ImaJAN Media Network
MeltedJoystick Home
   Games  Members
Search +
Searching... Close  
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
  
 
  Login Using Facebook
Twitter
 
     

RetroArch Hitting Steam Brings Emulation One Step Closer to Full Legitimacy

View Nelson Schneider's Profile

By Nelson Schneider - 07/21/19 at 05:16 PM CT

On July 12th, a very interesting thing appeared on Steam. RetroArch, the official frontend for the Libretro emulation API, is coming to PC gaming’s oldest and biggest digital distribution platform on July 30th. For FREE.

RetroArch, which is one of my favorite things to appear in the last decade, has been available on the Google Play Store for Android for years already, but the main PC version has languished in the traditional standalone model of PC software distribution, which becomes increasingly obsolete and outmoded with each passing year. RetroArch’s developers, the Libretro Team, like every other two-bit panhandler, started a Patreon account in order to beg for recurring donations from affluent fans, but as a platform designed around emulation, still remained an outsider in the larger games industry.

As rotund gaming pundit, Jim Sterling, eruditely discussed back in 2016, official games media outlets don’t like to talk about emulation, despite the fact that almost everyone who plays videogames has participated in emulation at one point or another. This reticence to cover gaming’s dedicated historians and archivists largely emerged from the conflation of emulation with piracy, combined with the fact that traditional games journalism has largely been an extension of the game industry’s advertising arm. Naturally, this has been seen as a conflict of interest, as the games industry continues to hate-on piracy, despite the fact that piracy has been scientifically proven to be a net positive for them. As an advertising apparatus, I’d say piracy is actually more useful than traditional games journalism.

With RetroArch officially hitting PC gaming’s core storefront, though, the Libretro Team is thumbing its nose at the “accepted” perception of emulation, and forcing people who “don’t like” emulation to confront the true reality of it. This type of forced change of perspective has worked well enough in the past for, oh, I dunno, groups like Black Americans, women, and Gender Dysphorics, so it has a good chance of working here too, though it will likely have the side effect (like those other campaigns) of cementing the opposing position into a compact, rabidly fanatical block.

While RetroArch on Steam is currently only promoting its ability to play open-source games, I feel like the potential to finally crack the nut of “emulation vs. piracy” is close at hand. With a feature rich and comprehensive emulation platform readily available and in front of millions of eyeballs, why wouldn’t game publishers like Sega, Capcom, and Atari (delenda est), who already sell bundled ROM collections with their own (terrible) emulators, try to target that demographic? Can we look forward to a near future in which RetroArch has official ROM bundles available as reasonably-priced DLC?

Share:    
MeltedJoystick Gaming Blog RSS Feed
Comments
0 comments
Name: 

Avoid spam Captcha: Sign Up + or Log In +   



 

Bloggers

Previous Blog Posts

Archive

All Posts

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

December 2023

November 2023

October 2023

September 2023

August 2023

July 2023

June 2023

May 2023

April 2023

March 2023

February 2023

January 2023

December 2022

November 2022

October 2022

September 2022

August 2022

July 2022

June 2022

May 2022

April 2022

March 2022

February 2022

January 2022

December 2021

November 2021

October 2021

September 2021

August 2021

July 2021

June 2021

May 2021

April 2021

March 2021

February 2021

January 2021

December 2020

November 2020

October 2020

September 2020

August 2020

July 2020

June 2020

May 2020

April 2020

March 2020

February 2020

January 2020

December 2019

November 2019

October 2019

September 2019

August 2019

July 2019

June 2019

May 2019

April 2019

March 2019

February 2019

January 2019

December 2018

November 2018

October 2018

September 2018

August 2018

July 2018

June 2018

May 2018

April 2018

March 2018

February 2018

January 2018

December 2017

November 2017

October 2017

September 2017

August 2017

July 2017

June 2017

May 2017

April 2017

March 2017

February 2017

January 2017

December 2016

November 2016

October 2016

September 2016

August 2016

July 2016

June 2016

May 2016

April 2016

March 2016

February 2016

January 2016

December 2015

November 2015

October 2015

September 2015

August 2015

July 2015

June 2015

May 2015

April 2015

March 2015

February 2015

January 2015

December 2014

November 2014

October 2014

September 2014

August 2014

July 2014

June 2014

May 2014

April 2014

March 2014

February 2014

January 2014

December 2013

November 2013

October 2013

September 2013

August 2013

July 2013

June 2013

May 2013

April 2013

March 2013

February 2013

January 2013

December 2012

November 2012

October 2012

September 2012

August 2012

July 2012

June 2012

May 2012

April 2012

March 2012

February 2012

January 2012

December 2011

November 2011

October 2011

September 2011

August 2011

July 2011

June 2011

May 2011

April 2011

March 2011

February 2011

 
Log In
 
For members wanting to use FB to login, click here
remember me
 
 

What Members Are Doing

Comments about...

New Game Reviews

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams game review by Megadrive
Sunset Overdrive game review by Chris Kavan
The Vagrant game review by Chris Kavan
Honkai: Star Rail game review by Chris Kavan
Assassin's Creed IV: Black... game review by Nelson Schneider
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands game review by Nelson Schneider
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart game review by Nelson Schneider
Cthulhu Saves Christmas game review by Nick

New Game Lists

Backlog by Nelson Schneider
Top Wii Games by Megadrive
My Backlog by Chris Kavan
Games I Own: Switch Digital by dbarry_22
Top Nintendo (NES) Games by Nick
Backlog by Matt
Top Game List by SIngli6
Top Game List by Jonzor

 

 

 

Contact Us Public Relations MeltedJoystick Friends    

Advertise and Business

Contacts Us

Jobs

About us

SiteMap

 

Support Us

FAQ and Help

News and Press

Terms of Use

Privacy

Hitfix.com

Amazon.com

OVGuide.com

   
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
  
Are you sure you want to delete this blog?