Here at Hit Save, we believe that the game preservation community at large can do more for the cause than any one organization can ever do alone. The hard part of becoming a member of the community is often just figuring out where to start: which museums you can visit, which guides to read, which communities to join, and which tools actually help.

With that in mind, we're excited to announce (a relaunch of) preserve.games: a portal that connects people to the wider video game preservation ecosystem. Think of it as gateway (or link lists, for all of you who used the Internet in the 90s), where whether you're a curious newcomer, a researcher, a collector, or someone who's been dumping and scanning for years, you will be able to find the organizations, guides, communities, museums, archives, and open source projects that make preservation possible.

What's on the site?

With preserve.games we bring together resources from around the world:

  • Organizations working on preservation, from nonprofits and museums to national libraries and research centers
  • Visit in person locations and institutions, so you can find museums and collections you can actually walk into and have fun visiting
  • Guides for dumping, scanning, and getting started with preservation work (including our other sites like Dumping.Guide, Scanning.Guide, and Preservation.Guide)
  • Communities where people coordinate, teach, and share knowledge
  • Resources such as databases, wikis, archives, prototype research sites, and industry reporting
  • Open source software, dumping tools, and emulators that keep games playable and verifiable

You can filter by category and by continent, which hopefully makes it much easier to discover work happening near you, or if you're looking to build a contact network with like-minded people on the other side of the world.

Why did we make this?

Video games have been part of our culture for over 50 years, and they've never been more popular than they are today. But unlike many other art forms, preserving game history is still largely underfunded and community driven.

A lot of incredible work is already happening, but it's important to understand that it's all spread across dozens of projects, organizations, Discord servers, museums, wikis, and many personal sites. If you've ever asked "where do I even begin?" or "who else is doing this kind of work?", we hope that preserve.games serves as a good starting point for you.

Help us grow and improve!

The portal is only as useful as the community behind it, so if you know an organization, guide, tool, community, or resource we should list, please suggest it here. We review every suggestion, and look forward to growing the catalog with your help! Additionally, if you are part of an organization or group that's already listed and want to change your description or opt out entirely, please reach out to us at hello@hitsave.org.

And of course, if you want to chat about preservation, history, dumping, scanning, or just cool games in general, come hang out with us on our Discord. We'd love to hear from you!

As always, Hit Save! is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We're all volunteers and funded by people who care about this work. If you like what we're doing, we'd be thrilled if you'd consider supporting us on Patreon or via PayPal. Every little bit helps.

Now go check it out, find some new rabbit holes, and maybe find a new project to get involved with :)

Thank you

Also, this is my last blog post as Executive Director for Hit Save!
I started as a co-founder in early 2020 before the pandemic hit, then I took over the reigns as Executive Director in June, and we finally launched publicly in October 2020.
I've had a fantastic time steering the organization over the past 6 years. I've met and talked to so many of you wonderful people, I've interviewed game developers, organized events, fundraised, managed partnerships, scanned, dumped, handled our physical archive, it's been a fantastic time where I've learnt so much, and I am honored to have been a part of it.
You are all in good hands with the amazing current leadership 😄

I will still be in the community, and hope to still run into you at future events and silly Discord conversations 🤗

Thank you, with all my heart, to the Hit Save! community. You rock.