DoesItPlay: Pouring The Foundation In Gaming’s Bomb Shelter
DoesItPlay is an international community that works on physical video game preservation. They test retail releases to see if they are built to stand the test of time. In the coming decade, when the games we are playing now no longer have servers hosting patches or downloads, what will still work? What games will be worth nothing more than the discs they are printed on? What games can be filed away in the library to be enjoyed for the next 50 years? Likewise, what games use a DRM that will not even be around by the end of this console generation? DoesItPlay has you covered.
The DoesItPlay team consists of around 15 people. They run a prominent X/Twitter account that gives updates on broken unpatched new releases. In addition to games that require downloads. They also publish reports on their website, doesitplay.org. The project was started in October 2019 by Jon Doyle, now founder, CEO, and Creative Director of Lost in Cult. DoesItPlay began as a passion project. Yet quickly gained traction as more and more players passionate about game preservation joined.
DoesItPlay gained a big following after the Sony CBOMB (CMOS + Bomb) debacle in 2021. It was discovered that the PS3, PS4, and PS5 consoles had a hardware expiration date. Once the battery on the console’s system board dies or needs to be replaced, the console will be required to sync with a PSN server. Not long after the group pushed for change, Sony released an update for the PS4 and PS5.
A&Q With Clemens from DoesItPlay
LOGNET: What inspired you to undertake DoesItPlay It takes a lot of effort to run a Patreon and collect all of this data:
DIP: The reason behind this is simply that video games, like any other art form, are of enormous cultural significance. They massively influence our lives and, therefore, shape our history as a society, just like famous movies, paintings, or music. We believe this makes it imperative to document and preserve that history.
But even thinking short-term a lot of our game preservation concerns are applicable to the here and now. Think about download or authentication servers being unavailable, games getting delisted, patches altering, or removing content. All these things will 100 % create preservation issues in the future but can result in issues for the end customer at any moment in the present as well.
LOGNET: When it comes to game preservation, I see so many problems today. This past month we had the Alan Wake 2 release, when casual consumers go to the store to buy a game for Halloween, it will not be there, never mind 20 years from now. Then you have the old argument from the Xbox One era, “What about military players who may not have access to broadband.” Along with the ongoing problem with licensed games, we see games like the PS4 and Xbox One ports of Marvel Ultimate Alliance and MUA2, come and go from digital storefronts on a year-to-year basis. What do you think is the biggest problem we have today?
DIP: You can’t nail it down to a single issue. From our perspective, preservation ideally means eternal availability and public access. And you can immediately see where this ideal hits several big roadblocks in the current gaming landscape.
On the company side, we see a constant push towards digital-only distribution and consolidation. The aim is to fully control supply and access. In addition, this leads to hardware designed in ways that make preservation impossible. Once the necessary servers go down, you will never be able to set up any Xbox One or Series console or any PS5 Slim disc drive, should you need to in the future.
While Xbox also does it to bind people to their ecosystem, the real reason behind the authentication requirement of the recently released detachable disc drive for the new PS5 model is different. Contrary to a widely parrotted explanation that DMCA ruling forced Sony to do it, there seems to be no indication that DMCA section 1201 directly mandates such a requirement. After talking to lawyers, we concluded that it rather is a proactive measure against potential piracy and/or a precautionary measure to not enable anything that could get Sony in trouble regarding any result of tampering with the drive. I’m not an expert on legal matters, but it shows another problem with preservation already.
We still lack legislation that makes it legal to preserve games along the ideals we stated before. Or that makes it illegal to create devices that are destined to become e-waste at some point. EU legislation forcing Apple to adopt the USB-C standard could work as a precedent for change, but someone still has to go through that process.
Another huge challenge is to get support from the public and from consumers. For many, preservation concerns will never manifest and they are simply dismissed as fake outrage or boomer talk. They see tiny blinks of the issues when they get booted out of a Gran Turismo 7 race during an internet outage or when they can’t join multiplayer lobbies because a billion-dollar company didn’t provide enough server capacity at launch, but after a brief outcry and a while playing the game, many players simply move on and play something else.
It takes time to understand what this medium does for our society and what value it holds. As a kid, I was just the same. The next Tomb Raider came along and I dropped Metal Gear Solid on the spot. Oh, GTA 3 is going to be 3D? Bye, Lara. Oh, Lara is HD now? Later, Liberty City. Only now, after playing games for several decades I was able to take a step back and see what this medium has evolved into and how it impacts our society. Thankfully, more and more people realize it as well, but there’s still the clinch with those who rightfully want nothing but occasional entertainment.
Modern Problems
LOGNET: What are some modern games that should be fixed? As in all of the patches and all of the updates on a complete physical release.
DIP: The long answer wouldn’t fit this blog, probably. . . The short answer: Every game and none of them. In terms of preservation, every game and every version should be documented. Personally, I’m disappointed that Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t complete its redemption arc with a complete physical release on all platforms. I also feel sorry for games like The Callisto Protocol, as there was a lot of ambition behind it, yet the quality aspect fell flat on launch. Both Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 could use a re-release. And just for good measure, I throw every single fighting game in there as well. So many of those live as service games that will never be complete again, once those packages aren’t available to download anymore.
LOGNET: It hasn’t been all bad the past few years. I noticed that when I played God of War Ragnarök, there was no day-one update. Then we have Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth coming out on two discs. Those are two historically critical games and having them filed away in the vault will be great for video game history and preservation for the next 50 years. Who have been some other publishers which have honored releasing complete and finished games on disc?
DIP: (Not so) Funny side note, God of War Ragnarök had a potential progression blocker in its disc build, but not everyone encountered it and it could be avoided, so it was still critically acclaimed, similar to a few other high-profile titles.
Guerrilla Games have done great with both their Horizon games, but the second one also really needed a re-release. Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is also a very welcome re-release, although that game still receives even more content. Weirdly enough, CD Projekt Red did great with their complete editions of The Witcher 3, despite the recent disappointment with Cyberpunk on PS5. Their three-disc version of the game for Xbox on the other hand is great to see. Much like Baldur’s Gate 3 getting the proper physical treatment as well.
But I also want to shout out something that still not many people are aware of, probably. Nintendo Switch games get re-released quite often with updated cartridges. This basically includes all first-party games, but also a lot of other releases. We’ve partnered with a dedicated group of people called “Nintendo Revised” who specialize in finding and documenting these re-releases.
LOGNET: Who would you say is the worst publisher when it comes to game preservation?
DIP: Again, hard to name just one. It is an absolute shame how Microsoft treats its own first-party titles. Activision Blizzard is just as much of a headache. A lot of the prominent names had an equal amount of wins and losses at the same time. For instance, Square Enix publishes outstanding quality with its Final Fantasy games. On the other side they also did things like Life is Strange 2.
LOGNET: When do these issues start? The PS3 and Xbox 360 era?
DIP: You’re hinting at the start of “release now, patch later” on the console there, right? That already started on PC long before PS3 and Xbox 360, but it wasn’t as actively pursued as it is now. The economic situation nowadays made things more complicated. I truly believe when companies say that making games has become more complicated and more expensive. Customer expectations have increased as well over the last two console generations. That creates a downward spiral that someone needs to break at some point. It’s just not sustainable.
On The Wii U and 3DS eShop Closing
LOGNET: In a major “I told you so” moment for us, the Wii U and 3DS shops have closed for new sales, Nintendo says they will keep the store open for re-downloading, “for the foreseeable future.” It is pretty clear to me that this is not an indefinite timetable and many of these games will be lost forever without illegal data retention methods like ROM and emulator sites. If the government were to step in and say, “Hey if you want to have digital sales, you need to support them for X years”. How many years do you think digital storefronts should be required to offer re-downloads?
DIP: Until the last customer died, that would be the correct answer. For obvious reasons, this isn’t a reasonable demand. I could imagine a scenario that ensures re-downloads for two more hardware generations after the first release. In any case, there should be a requirement to guarantee availability beyond that. Maybe under some sort of Creative Commons license or as a hand-over to a public library.
LOGNET: If Nintendo were to shut down the 3DS store and the Wii U shop in 2025, what do you think the most significant loss would be?
DIP: Ask 20 people and they will name 20 different games. There are so many gems hidden in there. To us, every game lost is a loss.
DoesItPlay On The Worst Offenders
LOGNET: What was the most frustrating physical release to you this console generation?
DIP: For their significance in the subject, most of the PlayStation first-party releases this generation. We’ve noticed a decline in quality compared to the PS4 era, which is a bit concerning, given that Sony used to be very reliable with their disc builds. Also, as mentioned before, The Callisto Protocol could have been a major debut for the studio. Hard to not name Hogwarts Legacy as well, one of the most anticipated games, only to release with a hard-coded prompt for a download after its tutorial.
LOGNET: What was the most surprising physical release of this console generation in terms of having all of that content in the physical retail package?
DIP: Two that are yet to be released. Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition and Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox. Both releases going the extra length of a multi-disc release on a platform that otherwise disregards game preservation on so many levels is certainly a welcome sight.
LOGNET: What would be one indie game you wish got a physical release?
DIP: A multi-disc game compilation that holds Sable, Norco, Night Call, Gibbon – Beyond the Trees, Maize, Rollerdrome, Everbody’s Gone to the Rapture, Maquette, Pyre, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, ORD and Beat Saber
LOGNET: Are you worried at all about physical games going away? For me, I try to have a healthy mindset and think of it like collecting vinyl records. Where maybe they go away and come back. There are thousands of games released every year, if you are not going to give us something we can play 20 to 30 years from now, and we forget about you, that is your problem. Why some publishers don’t see this is beyond me.
DIP: The current direction of the industry certainly is worrying. For now, physical games still sell okay, although their market share is obviously decreasing. That being said, people will always value the haptic experience. They will always value sharing something with others. And they will always value reselling on a second-hand market. If you consider all this, there will always be a market for physical products. And as long as there is money to be made, there will be someone willing to do what it takes to make that money. People often point to the market share statistics and claim that the smaller part is dying because the bigger part becoming larger. I ask you, even if it is 90:10 % at some point, will you just throw away 100 bucks because you have 900 on the other hand?
