We are super excited to announce the launch of Hit Save!, a registered 501(c)3 non-profit focused on the preservation of video games, their history, and related physical and digital materials. Hit Save! was founded early 2020, and we are focused on driving and assisting preservation efforts worldwide.

Our mission statement is:

"To advocate for, initiate, support, and maintain video game preservation efforts through community-driven projects"

Our current focus areas are:

  • long-term methodologies for preserving physical printed media
  • facilitation of recorded (both written & audio) interviews with
    people within the game development area
  • long-term strategy for preserving digital media

Through these efforts we will help to ensure that both current and future generations will be able to research video games, their history, and the stories of the people who made them.

As part of our strategy for long-term physical media preservation, we are officially launching Scanning.Guide today!
The guide is a community driven hub to help volunteers get the information they need when learning and refining their scanning efforts. In order to get involved with the Scanning Guide, you can register a free account. We'd also encourage you to join us on Discord :)

One of our other initiatives which ties into the facilitation of recorded interviews, is the Indie Preservation Project. We will be interviewing indie developers from around the industry, big and small, to document their unique game development process and ensure that their stories, their ideas, and their motivation will be available for others to enjoy and learn from for years to come. If you are an indie developer or publisher and you would like us to interview you or your team, send us an email!

And yes, while the title of this blog has been used thousands of times already, we really do mean it! We are a nonprofit based in the US, but we are set up and ready to support international preservation efforts. If you are an organization or someone living anywhere in the world, we would love to hear from you about any preservation projects you are working towards, especially where collaboration could be beneficial.

So, how do you get in touch with us? We have an open Discord, although some channels are only available to our Patreon supporters. We invite you all to join us and chat about video games, preservation, history, and everything in between! If you prefer email please reach out to us at hello@hitsave.org, we'd love to hear from you!

We are extremely thankful to all of our supporters, if you would like to
support our global preservation efforts please head over to Patreon and choose a tier that you're comfortable with.

Our leadership team:

Jonas Rosland - Executive Director

A video games and computing aficionado ever since his first foray into this magical world through his first computer, the ZX Spectrum in the late 80s. A
community builder at heart, his roles as Open Source Community
Manager and previously Developer Advocate has led to a decade-long
journey focused on helping people get organized, involved, and
refine their technical and marketing skills.

Natalia Portillo - Chief Technology Officer

Technical Architect and Lead Developer for Aaru, codes while hearing dark music, tinkers fearlessly with a soldering iron, thinks computing history deserves the same treatment as natural history and is pursuing this goal since the turn of the century.

Amanda Farough - Director of Communications

Amanda has been covering the game industry as a journalist and entertainment
writer for the past 10 years with an emphasis on indie games. She's
worked as a lead editor, managing editor, and editor-in-chief over
the years that she's been writing. These days, she's co-host and
producer on Virtual Economy and co-host on the Engaged Family Gaming podcast.

Dustin Hubbard - Founding Board Member

Founder of Gaming Alexandria and enjoys doing game preservation of all forms. Specializes mainly in scanning but has experience in many other areas too. Sees digitization of video game materials as the current best way to share and safely preserve video game related materials and make them accessible to all.

Anthony Perkins - Founding Board Member

An avid gaming enthusiast with a passion for collecting, researching, and
documenting video games and related materials. Anthony is dedicated to building and supporting community efforts, and has worked with a number of formal and informal organizations to foster collaboration and coordination of preservation goals. He is a firm believer in the power of small acts and supporting others.

Ted DiNola - Founding Board Member

Ted has been a game developer in AAA, social mobile, and the independent developer community for over a decade, and currently provides deep technical
and design feedback at Oculus. He is a huge proponent for the proactive archiving of new content as it's created. Video games as a medium constantly forget huge parts of their past, and it's up to the developers of today to make sure their work can stick around to build a stronger foundation for the creators of tomorrow.

Special thanks are in order for fantastic work and inspiration:

With that, an enormous THANK YOU goes out to the global preservation
community, and we look forward to collaborating with you!

Jonas Rosland
Executive Director @ Hit Save!