Games with Offline Play Components

This entry is focused on games that can be played offline, often those designed for single player play while in offline mode. This does not exclude games that can be played online or have online interactive components (e.g., Sims 3 can be played online or offline), but rather the focus is on the preservation of offline single player components over the online components.

Digital Species: Gaming

Trend for 2023:

No Change

Consensus Decision

Added to List: 2019

(rescoped 2023)

Trend for 2024:

No Change

Previously: Critically Endangered

Imminence of Action

Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment in one year.

Significance of Loss

The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on a large group of people and sectors.

Effort to Preserve | Inevitability

It would require a major effort to prevent or reduce losses in this group, including the development of new preservation tools or techniques.

Examples

Sims 3, Planescape: Torment, Hades, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

‘Practically Extinct’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Lack of skills, commitment or policy from corporate owners; complex hardware dependencies or bespoke hardware; dependence on obsolete, low usage operating systems with no emulation pathway; uncertainty over IPR or the presence of orphaned works; use of older magnetic media; loss of underlying code or gaming engine.

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Emulation pathway; source code; trusted repository; large user community; IPR supportive of preservation; strong documentation.

2023 Review

This entry, alongside the ‘Games with Online Play Components’ entry, was created from rescoping the previous ‘Old or Non-current Video Games’ entry as part of the 2023 Bit List review. It was rescoped to highlight the differences in preserving offline components as opposed to online components in video games, specifically a lack of dependence on servers.

2024 Interim Review

The 2024 Council agreed these risks remain on the same basis as before, with no significant trend towards even greater or reduced risk (‘No change’ to trend).

Additional Comments

Whilst this has the same risk classification as the Games with Online Play Components entry, the risk could be considered to be slightly lesser due to the lack of reliance on servers as well as examples of games having their online services shut down but players still being able to access the offline game modes/features, such as the case with Nintendo discontinuing online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software in early April 2024 where they explicitly state that “Players will still be able to use features and game modes that do not require online communication”.

This entry is also interlinked with the entries covering games played on different hardware (Console games, PC games and smartphone games entries) as the risks can change based on this

Case Studies or Examples:

Nintendo (2023) ‘Announcement of Discontinuation of Online Services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Software’. Available at: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Nintendo-3DS-2DS/Connecting-to-the-Internet/Announcement-of-Discontinuation-of-Online-Services-for-Nintendo-3DS-and-Wii-U-Software-2455285.html [accessed 24 October 2023]

See also:

The Play It Again: Preserving Australian Videogame History of the 1990s (Play It Again 2) project, which builds on the original Play It Again project focused on curating a collection of Australasian games of the 1980s. This second iteration of Play It Again was assembled with the aim of building a collection of significant 1990s Australian videogames for the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), preserving these and evaluating relevant emulation platforms, including EaaSI to determine their efficacy for accessing born digital artefacts. See: Play It Again Project (n.d.) ‘About’. Available at: https://playitagainproject.com/; and (2024) Play It Again: Preserving Australian Videogame History of the 1990s, Digital Preservation Awards 2024. Available at: https://www.dpconline.org/events/digital-preservation-awards/the-finalists-award-for-research-and-innovation?view=article&id=5286:dpa2024-finalists-ri-play-it-again&catid=100:digital-preservation-awards [accessed 06 September 2024]
Arneil, C. (2024) International Video Game Preservation Survey Report, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Australian Government. Available at: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/international-video-games-preservation [accessed 22 October 2024]
ACMI (2022), ‘Australian cultural institutions unite to collect videogames’. Available at: https://www.acmi.net.au/about/media/media-releases/australian-cultural-institutions-unite-to-collect-videogames/ [accessed 24 October 2023]
The Videogame Heritage Society, led by the National Videogame Museum, founded in 2022 to bring together organizations and collectors working with videogames. It provides advocacy, expertise, and support in collecting, preserving and displaying video games. See National Video Museum (2020) ‘Videogame Heritage Society’. Available at: https://thenvm.org/about/vhs/ [accessed 24 October 2023]
The Video Game History Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to preserving and teaching the history of video games. See Video Game History Foundation (n.d.), ‘Mission’. Available at: https://gamehistory.org/our-mission/ [accessed 24 October 2023]
The British Film Institute's “Embracing a wider screen culture” strategy notes the cultural significance of video games and states that they intend to embark on sector research, engagement and knowledge exchange (including on the preservation of video games and digital media). See BFI (n.d.) ‘Embracing a wider screen culture’. Available at: https://blog.bfi.org.uk/long-read/our-ambitions/embracing-a-wider-screen-culture/ [accessed 24 October 2023].