2023-07-11 07:55:00
Quite a few players worry that games could simply disappear due to digitization. As a new study shows, the situation is already not so exciting.
Video gamers still like to play physical versions of their favorite games, and the reason often asked is what happens if, for example, a manufacturer shuts down its servers or takes a game out of the stores. Valid point, but a current one Studie der Video Game History Foundation shows that physical versions do not prevent games from disappearing from the public domain.
The study shows that games released before 2010 are difficult to access for modern gamers: only 13% of the releases are available for purchase in some form. The foundation compares older games to the availability and survival rate of silent films, which is around 14%, and to pre-WWII sound recordings, of which only 10% or less are still accessible.
The study describes it this way: “Imagine the only way to see Titanic was to find a used VHS tape and maintain your own old equipment so that you could still watch the film. And what if, if no library, not even the Library of Congress, could do it better – they could keep the Titanic VHS video and digitize it, but you’d have to go all the way there to watch it, it sounds crazy but that’s the reality , in which we live with video games.”
One of the fundamental problems mentioned is that libraries and archives can store video games digitally, but cannot pass them on digitally, access is only possible on site. Other media such as films are not subject to these restrictions. In addition, the Entertainment Software Association, the video game industry’s lobby group, has always opposed expanding the storage of video games in libraries and archives.
Another problem mentioned is the rights, which often prevent further distribution of games or access to them. An example is Golden Eye 007 for Nintendo 64, which has a whopping six rights holders and was long lost until it recently reappeared on the Switch. The same applies to the grandiose agent shooter No One Lives Forever, which is nowhere due to unclear rights.
Gameswelt Top 100 – Platz #33: No One Lives Forever 2
In 33rd place is the good Cate Archer with her second adventure.
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