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87% Missing: the Disappearance of Classic Video Games
(gamehistory.org)
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this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023
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So one comparison they make is "What if Titanic was only available on VHS and you had to go buy it off eBay!" I feel like it's a very silly way to compare video games and movies. Like what? That's fine. There are thousands of movies that are only available in their given home release format. Video games are already digitized for the most part but it's like asking "What if you could only play a really specific pinball machine by buying the pinball machine?"
I'm all for preserving games. As a game developer, that's my work and I do want it to live on forever. That said it's insane to expect any developer or publisher to fund a failed game's port to newer hardware or still sell it for older hardware. It's simply not worth the hassle. Make it profitable, give grants for selling older titles. If this is something gamehistory.org wants to see, offer the money to make it happen. Otherwise be happy with old formats and ROM dumps.
That's not how I understood the analogy. What I thought it meant was vhs is an outdated format. Having it only available on home release is fine, but if it was only on VHS, and not say, DVD or Blu-ray, then it is less accessible and not easily obtainable. Titanic has released on DVD and Blu-ray, so you don't have to scrounge around reselling sites to find an old VHS copy
According to the study:
In release - For the purposes of this study, a game is considered to be “in release” if the game, or a version of the game derived from its original release including emulated, modified, or reimplemented versions of the original game is reasonably, readily, and legally available from the game's rightsholder, either in physical or digital format, for a currently produced or supported game platform.
They are expecting copyright holders of a game to indefinitely sell the game. It's not that easy. Something like the 1999 movie Dogma would not qualify as "in release" since you can't buy it or watch it from the copyright holder. You can however buy a DVD version on amazon from mediamaniasales legally.
Overall, the study is expecting studios to support and release classic games for current or supported game platforms. It's a lot of work and it's not reasonable to expect a studio to do. If people want supported classic games then they should create a system that gives money to people trying to do that. We live in a society that requires money and people work to get that money. Expecting people to put in that work for free is pretty silly.
As far as I'm concerned, if game studios simply had ISOs/ROMs of their abandoned games available to download for a nominal fee that would be acceptable. Heck with the advent of browser based emulators Sony, Nintendo and Sega (plus many early PC game rightsholders) could simply sell access to play their back catalog on their website Netflix-style via these web-based emulators, much like how archive.org handles it
Honestly I think the most achievable solution is an abandonware law that basically permits the free redistribution of any software that isn't available for sale in any standard format for x years. Basically just codify what many companies already practice which is turning a blind eye to abandonware/rom sites distributing the very old games they aren't selling anymore