The founder of the Video Game History Foundation, Frank Cifaldi, recently argued that piracy is the only effective way to preserve video games. 
The comments directly blame the game companies' refusal to keep old content available or allow archivists to create legitimate repositories.
Sony's announcement that all PlayStation games will be digital-only from 2028 onwards has raised concerns that too many games will become harder to maintain and easily disappear as the company's servers become the sole point of distribution. In an official statement, Cifaldi noted that the end of physical PlayStation games has surprisingly little impact on the Foundation's efforts, because the majority of games from the past two decades are already digital-only.
According to the foundation, most games today are not released for consoles, let alone on physical discs. In addition, many discs for major game titles require updates to be downloaded in order to be playable, although the DoesItPlay database reveals that even today, most can be played offline. Cifaldi says that the real reason piracy remains the best option for preservation is that the Entertainment Software Association, which lobbies game publishers, has closed other avenues. For example, in 2018, the association opposed efforts to grant copyright exemptions to museums, libraries, and archives to preserve copies of abandoned online games for research.
This is the same organization that recently helped defeat a proposed California bill to keep high-priced games available only online, falsely claiming that community servers are illegal.
The Video Game History Foundation accused the ESA of repeatedly blocking efforts by cultural heritage institutions to reform DRM legislation.
Cifaldi also described the Library of Congress’ outdated software preservation process, which currently only requires tiny snippets of source code. For example, Capcom once asked the Video Game History Foundation to provide the LoC with “the first and last ten pages of code” for a Mega Man game. Unable to tell where the digital files began and ended, the group simply picked random sections. The practice of platform owners shutting down online stores and removing games from users’ accounts is also unacceptable.
"What continues to concern us is what the industry expects institutions like ours to do about this," the Video Game History Foundation said.
“If platform owners decide to phase out physical media and older digital storefronts, then we would also like to see trade groups like the Entertainment Software Association offer meaningful solutions to archives and museums to legally preserve digital content and make it accessible for research.”
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
