Facing skepticism, The Entertainment Software Association says it is for game preservation

Plus: PlayStation preps for two big years, and Ubisoft reports major workforce shrinkage

Video games stored at the U.S. Library of Congress, circa 2012. Photo: LoC.

Every three years, for the past decade, video game preservationists and other advocates have asked the U.S Library of Congress’ copyright office to provide some exemptions around video games. Their explicit goal: to allow old games to be preserved and studied long after they can’t be purchased anywhere.

And just as often, the Entertainment Software Association, the Washington D.C.-based trade group that counts most of gaming’s biggest companies as its members—PlayStation, Microsoft, Nintendo, EA, etc—has stood in at least partial opposition to those requests.

The ESA did so again this year, when it argued against librarians and researchers who have asked the copyright office to allow old, commercially unavailable games held in some physical collections to be accessed remotely. 

The game industry’s perennial opposition to such requests has intensified criticism of its role in the preservation of classic games.

Earlier this week, I spoke to ESA president Stanley Pierre-Louis about the ESA’s preservation stance, about the state of preservation in gaming (it’s “strong” he said) and about whether there’s any give to be had in the ESA’s latest disagreement with preservationists.

“What's important here is to understand that the ESA supports preservation efforts,” Pierre-Louis told me. “But it also needs to do so in a way that maintains its rights and its ability to protect its works.”