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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

 

[nWo]

Incredible. Because that is a great opportunity for major companies to make money. I never really understood why they always act like this.

 

[17hitcombooo]

Incredible. Because that is a great opportunity for major companies to make money. I never really understood why they always act like this.

we gotta jack up the second hand market prices. i love paying 60 dollars+ for one first party gamecube title

 

[Deleted member 608654]

Quality, not quantity. Not all games matter the same amount.

 

[impeeza]

They only made up these numbers so the graphic can look like Pac-Man. We won't be fooled.

I just was about to post that, thinked exactly in the moment I read the post.

Up to a certain number of years after the initial distribution, all things really should become Public Domain, and become free to use and/or redistribute without having to settle arguments over fair use in courtrooms, in my opinion.

The copyright system is a double edged sword, and those with ill intentions will do anything to keep exclusive rights on things, just so they could sell them again and again as limited collector editions without considering the fact that it is most likely impossible to find elsewhere for a reasonable price anymore.

It is sad how certain people only care about banking the sales, and don't actually do the efforts to make any of their products available to everyone.
People ultimately discover there is no way to find said products again without resorting on scalpers inflating prices for their own benefits, or buying cheap bootleg versions, or simply go find things online via piracy.

Big corporations even have the audacity to pull out the surprised Pikachu face when they realise most people will just pick the 3rd option for the sake of convenience.

That laws should be in both ways, the programmed obsolescence should be ILLEGAL, when edisson realize his bulbs will las longer than a person, call his little friends and all togheter singed an agreement to make the bulbs last less than 1 year, and expended 3 times the money expended on develop the bulb to find ways to make it possible. apple make their products last only one year, don't make me start with Xboxes death rings, playstation and etc.

They should change that laws.

 

[anhminh]

The hard part is to convince every game company to agree on a same game platform to port their game to. Each company only own a handful of game but they won't pool up in case thing like Netflix for video game happen.

 

[MarkDarkness]

Quality, not quantity. Not all games matter the same amount.

Nah. Every work has a history, a reason, and means something to someone.

 

[Foxi4]

The thing is, even if they do care, why would they have exclusive rights on it? Walt created it, walt profited from it, Walt died and remained dead. Disney continued without him, it had his estate, his corporate riches, his infrastructure. Didn't needed Mickey and whatever he created exclusivity. Quite in fact when on to produce much more, and specially replying on stuff they didn't had exclusivity on, proving themselves they didn't need it for what they had.

I don’t support this line of thinking for the same reason why I don’t support any taxation of inheritance. All of that money and assets were already taxed when *I* first earned them, double taxation is not acceptable to me, you shouldn’t “tax the same dollar twice”. I’m a guy, I work, and I know full-well that I will not live long enough to fully consume all the fruits of my labour. That’s not the motivation here, the motivation is to leave something for my descendants, so that they can build upon that foundation and rise to even greater heights. The express purpose of copyright is to protect intellectual property from being appropriated, and it’s property just like any other. I don’t lose my real estate the moment I die, so I don’t see any reason why my ideas should perish with me either. That being said, ideas only have worth if they’re in circulation, same as capital. It is asinine to keep your inheritance under a mattresses, and for the same reason, it is asinine to allow intellectual property to become forgotten in some kind of vault. “You snooze, you lose” rules apply, same as with abandoned trademarks and patents - you don’t get to sit on them indefinitely. I would *expect* my inheritance to be re-invested and to progressively grow, I expect the same of my ideas. Should they enter public domain at some point? Yes, absolutely - when they’re no longer monetised *or* when they’re ubiquitous enough that not releasing them to the public would be no different than a monopoly. Things get more complicated with medical patents since, realistically, there isn’t a person coming up with those complex molecules - a computer does that. Whose intellectual property is that, the computer’s? Certainly not. Is it the company’s? The company just owns the computer. It’s difficult to even say that they’re intellectual property at all since they’re not works of intellect. It’s a nuanced subject, limiting our scope to media would be prudent here.

 

[Dust2dust]

I just was about to post that, thinked exactly in the moment I read the post.


That laws should be in both ways, the programmed obsolescence should be ILLEGAL, when edisson realize his bulbs will las longer than a person, call his little friends and all togheter singed an agreement to make the bulbs last less than 1 year, and expended 3 times the money expended on develop the bulb to find ways to make it possible. apple make their products last only one year, don't make me start with Xboxes death rings, playstation and etc.

They should change that laws.

Several years ago, I had bought an Epson printer. Then I happened to watch this documentary on TV, which had my exact printer model featured. I learned it had a special "page counter" chip. When it reached the preset count limit, the printer would self-brick. For me, I came to the conclusion that I will never, ever, buy another Epson printer.

 

[Foxi4]

Several years ago, I had bought an Epson printer. Then I happened to watch this documentary on TV, which had my exact printer model featured. I learned it had a special "page counter" chip. When it reached the preset count limit, the printer would self-brick. For me, I came to the conclusion that I will never, ever, buy another Epson printer.

The printer business is a racket in general, ink cartridges are ample material for a documentary themselves. I *always* bought refillable third-party units because I refuse to fill up landfills with cartridges that I know for a fact are still full and in perfect working order. We landed on the moon in the 1969 and we still can’t design a printer that doesn’t shred paper and doesn’t refuse to cooperate unless it has copious amounts of cyan, even when I’m printing a page in all-black? Okay.

 

[ertaboy356b]

86% of shovelwares.

 

[Kwyjor]

Eh, if you oblige companies to keep software "available" for "research", they'll probably just provide some horrendously expensive "research price" and then not bother to support the release at all.

Because that's the thing, isn't it? Releasing software requires supporting that software, and in the vast majority of cases it is presumably not worthwhile for a publisher to bother testing or rewriting a game so that people can actually use it without having to assemble a PC out of 20-year-old parts which also are "completely unavailable".

Now, maybe if Microsoft decided to release old versions of Windows so publishers could put together their own legitimate PCem virtual machines or something, maybe that would encourage publishers – but people have been clamoring for Microsoft to do something like that for decades now.

Anyway, I hardly think it's reasonable to compare this to books or movies when there are also heaps of books and movies that are largely lost or otherwise only "available" as a single precious physical copy tucked away in the back of beyond.

 

[Foxi4]

Eh, if you oblige companies to keep software "available" for "research", they'll probably just provide some horrendously expensive "research price" and then not bother to support the release at all.

Because that's the thing, isn't it? Releasing software requires supporting that software, and in the vast majority of cases it is presumably not worthwhile for a publisher to bother testing or rewriting a game so that people can actually use it without having to assemble a PC out of 20-year-old parts which also are "completely unavailable".

Now, maybe if Microsoft decided to release old versions of Windows so publishers could put together their own legitimate PCem virtual machines or something, maybe that would encourage publishers – but people have been clamoring for Microsoft to do something like that for decades now.

Anyway, I hardly think it's reasonable to compare this to books or movies when there are also heaps of books and movies that are largely lost or otherwise only "available" as a single precious physical copy tucked away in the back of beyond.

Microsoft released the source code for MS-DOS (2.0) in 2014, Windows File Manager (3.0) in 2018, GW-Basic in 2020 and 3D Movie Maker in 2022, among other bits and bobs. It’s not uncommon for the company to just randomly drop source code for their legacy software, no doubt one day they will do the same for older versions of Windows. Until then, you always have ReactOS.

 

[Deleted member 608654]

Nah. Every work has a history, a reason, and means something to someone.

But does anyone outside a very small group care about a shoddy licensed tie in?

 

[LuigiXHero]

But does anyone outside a very small group care about a shoddy licensed tie in?

No? But why would that matter? It should be preserved. Even if all it amounted to was someone being like this exists? And wanting to try it out. Why rob them the chance?

 

[impeeza]

stealing from meme box:

 

[Deleted member 608654]

No? But why would that matter? It should be preserved. Even if all it amounted to was someone being like this exists? And wanting to try it out. Why rob them the chance?

Sometimes the chance isn't worth it.

 

[jordash25]

What does Lars have to say about doing away with copyright!?

 

[vree]

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.

Of course it is. Running old games on newer hardware is much much much more of an hassle than just throwing a movie on a disc or digital streaming service and printing another book or giving it digitally...

This will always be the case. Especially for non popular/ horrible games (or heck even old looking games in general). Making those work on newer hardware (+look good) costs a lot of money, money they can't easily recuperate unless it's hella popular...

And this isn't even touching the subject of expired licenses which would block a lot more if the above wasn't an issue on it's own.

Aka

The cost of preserving games >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>xHIGHER>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> movies/books.

Aka

Never gonna got better.

 

[K3Nv2]

Hold up, a study that isn't about video game violence? This won't make cnn.

 

[yoyoyo69]

It's worth mentioning "retaining hardware", isn't limited to the pc, console, etc either. Monitor, TV, peripherals are all usually outdated too.

So you either need to keep those, also in good condition, or buy new (likely no longer available) or if you're lucky a very expensive adaptor.