gamehistoryorg

Spring 2024 update: We're making a better future for game history

Added 2024-04-11 23:17:05 +0000 UTC

Hi supporters! The Video Game History Foundation has had a busy spring sharing the word about game preservation! Here's what we've been up to this year, and what's coming next.

Photo credit: GDC (CC BY 2.0 DEED)

Game History Gallery at GDC 2024

We ran the Game History Gallery at the Game Developers Conference, a new interactive game history exhibit on the show floor. Our exhibit showcased unique voices that came from outside the games industry, as well as a gallery of artifacts from game history.

We wanted the developers at GDC to start thinking more about what "game history" means, and we were thrilled with the results!

Watch our video about GDC 2024 here.

Photo credit: GDC (CC BY 2.0 DEED)

Advocating to save history at the 2024 IGF Awards

Meanwhile, VGHF executive director Frank Cifaldi addressed the audience at the 2024 Independent Game Festival Awards to call the game dev community to action: History is in your hands!

Frank talked about our groundbreaking game availability study and asked developers to think about how their stories—and the stories of their colleagues—would be remembered. "You're the curator of your own story," Frank said.

Watch Frank's address here.

We're taking the fight for game preservation to DC

We haven't stopped there. Next week, we're (virtually) heading to Capitol Hill!

On April 18, VGHF library director Phil Salvador will testify to the Copyright Office to support a new copyright exemption for game preservation in libraries and archives. This is the finish line for a three-year push for copyright reform we've been working on with the Software Preservation Network.

Our petition even has support from Antstream Arcade and Limited Run Games, two of the major companies re-releasing classic video games! They agree: Our exemption will help preservation without hurting the game industry.

Learn more about the hearings and register to watch online on the Copyright Office's website.

Coming next: Our digital library

We're getting ready to launch our digital library, where you'll be able to access our collections of game development materials, magazines, and more.

The digital library is the start of our vision for the future of game history research. Stay tuned for more updates, but in case you missed it, you can watch our demo that we shared in December!

As always, thank you for your generous support! None of this would be possible with you.