US Copyright Office Blocks Game Preservation Effort, Saying “Preserved Video Games Would Be Used for Recreation”

Preserving video games is not a job taken on by big companies; instead, it’s an effort led by the community, who rely on their own resources. For many, the simple idea of keeping a record of all things digital is enough reason to protect this part of history, especially as gaming is seen as a form of art. But keeping these games safe is getting harder, and the latest decision by authorities and companies has made it tougher.

The Video Game History Foundation has just announced that the United States Copyright Office ruled against a new exemption in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which would have helped preserve video games.

Over the past three years, the foundation and the Software Preservation Network (SPN) have pushed to make it legal for researchers to have digital access to video games stored in libraries and big archives. They proposed a secure, face-to-face registration process so only authorized people would have access to this material.

However, companies represented by the DVD Copy Control Association and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), opposed this idea. Industry representatives said there was a “significant risk that preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes.” They also argued that broadening this exemption would give preservation groups too much freedom in deciding how to offer remote access and that it lacked safeguards to limit use to education or research. They believe that removing the premises limitation would also adversely affect the existing market for older video games.

The Video Game History Foundation expressed disappointment, sharing that, “around 87 percent of video games released in the United States before 2010 remain out of print.”

They criticized the ESA, saying the game industry’s “absolutist position—which the ESA’s own members have declined to go on the record to support—forces researchers to explore extra-legal methods to access the vast majority of out-of-print video games that are otherwise unavailable.”

Still, the foundation promised to continue its work and invited industry members who care about this issue to join their cause.

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