By Efforts in video game presentation have suffered recently, as the Electronic Software Association (ESA), the main lobby for game publishers in the United States, has reportedly indicated that it is seemingly uninterested in supporting libraries preserving defunct online games.
Yahoo, VGC and Game Developer report that an ESA lawyer told a rulemaking hearing of the U.S. Copyright Office that his group’s membership doesn’t support any exceptions to U.S. copyright law which would aid preservation efforts.
Video game preservationists have lobbied for those exceptions to allow for scholarly or educational access to online libraries of preserved video games. The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) presented their case last week.
However, the ESA legal rep in the hearing indicated those preservation organizations “want a great deal of discretion over how they handle very valuable intellectual property”.
They add that preservation efforts would need to be structured: “in a way that might be comforting to the owners of that valuable intellectual property. And so, at the moment, there is no set of limitations we would support.”
The Copyright Office has the final say and is expected to make a decision in the Fall. Video game developers and publishers have no current legal obligation to maintain access to online services beyond their official support.
The VGHF published a report last year that indicated that 87% of video games made prior to 2010 in the United States are “critically endangered” and either extremely difficult to get working or “entirely inaccessible”.
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