Square, Capcom, Taito and Sega are now making significant efforts to preserve their videogame heritage. These initiatives were highlighted during a presentation at SIGGRAPH Asia last December.

Although this conference is several months old, it recently attracted attention thanks to a BlueSky post by KevEdwardsRetro, a former developer at Software Creations and TT Fusion. He came across an article in Japanese on Gamemakers.jp, which was quickly shared on social networks and picked up by media such as GamesIndustry.Biz.

Concrete preservation initiatives

Speakers at the conference revealed the efforts made by their respective companies to archive their heritage.

At Square Enix, Youichiro Miyake presented the SAVE project launched in 2020, which aims to preserve a large part of the company's archives. Some of this data has already been presented at events such as SIGGRAPH Asia 2021, with the aim of raising public awareness and encouraging other companies to follow suit.

Capcom, with its Capcom Illustrations Archive System, focuses mainly on the visual elements of games, such as illustrations and logos. The initiative could be extended to other materials such as ROMs and music. This archive has been used in projects such as Capcom Arcade Stadium and the Capcom Town website.

Taito has a decentralised approach, with different teams working on the digitisation of various items, such as game designs, arcade cards, and printed materials. These archives have been used for events such as the 70th anniversary arcade exhibition and products such as the Darius Cozmic Collection.

For its part, Sega, which launched its own initiative in 2023, is focusing on several areas: the preservation of arcade hardware, software, development documents and illustrations. Some of these resources are already appearing in games such as Like a Dragon.

A long-standing challenge

Historically, the video games industry has been slow to preserve its archives. However, these recent initiatives show that major companies are finally taking steps to conserve their past and ensure that their history is preserved.

Source: Time Extension