Even if this were the future of emulation, we need a lot more than emulators for anything to really be considered the "future of video game preservation".
Modern games so frequently require connections to servers - often needlessly. For example, Ubisoft is shutting down the servers for 2014's The Crew on March 31, 2024. That's less than 10 years after release. When the servers are shut down, the entire game will stop working - including the lengthy single player campaign. No emulator will bring that game back from the dead.
In a similar story, Square Enix recently announced that they will be shutting down Nier: Reincarnation's servers in April 2024, less than just 3 years after its worldwide release in 2021. And yes, it's a single player game. My wife is a fan of the Nier franchise and has been playing Nier: Reincarnation since it's release. In a couple months she'll never be able to play it again. Square also pulled the plug on Babylon's Fall in 2023, less than just 1 year after it's 2022 release.
If you're concerned about game preservation, be prepared for the disaster coming soon. FPGAs won't be enough.
While this is being done intentionally now, it has been an issue for over a decade. - And it hasn't kept people from preserving these games in the slightest.
Even now, there is a lot of work being put into reviving games that required master servers etc. by means of reverse engineering and essentially cracking. I do however agree with you that this is not the way it should I be and I still think developers and publishers should be legally bound to either allow software that they sell to function indefinitely or release the server code when they shut down the official servers.
I think "in the slightest" may be a bit of an exaggeration. Not every game with a required server connection has been resurrected. And as this problem continues to escalate, I'm doubtful that hackers and preservationists will be able to keep up.
I play Overwatch with my sons and not only can you not run a personal server, the game frequently has fundamental mechanic changes for certain characters (and all characters in this Tuesday’s update). The Overwatch of a year ago is a very different game than is now or will be a year from now.
If someone was to provide an Open Overwatch server, I don’t even know what it would look like at this point since game clients aren’t available for particular versions (maybe on PC, but not console). When Microsoft is done with Overwatch it’ll be gone.
I actually didn't count live service games like Overwatch in this category, to be honest.
Overwatch is deliberately designed as an ever evolving service instead of a product you purchase. With games like these, there is no way to ever archive them, since there is no canonical state in which the game remains for any sensible amount of time.
I understand that this is a cause of frustration and that there's a lot of issues with this but I'd keep those separate from one-time-purchase products which fortunately is still what games mostly are [...for now].
> Square Enix recently announced that they will be shutting down Nier: Reincarnation's servers in April 2024, less than just 3 years after its worldwide release in 2021. And yes, it's a single player game.
Hmm? The Nier games are always online? I keep meaning to try them (although by now i probably have to buy used discs). You're saying there's no point any more?
Nier: Reincarnation is a mobile game. If you're planning on playing Nier: Automata or Nier: Replicant, those are still available for the forseeable future.
And amazing. I normally don’t play games through multiple times in a row, but I played Replicant through Al endings and then finished the endings in Autamata immediately after.
Modern games so frequently require connections to servers - often needlessly. For example, Ubisoft is shutting down the servers for 2014's The Crew on March 31, 2024. That's less than 10 years after release. When the servers are shut down, the entire game will stop working - including the lengthy single player campaign. No emulator will bring that game back from the dead.
In a similar story, Square Enix recently announced that they will be shutting down Nier: Reincarnation's servers in April 2024, less than just 3 years after its worldwide release in 2021. And yes, it's a single player game. My wife is a fan of the Nier franchise and has been playing Nier: Reincarnation since it's release. In a couple months she'll never be able to play it again. Square also pulled the plug on Babylon's Fall in 2023, less than just 1 year after it's 2022 release.
If you're concerned about game preservation, be prepared for the disaster coming soon. FPGAs won't be enough.