Most of the games released before 2010 are almost impossible to access

Executives at major video game companies have long had their mouths filled with saves, but the reality is very different. In reality, study Carried out by two institutions revealed that it can still only be found A very small percentage of games released before 2010, namely 13%.

Preservation of video games is almost non-existent

For example, if we go back many years, to the eighties, we find out Only 4.5% of games are on a platform like Commodore 64 They can still be found, in digital form, of course. Let’s go a little further, this time to the 90s: if we want to enjoy the family menu boy gameWe’ll only be able to do that for 5.8% of their games, which has been made worse by the recent closure of the Wii U and 3DS eShop. Since then, we will only find it through the Nintendo Switch Online service catalog.

“Imagine if the only way to see the Titanic was to find a used VHS tape, and keep the old equipment to watch it,” says the study. “It sounds crazy, but the truth is we are living in video games, a 180 billion industry, while games and their history are disappearing.”

Nothing will change until 2024, when the legislation governing video game preservation and access, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), is revised. “We are confident that this study encourages change and preservation of video games Get stronger before we lose more,” say those from the VGHF -Videogame History Foundation-.

“I hope this study wakes people up,” says Frank Cifaldi, co-director of the VGHF. “We’ve known for years that having classic games available legally and safely was a terrible thing, but no numbers have been put on that yet. The results are worse than any other means.”