Video Game History Foundation Opens Massive Digital Library to the Public
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Key points
- The Video Game History Foundation has officially launched its Digital Library.
- More than 30,000 of the library’s files are now available online, spanning over five decades of gaming history.
- According to VGHF, over 1,500 documents are fully text-searchable.
The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has officially launched its Digital Library, offering historical gaming content to researchers, historians, and fans.
The non-profit organization, dedicated to preserving the rich history of video games, has now made more than 30,000 curated files available online, spanning over five decades of gaming history.
The collection includes a variety of rare and out-of-print materials, such as vintage video game magazines, unreleased game development assets, promotional artwork, and other industry relics. According to VGHF, over 1,500 of these documents are fully text-searchable, allowing for easier exploration of the archive.
“We’ve been working on this project since we founded the Video Game History Foundation in 2017, so we’re extremely proud to start providing access to our digital library and continue our mission to make video game history accessible to anyone,” said VGHF founder Frank Cifaldi in an official statement. “We believe that with the right tools, anyone can be a video game historian, and we can’t wait to see what new stories our archive inspires. We also hope this inspires those in the video game industry to consider the importance of preserving their work and contributing to initiatives like ours.”
The library features several advanced search tools, enabling users to browse by author, game title, publisher, and more. Notable highlights include archives of classic gaming magazines. Additionally, visitors can explore E3 event maps from the first 12 years of the iconic trade show, over 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage from the production of the Myst series, and an extensive collection of promotional materials from From Software, curated by archivist Kris Urquhart.
Video Game History Foundation’s activity goes alongside GOG’s preservation of gaming heritage program that recently started a partnership with the European Federation of Game Archives, Museums, and Preservation Projects (EFGAMP).
