87% of classic video games are ‘critically endangered.’ As a millennial, I’m worried it means a huge chunk of my childhood will disappear.::Games don’t stay on store shelves forever and are constantly falling out of commercial distribution.
87% of classic video games are no longer available commercially.
I’ll just keep emulating them like I always have.
But, but, but…
The nice creators won’t be getting their money… Oh wait, you have to buy from resellers…
The nice scalpers won’t be able to get their money!
I am sorry OP but I am just not seeing it. I’ve found all kinds of emulators and ROM downloads for all the classics. What do you see as critically endangered?
Well, compared to books which have public archives that pretty much receive one print of each book in existance, all of those dumps come from private people. Even those emulators are created by hobbyists.
And then there are the always-online / drm ridden games that are unplayable again.
Movies have the same issues. Lots of old movies have been lost to time, only the most popular ones have been preserved. Yet again, mostly by private collectors.
All around fair points you raise.
I’d really love to know what the percentage is that is or is at risk of truly being lost - this article just completely ignores that piracy exists. Maybe you can’t buy game boy games or Metal Gear or Unreal Tournament anymore but the idea that they are inaccessible is just plainly wrong. I guess you probably can’t advertise that in business insider (if only to prevent some ridiculous lawsuit from Nintendo) but it changes this number drastically.
I actually do remember stuff from the 90s and 2000s that’s truly lost, and it’s a damn shame, but the black flag will always provide.
