The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF), a non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving and celebrating the history of video games, will be opening its digital archives this month with access to more than 1,500 game magazine issues from over the years, alongside promotional material and development assets.
While still in progress, the digital archive project has been the goal of VGHF since it was founded in 2017 and will introduce additional features apart from just straight scans of the magazines, including search functionality of specific keywords, record types and year, as well as the ability to sort by different categories like collections, subjects, names, or even unprocessed materials and yet-to-be catalogued items in the process of being digitised.
The archive will not be all-inclusive though, as it faces limitations from Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) regulations, which prohibit remote access for any titles that are currently playable. Due to this, its contents will remain limited to visual assets unless the VGHF can attain copyright exceptions via official channels.
Having a collection of early video game assets is certainly a big deal, as not only will the archive be an indispensable source of information for researchers or students, but it will also be invaluable for content creators, video game buffs, or even the everyday gamer looking for a strategy guide to a particularly challenging title.
The VGHF will soft-launch its digital archives on 30 January 2025.