Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, said in an interview with Kinda Funny Games (via PC Gamer), "I really wish as an industry we'd come together and help preserve the history of what gaming is about, so we don't lose the ability to go back". He compared "what the Paley Center did for TV", with the way he hopes the video game industry will come together "to help preserve the history of what our industry is about, so we don't lose access to some of the things that got us to where we are today."
The conversation around the preservation of old games is becoming louder and more important as the months go on. Earlier this year, our very own Kirk McKeand broke the news that Sony had planned to close down the digital storefronts for the PS3, Vita, and PSP. This sparked a consumer backlash and eventually, Sony reversed its position. President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan, said, "we made the wrong decision here."
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Though fans of some exclusively digital PlayStation titles could breathe a sigh of relief, fans of Flash games were not so lucky, as Adobe discontinued its support of the software late last year. Flash allowed many to play video games on the internet for free back in the days of dial-up. The Internet Archive stepped up and saved many of these iconic games, but we can't keep relying on the goodwill of consumers and preservationists to keep video game history intact.
Spencer believes that this work needs to be done "As an industry," and suggests that Game Pass has been a useful tool for preserving more recent "'old new' games, or 'new old' games". Thanks to Xbox acquiring Bethesda, much of the company's library is now available for people to play at no extra cost in either software or hardware. Games like Doom and Morrowind can now be played on mobile or a home console.
Spencer has also stated that thanks to the huge amounts of data collected via Game Pass, popular old franchises are more likely to get reboots in the future. So, not only is he looking to use Game Pass to preserve old games, but maybe even breathe new life into them.
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