a full Famicom romset, there's a bunch of those type games.

*Facepalm*

 

[HarveyHouston]

The nuance is that games should be merited and catalogued on what they tried to pull off within their medium.

I guess that's what I'm trying to point out here.

So, let's go on the flip side, then - why is it a problem that 86% of games are not archived? Should that even BE worrisome? Is the 86% even worth saving?

 

[Taleweaver]

I guess that's what I'm trying to point out here.

So, let's go on the flip side, then - why is it a problem that 86% of games are not archived? Should that even BE worrisome? Is the 86% even worth saving?

Good point. To me, that would be depending on which games are considered classics. But for all this waving of percentages, you'd think they have a clear list of their studies games. But this far i haven't encountered it.

In any case: i think it's overblown. Before gog.com came along, you implicitly always bought a product with built-in obsolescence. It's somewhat like building a castle on the beach and then complaining the tide comes up...

 

[Lostbhoy]

Not sure I understand the premise of this study.... If I wanted a game from 1984 say, then i have to go out of my way to find it? Isn't that the same as absolutely anything from a bygone era?? Stores dont keep the same stock for 40 odd years and companies have dissappeared from reality altogether in every industry in that time.

I don't think this needed a "study" to come to the conclusion we are all fully aware of and what is the proposed outcome here anyway? To preserve games from now on or to make these older titles available again??

And I love how it's only the US... 'Coz in the UK we can get anything from any when, anytime. Apparently!

 

[Kwyjor]

Isn't that the same as absolutely anything from a bygone era?? Stores dont keep the same stock for 40 odd years and companies have dissappeared from reality altogether in every industry in that time.

Apparently the point is that old books and movies can generally be legitimately obtained from a library ... in theory, somewhere, somehow. And this does not apply to games, which, if they can be obtained at all, usually require copyright laws to be flaunted in the process.

 

[smileyhead]

Apparently the point is that old books and movies can generally be legitimately obtained from a library ... in theory, somewhere, somehow. And this does not apply to games, which, if they can be obtained at all, usually require copyright laws to be flaunted in the process.

Also, platform availability. Books are books, and movies are generally ‘ported’ to newer media types, such as Blu-Ray. Not to mention digital versions. Now, obviously, porting a game from one console to another requires way more effort, but there's nothing stopping, say, Nintendo to just make an official NES emulator for PC and put all their games on Steam (or just create a PC section the eShop where you can buy those old games)—technically, they could just have you download the ROM to run on your emulator of choice, but we all know that's not happening. They could even licence the emulator to other developers so that hopefully most if not all NES games become available for purchase. Rinse and repeat for every obsolete platform and there you have it.

 

[Lostbhoy]

Riiiight...... thanks @Kwyjor and @smileyhead as I was gonna make that point regarding the media difference as i completely missed that and yeah... I get it and agree with the premise now!

So if say Netflix ect can offer movie downloads/streaming then gaming should have an equal service with an equivalent library available. Yeah... Why the fuck not?? Why shouldn't devs have a continuous source of income such as royalties the same way musicians have do with future purchases of songs/albums? Does this happen now at all??? Could be messy with so many involved in some projects.

I do wonder tho regarding games on systems that maybe require additional hardware to play and what about arcades also? Would such a scenario be missing these titles, only allowing for traditional controller type games? This discussion really has me thinking now!

 

[HarveyHouston]

Good point. To me, that would be depending on which games are considered classics. But for all this waving of percentages, you'd think they have a clear list of their studies games. But this far i haven't encountered it.

In any case: i think it's overblown. Before gog.com came along, you implicitly always bought a product with built-in obsolescence. It's somewhat like building a castle on the beach and then complaining the tide comes up...

Yes, an example list of games would be nice. It might help settle some arguments.

 

[Kwyjor]

Books are books, and movies are generally ‘ported’ to newer media types, such as Blu-Ray. Not to mention digital versions.

There are severe concerns in some circles about movies being stored on formats that no one can read anymore, or in a closed-source file format. It's an issue that's been written about extensively.

just make an official NES emulator for PC

I recall one effort regarding video game preservation that insisted upon only using emulators written in Java, because of course an emulator written for a PC won't always be easy to run either. (Can't really recall what happened to that effort. I think a lot of people found the idea of Java-based emulators to be rather laughable.)

They could even licence the emulator to other developers so that hopefully most if not all NES games become available for purchase.

There are already NES games on Steam running through emulation – The Disney Afternoon Collection and Nightshade come to mind. (Maybe the Mega Man Legacy Collection, but I think those were at least partially rewritten.) Publishers who want to release old games on Steam don't need Nintendo to help them do it. (I reckon the reason The Disney Afternoon collection was never released on a Nintendo platform was because it made Nintendo's Virtual Console look a little lackluster in comparison. But that's just speculation.)

So if say Netflix ect can offer movie downloads/streaming then gaming should have an equal service with an equivalent library available.

"Netflix ect" is already coming under fire in recent times for taking down shows because apparently they have to pay residuals somehow regardless of whether people are watching them or not.

Could be messy with so many involved in some projects.

That's putting it mildly. Consider what happened to No One Lives Forever:
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/04/the-sad-story-behind-a-dead-pc-game-that-cant-come-back/

 

[djnate27]

The public library in my area does too, although they’re all Switch games, mainly party games. They are also on-premises access only.

Mine has Wii, Wii-U, Switch, PS3, PS4, PS5, XBOX 360, One, Series X games to check out. You can even request they be brought to the closest branch for you to pick up.

 

[Kwyjor]

I don't know. My Public Library carries games from the past three generations. Does that count?

I neglected to mention that the nearly-lost PC version of Plumbers Don't Wear Ties was located and preserved precisely because it had been kept in a public library. But no doubt the "study" took such availability into account.
https://www.pcgamer.com/thought-lost-forever-one-of-the-worst-pc-games-ever-has-been-found/