We're making a better future for game history

The Video Game History Foundation has had a busy spring sharing the word about game preservation! Here's what we've been up to this year, and what's coming next.

Game History Gallery at GDC 2024

We ran the Game History Gallery at the Game Developers Conference, a new interactive game history exhibit on the show floor. Our exhibit showcased unique voices that came from outside the games industry, as well as a gallery of artifacts from game history.

We wanted the developers at GDC to start thinking more about what "game history" means, and we were thrilled with the results!

Advocating to save history

Meanwhile, VGHF executive director Frank Cifaldi addressed the audience at the 2024 Independent Game Festival Awards to call the game dev community to action: History is in your hands!

Frank talked about our groundbreaking game availability study and asked developers to think about how their stories—and the stories of their colleagues—would be remembered. "You're the curator of your own story," Frank said.

We're taking the fight for game preservation to DC

We haven't stopped there. Next week, we're (virtually) heading to Capitol Hill!

On April 18, VGHF library director Phil Salvador will testify to the Copyright Office to support a new copyright exemption for game preservation in libraries and archives. This is the finish line for a three-year push for copyright reform we've been working on with the Software Preservation Network.

Our petition even has support from Antstream Arcade and Limited Run Games, two of the major companies re-releasing classic video games! They agree: Our exemption will help preservation without hurting the game industry.

Learn more about the hearings and register to watch online on the Copyright Office's website.