New Study Reveals 87% of All Classic Games are Not Available to Purchase

By Marc Deschamps

A new study conducted by the Video Game History Foundation has discovered that an alarming 87% of classic video games remain unavailable for purchase commercially. The foundation compiled a random list of games that centered exclusively on those that released prior to 2010. After the list was compiled, the Foundation looked simply at whether or not the game is available in any form commercially. The Foundation said that it "didn't want to split hairs" determining whether remasters should count; as such, most remasters counted as a "yes," unless the remaster was "substantially different," citing Yakuza Kiwami as a title that would not count.

To get more specific results, the Foundation also looked at three individual video game ecosystems, classifying them as either "abandoned," "neglected," or "active," using the Commodore 64, Game Boy family, and PlayStation 2, respectively. As an "abandoned" ecosystem, the Commodore 64 only had 4.5% of games available on current platforms, while the "active" PS2's library remains at just 12%. The Foundation also states that the availability of classic Game Boy games plunged following the closures of the 3DS and Wii U eShops, dropping from 12.37% down to just 5.87%. Closures of digital storefronts present a major problem for future preservation; the Foundation notes that if Antstream Arcade were to shutdown, the availability of Commodore 64 games would drop to 0.75%.

The Video Game History Foundation states that the purpose of this study is to "get expanded exemptions for libraries and organizations preserving video games." The Foundation points out that there are far greater limitations on video games when compared to other forms of media, including books and movies. Part of this is because the Entertainment Software Association, the main lobbying group for the video game industry, has argued that publishers are doing enough to preserve their own history. The ESA has successfully argued to the U.S. Copyright Office that expanding exemptions could hurt publishers financially.

As it stands, libraries and archives are currently only permitted to digitally preserve video games; they aren't allowed to digitally share them the way they can for movies, audio, and books. Basically, gamers can play preserved titles on the premises only. The Video Game History Foundation hopes that by bringing forward this study about the limited availability of classic games, it might be able to change the situation. It remains to be seen whether that will be the case, but the study shows just how bad the situation is. 

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Readers can find the complete study and all details about the Video Game History Foundation's research right here.

Are you surprised by how few video games are commercially available? Do you think libraries and archives should get more exemptions? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!

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