Written by: Genevieve Hammang
Edited by: Michelle Sosa and Adina Vega
A member of VGHF working on game preservation.
If you’re a video game nerd, you’ve likely been disappointed by a lack of reliable information about the industry at some point or another. It’s only in the last decade or so that people have started to take it seriously as an art form, let alone keep reliable archives. Although the video game industry generated a remarkable $184 billion in 2022 alone (more than seven times the amount generated by the recorded music industry), its history is not treated with care: critical games journalism sites and unreleased game projects alike have been dismantled by parent organizations for the sake of receiving tax breaks.
You’re not the only one frustrated about it. Fortunately, in an effort to preserve this important history, the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) recently opened the VGHF Library, the first US library dedicated to the history of video games. Officially launched in early 2025, it is a permanent work-in-progress. Because not all its materials are yet cataloged or digitized, the current collection is still somewhat small. However, the VGHF intends to continue updating the library throughout its life and plans to change available features over time.
One of many hand-notated player maps for the NES game Legend of Zelda, circa 1987-88.
In its current form, the VGHF Library has both a physical and digital collection. The latter contains digitized versions of the records and objects. They are organized into several categories, including commercial game materials, development and production materials, event guides, gaming cultural ephemera, the magazine library, press materials, promotional materials, and research and reports. Visitors can explore: development material from the classic mystery adventure Myst; original works from game artists like Tom Payne of Sega Technical Institute; event guides from E3 and gaming conventions; player-made maps for NES systems; ephemera from Game Worker Unite, one of the first labor advocacy groups for the video game industry; gaming magazines like 3DO Club News, Electronic Gaming Retail News, and Girl Gamer; press materials such as the CDs sent out by GamePro; promotional materials for the Armored Core series, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Murakomo, and the King’s Field series; and both academic and marketing research on topics like the video game reissue market in the United States and piracy in Asia and Latin America. Visitors can also look through the Unprocessed Materials tab to learn about upcoming additions to the catalog.
In 2017, the VGHF was founded as a non-profit organization in Oakland, CA, by Frank Cifaldi, a video game historian and producer. It is committed to preserving and teaching the history of video games and offers its archives as a resource for researchers and educators. The VGHF Library is just one part of that broader goal. The foundation also runs several other projects intended to preserve video game history, including source code preservation for games, public education, recovery and restoration of lost material for companies like Limited Run Games and Bethesda, and the Game Informer Project.
Visit the VGHF Library or learn more about the VGHF and its work!
The VGHF team attending a recent convention.
0 Comments