US Copyright Office deals hit video game preservationists

Video game preservationists have lost a campaign for the right to study vintage video games stored in US libraries remotely, in a blow from the US Copyright Office.

Enthusiasts in other fields are free to request rare films or ancient manuscripts from the library to work on them remotely, under certain conditions. But fans and researchers of gaming history may have to deal with hours of traffic every time they want to access it in person. Edge Reports.

The decision comes after two non-profits, the Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network (SPN), spent three years campaigning for the US Copyright Office to grant an exemption to its rules governing older video games.

Under the foundation’s proposals, it would have been possible for researchers to access replicas of their chosen games remotely, much in the same way libraries can sometimes give members access to e-books from home.

In an official statement about the loss, the group blamed “lobbying efforts by rights holder groups” such as the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the video game industry trade association that represents many of the world’s largest publishers, for derailing its ideas. .

“During the hearing with the Copyright Office, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced that it will never support remote access to games for research purposes under any circumstances,” the statement read.

“The games industry’s absolutist stance – for which ESA members have refused to go on record in support – is forcing researchers to explore illegal methods of accessing the vast majority of out-of-print video games that are not available any other way.”

This news comes at a time when gaming preservationists may have an increasingly indispensable role in preserving the cultural history of video games.

The vast majority – 87% – of Previously released games 2010 games are “critically endangered” in the United States according to the Video Game History Foundation, meaning they are not readily available in their original physical and digital forms.

Some platforms have had much better luck with how they maintain their back catalog. For example, the vast majority of games for the Commodore 64, one of the most popular early home computers, are believed to be lost. With only 4.5% of its game library still in print.

Despite the huge popularity of consoles like the Gameboy, they haven’t done much better, with only 5.87% of Gameboy titles still officially available.

Only 13% of classic games are readily available to play, meaning many classic players are forced to rely on technically complex emulators or maintain expensive, outdated hardware.

However, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has made several arguments against relaxing restrictions on legacy game libraries.

In a legal controversythe ESA argued that people accessing older games remotely would be less supervised by librarians than local users and could open the door to piracy.