The on-going war over the preservation of older games has been frustrating for players, and, with the latest development, the battle continues to be a losing one.

A hearing was held by the United States Library of Congress Copyright Office last week, regarding a proposal by the Software Preservation Network to allow copyright exemptions for online archives of video games to exist for research. During the hearing, Steve Englund, a lawyer for the Entertainment Software Assocation - a trade group for the video game industry - stated that there were "[no] combination of limitations [ESA members] would support to provide remote access" when questioned on the subject of libraries preserving legacy games, as reported by Game Developer.

While several solutions were proposed that could potentially have alleivated the ESA's concerns, all of them were refused in turn. The ESA's major argument was that, despite any potential restrictions that might be put in place, such as requiring a physical location for the library or credentials to access the games, these would not be verifiable, essentially resulting in a free-to-access "arcade" for playing the older titles.

Last year, ESA president & CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis expressed his belief that it was beholden on game publishers themselves to preserve retro games; while they have arguably made some gains, such as Nintendo rereleasing legacy titles on their online platform, it has been nowhere near enough. In 2023, the Video Game History Foundation concluded that 87% of games that were released prior to 2010 lack any-and-all preservation. Previous attempts have been made, including by the Library of Congress, but time and again the ESA and its allies have shut them down. VGHF's founder Frank Cifaldi, in talking to Rock Paper Shotgun, said "No one is against the idea of video game preservation, but companies and their shareholders are against the idea of not making a profit".

It would seem, until such a time that all sides can come together to work in concert on preserving the history and legacy of video games, that the dollar will always come first. This is a disheartening situation, not just for the gamers but for historians and researchers alike, and one that doesn't appear to be resolved anytime soon.

How do you feel about the preservation of older video games? Do you feel the ESA is getting in the way of protecting our history? Let us know in the comments below!