The American Video Game History Foundation has published a study according to which only 13% of classic video games released in the United States remain available for purchase or review.
Remark: By classic, we mean games created for platforms or operating systems that are no longer produced and supported. That is, in fact, we are talking about all retro games.
According to the study, in order to get access to 9 out of 10 classic video games, it is necessary either to seek out and collect versions for original retro platforms yourself, or travel around the country in search of libraries of such games, or download them pirated.
Phil Salvador, director of the foundation’s library, draws an analogy with the situations that have developed with pre-war audio recordings and films of the silent cinema era. Only 10% of the first and 14% of the second are commercially available.
The Foundation insists that everyone should be able to easily find and play a classic game, as they can read a long-written book or a movie released decades ago. That’s just what outdated copyright laws prevent.