In many discussions on the internet I’ve been made aware of the importance of game preservation, that corporations aren’t exactly creating alternatives to access old games created for even older platforms, and so on. This happens with delisted games on digital platforms that can no longer be purchased, or with games with retro status from where a physical copy may be worth a fortune these days. Many games are ported to PC but many, due to its exclusive nature, are only available in the open market for very high prices. If the games are sealed, they’re even more expensive and seen as a collector’s item to keep or to make business with, rather than a piece of software to play and enjoy.
The scarcity and limited nature of some niche releases, like we often see happening with jrpgs, makes it even harder to get hold of a copy even if the game was recently released. Among the arguments in favor of purchasing physical copies is that we can sell them later and get some of the money back, or even more money, depending on how the community regards a game several years from now. From a business perspective it makes sense, if you live in a place where gaming culture is a thing. If you live in a place where you pay almost double of what people pay in the US, maybe the money you make back doesn’t cover the expense you’d have if you’d bought it digitally in the first place. I’ve seen a 5$ indie game being sold physical for the modicum of 70$ or limited edition over 100$. See those copies of Momodora or Gris. And this is in dollars, not my currency plus tax and shipping.
And then, when the money argument wears out we enter in game preservation territory. By buying physical games, people are preserving access to the games in the future. Some physical games are still playable 20 years later in the right platform. I just have some issues when the argument is used in general terms. By buying physical we are preserving gaming history. Yes and no. Collectors are preserving videogame history for themselves, in their homes and for their own use. People can preserve a work of art for years and across generations in their own living rooms. Preserving the thing, the object, is not the same as preserving access. A preserved cartridge in your hands doesn’t do anything for me or others. The game is still gone.
Continuous access to older games via platforms such as PC and legally available through purchase is a form of preservation. Porting games and re-releasing a good amount of physical editions as well as digital options is also a good way to preserve game access. Not pointing fingers at how people decide to purchase their games, movies or other media can help starting fruitful discussions. I struggle to see the point of a rare piece of software shelved between 1000+ other games in someone else’s living room as game preservation. It’s the companies’ responsibility to guarantee continuous access to their games, not the collector’s.
But hey, at the end of the day, we always have piracy. The easy way out.
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