The fight to preserve old games is gaining momentum, despite resistance from major publishers

According to a study by the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF), nearly 87% of classic games released in the U.S. before 2010 are unavailable for purchase or review today. The older the platform, the worse the situation. For example, only 4.5% of titles from the Commodore 64 library are available on the market.

The court proceedings around The Crew have brought the issue of game preservation to the forefront

VGHF compares the current state of affairs to silent era films and audio recordings released before World War II. There are only a few ways to access most out-of-print games: private collections, piracy, and specialized libraries.

It is noteworthy that commercial companies cannot and do not wish to address this issue. Their stance is articulated by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which includes major companies like Microsoft, Capcom, Nintendo, Epic Games, Sony, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts. According to the organization, industry participants allegedly already do enough to preserve out-of-print titles, and expanding access to archival collections might harm the "significant" and actively growing classic games market.

Activists have to defend their viewpoint before lawmakers, who also resist the proposed changes. For three years, VGHF, in collaboration with the Software Preservation Network (SPN), worked on a proposal to allow libraries and archives to remotely provide access to out-of-print games for study in scientific and other research purposes. However, in 2024, the U.S. Copyright Office refused to make the corresponding amendments to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).