The Video Game History Foundation put out a report on their study of the availability of classic video games, and it isn’t promising. According to their findings, 87% of video games released before 2010 can’t currently be bought or accessed through any legal means. Meaning, you can still pirate and emulate them on your computer, or buy them used, but not legally buy them physically or digitally from the publisher, or access them through a paid service like Nintendo Switch Online. The only options for most classic games right now are either piracy or paying exorbitant amounts in the second-hand market.

The VGHF claims that one of the biggest opponents of video game preservation is the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), who believe that if people have more legal access to classic games, they’ll stop buying new games. Of course, this is an absurd argument in the same way if a similar argument were made about film or books. People don’t stop watching new movies because they have legal access to old movies. People don’t stop buying books because sites like Amazon and Project Gutenberg have made classic literature so easy to access. In fact, the opposite is likely true for both books and film, so it stands to reason it would also be true of video games.

Jirard The Completionist is once again helping to sound the alarm on this subject and put out an excellent video about the VGHF’s study and how important this is for the history and legacy of video games.

[VGHF]