Hard blow for video games. The Video Game History Foundation, responsible for preserving video games in the United States, was denied a copyright exception to distribute out-of-print games for research.
After reminding consumers that they do not own their games dematerialized, regulators in the United States are tackling the preservation of video games by restricting researchers from digitally having titles that are no longer marketed.
A shortfall
In the United States, the Software Preservation Network (SPN), working for the preservation of video games, was rejected by the American Copyright Office on its proposal to create an exception to copyright for the medium of seeks to have titles in a remote digital version through archives or libraries for titles that can no longer be found commercially.
This opposition led by the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), a group representing publishers, is justified because it would harm the ability of companies to make money from retro games. For the ESA, there is no « [aucune] combination of limitations that [les membres de l’ESA] would support to provide remote access ». The ESA expresses concern in the submitted proposal that the authorization as formulated could open the door to counterfeiting.
Questioned by IGN, the ESA spokesperson already declared in May 2024 that “ESA and its member companies are committed to actively supporting professional efforts to preserve video games and to doing so in a manner that does not jeopardize the future economic opportunities of their creative works. »
Preserve video games
When we look at the preservation and making available of video games, the results are not brilliant. In a recent study published by the VGHF, we learned about these future economic opportunities that in the United States, only 13% of games released before 2010 were still in circulation. Problems which could worsen with the evolution of practices and everything dematerialized.
In France, institutions such as the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) have been working since 1992 to preserve video games. The library announces that it has more than 22,000 titles in its collections with a number of associated consoles. It is possible for people carrying out research work to visit this historic collection room.
The library also provides a room for everyone to play around a hundred recent video games. Enough to bring video game heritage to life while preserving it.