Sony or Microsoft, it doesn’t matter: giant companies don’t support game preservation

Keeping the legacy of video games alive is a duty that many companies, as well as their fans, must honor. Apparently, the big publishers of the market are not yet ready for this conversation, as the Electronic Software Association (ESA) rejected the idea of ​​supporting preservation libraries for defunct online games.

For those who don’t know, ESA is made up of major publishers in the market, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. Steve Englund, a lawyer for the association, was asked at a hearing last week about a theoretical scenario in which public libraries would be allowed to preserve online games after official support ends.

Englund suggested creating an online gaming research and preservation base “with few restrictions” at one of eight Ivy League universities — an NCAA sports conference based at private institutions in the northeastern United States.

The intention, apparently, was to develop some type of remote access or academic application as an alternative. However, the idea was discarded.

Creating a physical library to preserve extinct online games doesn’t seem like a good idea

This type of remote access would be “insufficient progress” when it comes to preservation, according to Englund himself. Mike Ayes, lawyer for the Advanced Access Content System (AACS), agreed with his ESA colleague, stating that there should be “more alternatives” for preservation.

“Anyone can have a postal address,” Ayers said at the conference (via Game Developer). “When it comes to just checking boxes rather than checking anything, I would be concerned […] It is not clear whether [as instalações físicas] would be really effective.”

According to the Video Game History Foundation, 87% of online games released before 2010 have not been preserved.Source: Activision

The director of the Video Game History Foundation, Phil Salvador, argued that public libraries do not have enough manpower, experience or interest to create a significant game collection — whether physical or digital.

Around 87% of online games released before 2010 were not preserved

In 2023, the Video Game History Foundation revealed that 87% of games released before 2010 were not preserved in any capacity. Previous attempts made by the Library of Congress were stopped by the ESA, with the justification that the publishers of the association would take care of this undertaking.

Kendra Albert, a technology lawyer, condemned the ESA’s attitude, especially regarding concerns that the games could be transferred for non-academic purposes, against the wishes of rights holders.

“Harming studies and teaching because there may be interest in recreational games… doesn’t seem fair to them, who put a lot of effort into making these works available,” Albert argued.

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