Video Game Preservation Recap | 2024

We’re excited to share Video Game Preservation Recap 2024, where GOG and our incredible partners reflect on the most important milestones in video game preservation this past year.
In this video, hear from some of the most respected voices in the field:
Frank Cifaldi, Video Game History Foundation
Andrew Borman, Strong National Museum of Play
Christian Bartsch and Istvan Fabian, Kryoflux GMBH
Matthias Oborski, Computerspielemuseum in Berlin
Daniel Ondruska, Stop Killing Games (www.stopkillin...)
Mike Arkin, Argonaut Games
David Bostrom & Natalia Kovalainen, Embracer Games Archive
Jason Scott, Internet Archive
Stephen Kick and Larry Kuperman, Nightdive Studios
Willem Hilhorst, Sound & Vision Archive
Marcin Paczyński, GOG
Video game preservation is a global effort, and together, we can ensure the games we love remain accessible for generations to come. As one of our guests said: “Do you have an old hard drive with code from a game you worked on? Don’t throw it away - archive it or donate it to a museum.”
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[@Accursed_Farms]

Thanks for mentioning the European Citizen's Initiative to stop games being destroyed!

[@Siwkann]

Hey I'm marathonaly watching all your Game Dungeon videos since a couple days ago. It's great fun. It's like when I discovered AVGN like 15 years ago. I've been knowing you for a couple days from this although I saw your European petition video time ago, but it was a video by Tech Tangents kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4u8qmyBr6uHaNk what convinced me to check your content. So thanks for the entertainment and I hope to see more Game Dungeon reviews. I like your talks about preservation and DRM free too.

[@TequilaCT]

Thank you for bringing back so many classics. Blessed be everyone at GOG

[@cheater00]

Hi, I'm one of the Official ECI Organizers behind SKG. If anyone has any questions, reply here and I'll answer it all! Thanks to GOG for the promotion!

[@StinkoBrownTV]

Do you have any suggestions on how to better promote the initiative (specially to older audiences)? I really want SKG to become a reality but the numbers right now aren't looking super positive and I would love to know how to pump them up.

[@cheater00]

@@StinkoBrownTV Great question, and by far it's one of the top things that affect SKG. It depends on the population and the country you're in, but in general, the main way I've found that helps people understand why something is important is to show them a facet of it that's important to *them*. Tell them about shutdowns of every day items, like cars, coffee machines, or medical implants. That is, stuff that IS relevant to them. There are currently two SKG discords, one new one run by Ross's discord admins and another one run by some of the ECI organizers that's been around for a while. The 2nd one has a lot of news items catalogued away in a forum called "news-items" where you can learn about such cases in order to figure out how to talk to people from the general public about shutdowns. I can't post links since they'll probably get automodded, but you can find it with google, it has a white-on-blue icon. There are many informational resources in there that can help you prepare for conversations like these.

[@johnfarrell3958]

@@StinkoBrownTV One important thing to keep in mind is that this is a bigger issue than just videogames. Farmer's tractors are bricking because of retracted software. Adobe is its own mess. Cars and household appliances require persistent internet connections, and the overall trend is that you don't get to own anything, even physical objects. SKG is targeting games, but doing great work to raise this issue in the popular consciousness.

[@EposVox]

Thank you, everyone, for your work

[@AstronautDown]

Everyone mentioned here, as well as many, many others in small collectives or even individually, are doung very important work! Preservation is crucial, thank you all.

[@SootyliciousArt]

Games = Art. Preservation is so important!

[@SuperKhalid95]

Thank you GOG for being a beacon of hope for game preservation.

[@straightjak1t]

Good work guys. Please keep it up for future generations to come.

[@SussyBaka_irl]

Thank you to everyone who appeared within this video, cause you are doing what most in this industry cannot fathom

[@Borman18]

Thank you for watching, everyone!

[@DawnSClark-]

Just BLESS all at GOG! Such a FANTASTIC COMPANY!

[@juli8952]

Magnificent job of preserving classic games, in this way young people will understand classic games and from this the developers can make continuations of these gems 👌

[@BrunoFonsecaPT]

Thanks for working on the preservation of games, even against dumb comercial interests. This is one of the main reasons I keep purchasing games in GOG. Keep up the great work!

[@No-vq1iv]

They only started that recently, Zoom has been doing it for decades, and with their entire catalogue, not just a handful of titles.

[@kellzilla]

​@@No-vq1iv can you elaborate on that? GOG has been around, gathering and preserving old games, for almost 20 years.

[@No-vq1iv]

@ Not really, they've been selling them for 20 years, they never gave any guarantee that those games would work as intended. They only started that recently with the Preservation Program, but I will say that I'm very, very skeptical about it since the cracks are already starting to show.

[@LeftIsBest001]

Long live GOG and long live video games!!

[@franciuz501]

GOG's work is a great service to all humanity

[@Truly12p]

So glad to see Ross' campaign mentioned within all these efforts. Also, I think the remasters of Soul Reaver were a pivotal moment for last year. The LoK franchise has been a textbook example of hidden gems in the medium, stuck in Limbo for so long... Only until recently!

[@angelbarrios426]

Thanks to all of you for your efforts to preserve videogames 👏😉.

[@Vet1Michael]

GOG is King!! I've been a member of GOG for ages - I actually found GOG by downloading Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, and have stayed ever since to accumulate now hundreds of games, some I may never play, but which all mean something to me and to the zeitgeist of the times they were created in. As an American, I am ashamed - but not surprised - that Congress was worried about future profits of a maybe attempt to rerelease old titles commercially MORE than in preserving history and culture for everyone.

[@guillermodiego819]

Thank you all for all your work!

[@dabrams84]

Your game preservation efforts have made me prefer to buy games through GOG.

[@RittervomGitter]

Thanks for your Good Job 🙂 ...

[@stevenrobey3743]

Got to give a shout out to the publishers for allowing GOG, Nightdive and others to get over that major hurdle. I was shocked to see the Resident Evils, I own the original PC discs and the PS1 discs, But Capcom has a great back catalogue, same with Sega. I would love to see the No One Lives Forever Series, since no one what to touch that licensing mess out. And huge thanks to GOG, Nightdive, Argonaut, Embracer, and the rest of the group it truly is hard work.

[@madconqueror]

I found about GOG around 2007, I think via a website that was serving 8-bit soundtracks. That's what I signed up for. You're doing a great job, offering great value for money. Thanks for this short insight video, which will help to invite other older gamers just like me. Keep it on!

[@dragonsnackproductions]

Thank you Marcin & Team!

[@koosa6289]

Silent Hill 2 and 3 have to be preserved, I'm counting on you GOG! Also please try to bring back Riddick games, such great titles (especially Butcher Bay).

[@agamaz5650]

yup, but tbh emulating them on pcsx2 + 60 fps patch is the way to go

[@agamaz5650]

Silent Hill 3 would really benefit from a remaster like The Thing got, so it can run at 240 fps, the textures still hold up well, and polygon count and sound did not age a second. But tbh I am grateful there is a 60 fps patch that works perfectly on PCSX2

[@MateusRG]

And SH 1?

[@koosa6289]

@@MateusRG SH1 was only released on PS1, it does not have a native PC version.

[@kellzilla]

​@@koosa6289 that doesn't mean it shouldn't be preserved. Why skip it in the list? Feels weird to leave it out lol.

[@noskillir1sh918]

I would love to see Heretic II re-released on GOG someday.

[@deprofundis442]

Big time my friend.

[@Trialwolf]

Hope you expand this preservation program as there are still a lot of games that are in limbo due to rights issues, or have been made free by there original owners but now are just forgotten. Also hope you are working to bring in more publishers as admit-tingly you do need more current games to help build your market base. Games I would like to see you try to preserve would be the No One Lives Forever series, Traffic Department 2192, Lemmings, and the Moraff games so more people can discover this fun classic dungeon crawling series.

[@revenile]

NOLF is somewhat the holy grail of games preservation at this point. We all hope it can be done. Night Dive tried a few years ago to re-release them, but due to the copyright hell the games are in, were unable to get the rights, as at least WB wanted a substantial payment just to look through their paper record to see if they even owned the rights to their portion of the IP anymore.

[@IVIaximus12]

I would love to see Dino Crisis 1 and 2 hit GOG :)

[@mainsmain]

Your wish has been granted 😊

[@aluinie]

Thank you for all your hard work.

[@pishbot]

GOG's preservation efforts are vital for ensuring that classic games remain accessible, playable, and appreciated, thereby contributing significantly to the preservation of digital culture. Please consider reviving Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair. This unique blend of action-adventure gameplay and stunning visuals deserves to be preserved as a part of gaming history. Its charm and innovative design still resonate with fans of classic gaming. 💟

[@winniethewhor]

Hey GOG! You guys might want to consider making 3D scans of the original merchandise like the game boxes and convert them into 3D models for people to use. You could then potentially monetize the physical items in storage.

[@raysgarage2351]

well done to all you guys & thankyou for your hard work & dedication . Bravo , 👋

[@rd-um4sp]

Thank you all involved in this initiative!

[@zelbeton4457]

respect for what youre doing🫡

[@nealon2005]

Just wanted to say thanks for your work. I know from experience its thankless most of the time. Its really appreciated.

[@Kaspeyskis.]

Thank you for enormous effort. Keep up with a good work. You guys are the best in this industry. Splinter Cell 2 Pandora Tomorrow would bee cool to have on GOG.

[@Petrucius]

You folks are inspiration to all of us!

[@coltonsmorong]

Love GoG, slowly have been building up my library for the past few years. Along with the game preservation, your team just need to do a bit of work with the search bar, if you have a pause while typing it goes a bit wonky. Otherwise I am a satisfied customer!

[@Tuthrick]

Thank you GOG for everything that you do to preserve the old classics, and for shout-out to Ross's campaign to stop killing games. I wish if it was possible to restore and add the original Baldur's Gate (1998) to the preservation program.

[@alvaro9803]

So GOG is back to what it was 10 years ago. Good old games - but now with a badge.

[@Azuris190]

Really nice Video, a big Thanks to all the Participants!

[@thatsreallyamoon]

Keep up the good work!

[@theunwantedson]

you guys are doing godly works,thank you guys saving games that we grew up with

[@SlickOnTop]

Vote with your wallet, folks! Support these pro consumer endeavors!

[@Lyvarious]

The barely works as well as you think. Usually you need civil action, litigation, etc, in order to force an industry to change.

[@therealmrglanet2127]

Vote with your votes! Stop Killing Games! m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXa5c5yEarh-q6M

[@GrimmReinhardt]

im all up for it , great initiative. support it all the way

[@thejackal007]

It's very important work that all of you are doing to make sure not only us but future generations can enjoy the entertainment that so many corporations feel is disposable when it no longer is financially feasible for it to remain sold. As for a title I would like to see revived, I'm still hoping Lose Your Marbles can make its debut in your store.

[@TheMaxxy911]

It was truly wonderful to see the original Resident Evils on GOG, and in the Preservation Program no less. I'd love to see the rest of the RE series added, but the game I most want on GOG is Gearhead Garage, one of Lucas Pope's first commercial projects.

[@MURDIRK]

Hope more games get added soon! One of the reasons I bought some recent games on gog was because of this new program 👍

[@MasterXeno0]

I love you guys, I hope other members of EFGAMP can collaborate and bring their libraries together legally.

[@thehighwaygoddesssss]

I HOPE YALL SUCCEEEEED IM A GOG MAIN

[@Master6FLO]

thank you GoG for the extraordirany program an the thinks you do for gameing i hope darkstone gets i too !

[@akira1228]

Thank you GOG for your awesome job :) I think Operating Systems and Libraries as dependencies also should be preserved, but how to tell that to such a big fish like Microsoft?

[@RadioactiveBlueberry]

This would include Update catalogues too. Not everything is in OS installation media. Windows 10 already supports P2P model for sharing necessary files with each other, but some server still needs to negotiate which files each PC in question needs.

[@Unethrorpe]

Y'all are great; I hope you never stop.

[@aydropunk]

Thank you so much for everything GOG :) I dream about the Silent Hill trilogy every day :)

[@tubedude1880]

Thanks for what you do

[@victorjamesc.viqueira8522]

This is cool, thanks for the good work.

[@elijahbowers1]

Gog the goats. I buy every pc game i can from them first! Preservation and ownership matters!

[@AmineDiva]

G❤G lives on evermore

[@JoeDouglas]

This is such a great movement! Hopefully Night Dive will be able to do a remake/master of the original Deus Ex. That game deserves to be experienced by all who missed it the first time!

[@RandeeBee]

Preserve & Protect! BONUS POINTS for standing up to Blizzard - I bought Warcraft 1&2 from GOG before Blizzard pulled the plug. ❤

[@nairocamilo]

Funny seeing Embracer group in anything positive. Didn't know they had an archiving initiative

[@AceStrife]

Jason looks exactly like someone I'd expect to work at The Internet Archive. And I had no idea until I saw him.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Great to see "Heroes of Might and Magic III" back there! :) During their time, NWC and JVC literally changed the way people looked at games. Origin Systems did the same thing (despite Garriott falling out of the light more recently--so to speak). And how can anyone forget Carmack, Romero, and Spector? There's a lot of history there, and it would be ideal to preserve these things in similar form to the way we preserve old texts from Roman, Egyptian, and Greek time periods (just for three examples of hundreds).

[@ThatRamdomGuyFromLisbon]

Long Live GOG!!!!

[@la912]

Thanks guys!

[@eltonbormes]

Outstanding work!

[@goncalopereiraandrade]

Hi GOG, Congratulations and many thanks for your amazing work. I would love you to revive all the Silent Hill old videogames not only 4 ahaha I also loved if you could revive old videogames from Sony like Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot from the PS1, PS2, and PS3 times to PC. I love you GOG ❤❤❤❤

[@deciSTEVE]

This was a REALLY good watch.

[@hetfield144]

GOG BLESS THOSE GUYS!!

[@13Carrey1]

Thank you for your work!!!! Also some wishes i would like to see again: America - No Peace beyond the Line + Add-on, WET (From Artificial Mind and Movement published by Bethesda), Red Ninja End of Honor, Ninja Blade and maybe Bullet Witch and Black & White and not forget Starcraft 1 on gog! :)

[@jefferson_santana]

Muito boa esta proposta. 😊

[@mkpleco]

Thanks GOG.

[@gamelord12]

I'd like to see GOG dive further into games that never had PC versions. My #1 with a bullet would be Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, which I think is fully owned by Microsoft at this point, that never got a PC version. Then there are series whose most recent iterations came to PC but not their old versions, like Tekken, Soul Calibur, Armored Core, Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank, etc.

[@KChurros]

So exciting, so much explore!

[@tolikha]

Love it, thanks!

[@SgtPowerWeiner]

Fuckin love GOG! Wish you guys had better steam deck support. I don't mind going through Heroic, but my friends refuse to try GOG without a more streamlined and official solution

[@AR-np4rh]

Through these initiatives, I'm hoping games like Myth, Oni, Heavy Gear, DRAKAN, and Tenchu can be saved. And those are just from the top of my head! There's so much out there being left behind. It's really saddening! 😢

[@michaelmonstar4276]

6:46 - Man, the A2 Racer and Redcat games are a throwback for a Dutch person... I even have Battery Check and I don't even know how I got it back then (I think on a flea market or something though). - For those who don't know, the latter was basically a promotional game based on, I believe, a mascot of a battery-recycling company or effort/campaign. - I think the game was simplistic but decent and ultimately to make kids aware to recycle batteries. - Actually, I just did a little research and apparently they gave the game away if you turned in 15 empty batteries. While they intended to give out 50.000 games, it ended up becoming 220.000. So, supposedly they collected 3.3M batteries just with this initiative. - Apparently the game used the same engine as Jazz Jackrabbit. For additional fun facts: The person who wrote Jazz Jackrabbit, also a Dutchman, ended up working on games like Tyrian, Age of Wonders, Killzone, Horizon, and Fortnite. He worked at companies like Epic, Greenwood, Eidos, Visceral, Guerrilla then, and back to Epic for Fortnite and also to work on Unreal (possibly to this day). - What a madman.

[@theindieseeker]

GoG, Great and Good Old Games.

[@GamesDelta]

Nice collection behind you! How much for that Dungeon Keeper? 😅

[@mainsmain]

We need the classic Tony Hawk games on GOG

[@yogurtfluff1]

I would love to be able to get hold of Highway Hunter on GOG

[@soloflo]

There were some great Magic the Gathering CD-ROM games back in the 1990s. Almost like an RPG campaign world mechanism. They were by Microprose back in the day. A whole series. Maybe can still find on abandonware websites.

[@OverlordZephyros]

u guys are heroes ...

[@Augustus_Imperator]

Fantastic, thank you

[@The_real_Marcoman]

Good job GOG. 👍

[@doclouis4236]

GOG needs to revive more Capcom games like God Hand.

[@bounceysteve]

hope you’ll eventually spread out to server software preservation

[@xandowsk]

God bless you!

[@dadadiogenes]

ive been buying from gog a long time. would love to play magic candle trilogy and bloodstone

[@umartdagnir]

Thank you for what you are doing guys. o7

[@orpheneh]

❤❤❤❤

[@Syae225]

Awesome

[@tkeus991]

Any chance we can get Warhammer Space Marine 2 on GOG ?

[@Crazedgamer16]

I wish I could buy all my games from gog.

[@LarixusSnydes]

A shout out to Ross Scott who put a lot of time and effort into Stop Killing Games.

[@Drejzer]

Can you imagine if Disney decided to destroy every copy of every Star Wars movie in existence? That's what is happening now, but with games. On a side note, any opinions on Stop Killing Games initiative? Edit 8:22, yes SKG was mentioned, so there's that

[@Z4KIUS]

for the sake of preservation you should make it easier to automatically backup installers of games we own, third party tools are pretty quirky also it would be lovely if your installers weren't so slow

[@CaptainWalrus77]

Really hope to see Might and Magic VII and VIII get preservation status.

[@xx_kuus_xx]

really hope all these archivists have backups and have their stuff protected in case of natural and unnatural disasters