By Nelson Schneider - 04/13/25 at 01:03 PM CT
Did you know that 87% of videogames released before 2010 are no longer commercially available? The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) knows, and it turns out they LIKE it that way!
In a 16 minute expose, tech YouTuber, Bellular News, goes into the gory details, revealing just how intentionally-terrible “games preservation” efforts, videogames in the public domain, and modern copyright laws are.
It turns out that videogames are being treated as a “special” case, wherein, despite the fact that games are both art and tech simultaneously, they are excluded from all of the copyright exceptions that protect other forms of media, such as film and books. As a result, it is proving next to impossible for legitimate Games Preservationists – not just wannabes like GOG.com – to build legitimate game lending libraries within the structure of the Law.
And why is it so difficult to work out such a library? Because the Corporate Overlords squatting at the top of Industrial Gaming are terrified that someone, somewhere, at some point in the vast and unknowable future, might borrow a copy of an old game and – now this is truly disgusting, brace yourself… that game borrower might just play that old, out-of-print videogame… and HAVE FUN!
Yes, the ESA is intentionally suppressing any and all efforts at legitimate and sweeping Games Preservation efforts out of sheer terror that someone might play an old game for recreational purposes. Imagine how absolutely worthless libraries – including the Library of Congress – would be if they weren’t allowed to lend out any other media materials that someone might ENJOY, instead of sticking with purely academic research purposes (And let’s not even get into the bizarre metaphysics of people who actually ENJOY doing academic research!).
Sadly, the ESA is able to get away with this kind of overreach due to the fact that Gaming is considered “new media.” And when there is a nitpicky legalistic opportunity to ignore established rules and create a new draconian set of restrictions, Corporate America WILL find a way. It’s this exact same desire for monopoly power that has been strangling the American economy for over 40 years, and with the ESA in charge, we’re effectively allowing career criminals to write the penal code.
Comments
Chris Kavan - wrote on 04/13/25 at 05:42 PM CT
It's a lot like film preservation was back when it first came out. Reports are that 90% of films made before 1929 are considered lost - including 75% of all silent films. Granted the reasoning is different (poor storage, highly-flammable nitrate) but many were discarded after their theatrical run simply because no one thought they had any more value at that point. While video games SHOULD be much easier to access - it seems that is far from the case and I hope preservation is given more of a serious look but I'm not holding my breath at this point.
