Here's a sobering fact: almost nine in ten video games released in the US before 2010 have become critically endangered. No, they aren't being hunted for their hides or precious horns. Instead, they're disappearing into the digital abyss as game companies cease to support them, and stringent copyright laws stifle efforts to preserve them.
According to a collaborative report by the Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network, some 87 percent of these classic games have been relegated to the land of obsolescence. Classic games, as defined by the VGHF, are those released before 2010, a benchmark year that marked the rise of digital game distribution.
Take the case of the popular 2006 game Yakuza on PlayStation 2, a classic that's no longer in print and yet holds a special place in the gaming landscape. While a complete remake from the ground up, Yakuza Kiwami, was released in 2016, it's a different entity altogether, a fact stressed by the VGHF. This underscores the dire straits many classic games find themselves in today.
