We’re always interested in hearing how companies work towards new game preservation. Some developers and fans are really concerned that projects and their assets will get lost in time. With as much effort we’ve seen put into these projects, there’s been security not only for past beloved projects but also for games that never saw a release into the marketplace. Today, we’re finding out that a few notable companies are stepping up on this front as well.
Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz, which translated a report from Gamemakers.jp, we’re learning about a few companies putting in extra work to preserve games. In particular, we’re finding out that a lecture occurred last year at SIGGRAPH Asia 2024. During this lecture, we had Square Enix’s Lead AI researcher, a Capcom digital content archive team producer, a Sega producer, and a producer for Taito present.
This group spoke about how each company has either started or confirmed its process to preserve video game development materials. This includes everything from ensuring materials are in good condition to making them public. In particular, it looks like this effort was made to ensure that the game development materials built in Japan are available to show their global importance.
That said, if you’re familiar with Taito, they produce arcade cabinets. It’s worth pointing out that their efforts are a little different, as it’s not easy to store these machines. So, it was noted that they have started to provide master specifications documents to store along with maintenance manuals and physical arcade circuit boards.
Again, it’s great to hear about these new efforts or confirm that developers are keeping some of their development materials. Hopefully, these game preservation efforts will continue to spread to other studios directly. That said, there are other efforts outside of studios to preserve these games. For instance, we know that GOG has been working to ensure they preserve PC games, and you can read more about their recent efforts right here.
