In addition to the many expressions of outrage, gnashing of teeth, and other expressions of deep sadness over the recent news that Sony will no longer produce physical game discs starting in 2028, we have also heard some voices saying different things, such as that this decision makes archiving games fundamentally impossible. The truth, of course, is that software archiving in general has already become much more difficult over the last few decades, while gaming consoles are just late to the anti-archiving party.
As an example, all you have to do is compare Sony’s PlayStation with, for example, Valve’s Steam store and software from giants like Adobe and Autodesk. Here, after the Creative Suite (CS6) series of Photoshop and other tools, the former has completely switched to the Creative Cloud (CC) subscription model, where DRM and constant renewals of rental software are appropriate. Unlike the CD copy of the CS6 Master Collection, which remains virtually forever, there is actually nothing to archive with Adobe’s CC software.
With digital game downloads and their constant patches now placed in a heavily encrypted environment based on a dedicated launcher, video game preservation has become a veritable nightmare for many years.
Table of Contents
Why archive
Archiving involves the collection of historical records or materials. The scope and purpose of a particular archive can vary, e.g. For example, a company’s archive of financial records, an engineering department’s archive of technical references, or a museum’s archive of physical artifacts. Whatever the reason, the goal is the same: to maintain or create a historical timeline that can be referred to later when needed.
An essential part of archives is to act as a primary reference source: archives contain only the original documents and artifacts wherever possible, making them as close as possible to an objective historical source. This is extremely useful for a company when the tax office conducts a surprise audit, but also for anyone who wants to conduct historical research. This includes exploring the evolution of a particular type of software over the centuries and all types of associated hardware.
In the world of software archiving, not much changes to this primary task, except for the digital aspect that earns it the title of “digital preservation.” At least until relatively recently, this primarily meant making copies of physical storage media and all associated physical media such as documentation and manuals, but increasingly preservation and archiving involves digital data that was never tied to or accompanied by physical media.
Such digital preservation is an important part of organizations like the Internet Archive, whose archives contain copies of software and games that might otherwise have been lost over time. The cases when retro enthusiasts come across a floppy disk or CD with an unknown game or driver set and upload a copy to the Internet Archive are numerous and are an excellent example of digital preservation.
Other archives such as the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF), as the name suggests, have a narrower focus. Their fundamental mission is, of course, no different: to create an archive that preserves history. The best thing about digital preservation is that it makes it possible to create virtually infinite bit-perfect copies of the materials, making it incredibly easy to share and enjoy multimedia, gaming and other content from these archives.
Digital limitations
A digital void
When EA developed its interlock copy restriction system, it probably didn’t care about whether or not copies of its games would survive into the 2020s, let alone whether anyone would still use FDDs. However, it points to the central problem, which goes far beyond the mere bragging rights between black-and-white physical media and purely digital media. Especially since physical media could be considered so flawed that it deserved its demise.
In today’s inevitable march towards a future where we all consume content via “our” smart devices that rely on any number of paid subscriptions to gain access to the actual content stored on the servers of our benevolent content overlords, what probably upsets people most about the PlayStation physical media announcement is less the demise of physical media and more a reminder of how much has already been taken from us.
In a statement from VGHF director Frank Cifaldi on the end of physical PlayStation discs – and the simultaneous announcement of the closure of the PlayStation 3 and Vita online stores – this is placed in the broader context of the digital gap we face, in which much of video game history simply cannot be legally preserved.
The legal puzzle
Here we have to deal with the rather big problem, which is copyright infringement. Here we see large groups of very nice people in friendly online communities carefully removing any DRM that might even prevent the game from working, while ensuring that the package provided for free remains up to date with only the best patches and everything relevant.
In these communities you’ll find entire sections of video game history preserved for the enjoyment of connoisseurs, including tutorials, guides, carefully curated collections, mods and expansions, and anything else that would make a professional digital archivist’s mouth water.
But these “shadow archives” are definitely illegal under copyright law. Therefore, the only option for VGHF and other organizations trying to stay on the bright side of the law may be to wait a few decades to see which games fall into the legal gray area of ”abandonware” and see if they will still be affected by the DMCA takedown request in 2050 for a game that will no longer be available for sale in 2026.
That’s life.
https://hackaday.com/2026/07/13/the-death-of-physical-media-and-the-real-challenges-to-software-archiving/
