Oop’s Comments

• Mar 30th, 2021 @ 2:41am

  (untitled comment)

  on Good Idea: As Video Game Preservation Often Falls To Fan Groups, Release Every Game's Source Code

  One possibility for a sustainable solution that would be still better than the current situation and might get on board those companies that are too paranoid to release anything (mind that providing access to a source code does not, per se, release its copyright) would be for the gaming companies to create an industry-wide foundation for a museum or archive, that would not release source codes to the public but would still guarantee their preservation, and might offer the old games for free or for a small cost to finance itself. That way, it wouldn't depend on one single company going under or being sold, it would have the same legal protections that archives usually get (not much, but its something), and the cultural legacy would be preserved (perhaps to be released at least at the time copyright expires, if the paranoid owners won't go berserk at that suggestion). Not an optimal solution, but a possibly achievable compromise and better than nothing. (It wouldn't inhibit piracy.)