GAMING: MORE THAN A HOBBY, IT’S HISTORY
Video games are more than entertainment. They are a cultural phenomenon, an art form, a part of our collective history.

From the pixelated magic of the NES era to the cinematic storytelling of the PlayStation 2, video games have shaped generations of players, developers, and creators. They are just as important as books, music, and movies in defining human creativity.

Yet, unlike books and films—which are preserved, archived, and re-released—video games are left to rot on obsolete hardware, buried under corporate negligence.

Publishers treat their own history as disposable. And when fans take action to preserve it, they are met with cease-and-desist letters, lawsuits, and takedowns.

We are not just fighting for convenience. We are fighting for the survival of gaming’s past.

THE INDUSTRY HAS TURNED ITS BACK ON ITS OWN HISTORY
Gaming companies constantly remind us that piracy is illegal. But let’s turn the question back on them:

What about when the industry abandons its own games?
What about when publishers delete digital storefronts, leaving games unplayable?
What about when entire consoles go extinct, taking thousands of games with them?
How many classics have already been erased from gaming history because publishers refuse to care?

The Disappearance of Games: How the Industry Kills Its Own Legacy
🚫 The Nintendo Wii Shop Channel was shut down in 2019, permanently deleting hundreds of digital-only games that will never be re-released.

🚫 The PlayStation 3 and PSP stores were nearly shut down in 2021, and many games were already removed from purchase. When those servers eventually go offline, those games will be gone forever.

🚫 Microsoft shut down the Xbox 360 store in 2023, instantly making hundreds of games inaccessible. Some of these titles were never ported forward, leaving them stranded on a dead console.

🚫 Games like P.T. (Silent Hills Demo, 2014) were deliberately deleted by publishers, meaning they only exist today because fans preserved them through piracy.

🚫 Tons of arcade games from the '80s and '90s have disappeared, because companies never bothered to re-release them. Without emulation, they would be lost to time.

The pattern is clear: If the industry won’t protect its own history, fans have no choice but to do it themselves.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD OF MEDIA PRESERVATION
No other entertainment industry throws its own history in the trash the way gaming does.

🎥 Movies are preserved by archives, libraries, and re-releases. Even silent films from the early 1900s are still accessible today.

📚 Books are reprinted and kept in circulation for decades, even centuries. Libraries ensure that even out-of-print works remain available.

🎵 Music is streamed, remastered, and archived. Even lost albums get rediscovered and re-released.

🎮 Video games? If a publisher decides they don’t care about a game anymore, it ceases to exist.

No remasters. No re-releases. No preservation efforts. Just gone.

And the worst part? Companies don’t just abandon their games—they actively destroy fan efforts to preserve them.

THE WAR ON PRESERVATIONISTS: GAMING COMPANIES VS. THEIR OWN FANS
Gaming companies don’t just neglect old games. They attack anyone who tries to keep them alive.

Nintendo: A Legacy of Anti-Preservation Attacks
Nintendo is one of the worst offenders in fighting preservationists.

🔨 Nintendo sued ROM-hosting websites for millions of dollars, even though many of the games they hosted were unavailable through legal means.

🔨 Fan restorations and HD remakes have been DMCA’d into oblivion, including efforts to revive games like Mother 3, Metroid: Zero Mission, and Mario 64 in HD.

🔨 Emulation is constantly under attack, even though it is the only way many classic Nintendo games remain playable.

Nintendo wants to control its legacy, but instead of making old games available, they shut down fan efforts and offer nothing in return.

Sony & Microsoft: Silent Executioners of Gaming History
🪦 Sony refuses to allow full backward compatibility for PlayStation 1, 2, and 3 games. If you want to play them, good luck hunting down an ancient console.

🪦 Microsoft’s closure of the Xbox 360 store permanently erased dozens of digital-only games. They won’t be brought back. They’re just gone.

🪦 Both companies issue DMCA strikes against fan patches, mods, and game restorations. Even if they have no intention of selling a game again, they make sure no one else can restore it.

THE SECONDHAND MARKET: A GATED COMMUNITY FOR THE WEALTHY
Some say, "Just buy old games secondhand!" But let’s be real:

🚫 Most classic games are ridiculously overpriced.

🚫 Many digital-only games are completely gone.

🚫 Hardware for retro consoles is breaking down, making some games unplayable.

Take a look at real-world prices for some classic games:

Pokémon Emerald (GBA, 2005) - $200+
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GameCube, 2005) - $400+
Silent Hill 2 (PS2, 2001) - $250+
THE SECONDHAND MARKET SHOULD EXIST—BUT NOT AS THE ONLY OPTION
Let’s be clear: I am not against the secondhand market. It is an essential part of gaming culture, and collectors should be able to own physical copies of rare games.

But it should not be the only way to access classic games.

Not everyone can afford $400 for a single game. And not every game is even obtainable secondhand—especially digital-only games that have already vanished.

This is why piracy fills the gap left by an industry that refuses to make its own history accessible.

THE SOLUTION: THE GAME PRESERVATION EXCEPTION
It’s time for legal reform. We propose the Game Preservation Exception:

✅ Games that have been unprofitable for at least 8 years should no longer be subject to anti-piracy laws.
✅ If a company refuses to make a game available through official means, fans should have the right to preserve and share it.
✅ Non-commercial distribution of retro games should be protected under fair use for historical and preservation purposes.

This would:

🔥 Protect game developers while allowing history to be preserved
🔥 Ensure that classic games are accessible, not erased
🔥 Acknowledge that if a game is abandoned, it belongs to the community

JOIN THE MOVEMENT: SIGN THE PETITION
We refuse to let corporate greed erase gaming history. We refuse to accept a system where classic games vanish because a company no longer deems them profitable.

Sign this petition and demand that piracy laws be reformed to protect game preservation. Let’s fight for a future where gaming’s past is not erased, but celebrated.

Because if we don’t preserve gaming history, who will?