Square Enix, Capcom, Taito, and Sega pledge to "archive past development materials"
Square Enix, Capcom, Taito, and Sega have announced their commitment to preserve historical game development assets.
According to Gamemakers.jp, while Square Enix and Bandai Namco have been engaged in safeguarding materials like concept art and illustrations from the '80s and '90s, additional prominent Japanese gaming companies are now joining the effort to protect development assets.
During a presentation titled "The Cutting Edge of Preservation" at SIGGRAPH Asia 2024 last December, Youichiro Miyake from Square Enix, Yasuyuki Makino from Capcom, Sega's Yosuke Okunari, and Taito's Yuichi Toyama detailed their companies' archival practices, highlighting their importance in chronicling Japan's gaming legacy.
The session outlined challenges in maintaining these archives, noting, "These materials are crucial for documenting the history of Japanese games and sharing it globally."
"Archiving game development resources is a burgeoning initiative that could elevate digital games' cultural significance in society. This effort seeks to share understanding of the worldwide relevance of Japanese game development materials and their potential applications."
Gamemakers.jp further explains the companies' efforts, such as Capcom's Capcom Illustrations Archive System (CIAS). Taito, known for large arcade cabinets, admitted these often required extensive storage space and were previously "discarded." Presently, Taito seeks to store documents in "special boxes," digitize original master documents, preserve arcade boards, and maintenance manuals for historical titles.
Sega's preservation actions, ongoing for about a year, emphasize the importance of maintaining arcade cabinets, replicating past consoles, and achieving "high-precision" emulation of games from the '80s to 2000s.
Earlier this year, GOG became affiliated with EFGAMP (European Federation of Game Archives, Museums, and Preservation Projects), the largest European organization dedicated to maintaining video games as cultural heritage.
Members of EFGAMP include The Video Game Museum in Rome, MO5.COM from France, and Berlin's Computerspielemuseum, among others. GOG called this membership "a pivotal connection between the private sector and cultural organizations across Europe."
