VGHF teams up with Preservica to launch new Digital Archive

The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games. Unlike traditional archives, VGHF focuses on born-digital and hard-to-find materials, such as development files, promotional artwork, and out-of-print publications, that are often stored in obscure or obsolete formats and risk being lost over time.

Initially, VGHF posted their materials online through Google Drive. While accessible, the platform lacked critical Digital Preservation features, such as format migration, fixity checks and secure long-term storage. Recognizing the need for more robust infrastructure, the team migrated to Preservica, gaining professional-grade Digital Preservation tools and a scalable foundation for managing complex digital assets.

The new Digital Archive at the VGHF Library debuted with a curated collection of game development artifacts, promotional materials, and over 1,500 searchable, out-of-print magazines. Enhanced with a custom-built interface using its API, the platform offers fast, browser-based access to materials while safeguarding them for future researchers and enthusiasts.

Since its launch, the online archive has attracted tens of thousands of visitors and recently surpassed one million requests - underscoring the growing demand for accessible, well-preserved video game history.

The Challenge: Pioneering a Digital-First Approach to Video Game Preservation

Before adopting a formal Digital Preservation strategy, the VGHF managed its growing collection in a largely improvised way—uploading materials wherever it seemed convenient at the time. Rather than a centralized archive, files were scattered across various platforms, with no consistent structure or long-term conservation plan.

Google Drive was used briefly, but only as one of many temporary storage solutions. This distributed, piecemeal approach made it difficult to manage complex file formats and left the collection vulnerable to loss, degradation, or inaccessibility over time.

To protect these materials and make them more discoverable, VGHF initiated a search for a purpose-built platform that could grow in line with their evolving needs. From the outset, the VGHF team committed to a "digital-first" approach, prioritizing access, searchability and engagement over traditional archival models that often prioritize storage and cataloging.

"We, as an organization, prioritize digital access. And that's somewhat unique in our space," Salvador explained. "Most libraries and archives follow a more traditional model: things get cataloged, put on a shelf and digitized when possible. We wanted it to be digital from the outset."

The Solution: ​​A Customizable, Digital Preservation Platform for Video Game History

After evaluating their needs and the capabilities of available tools, VGHF selected Preservica’s Professional Edition for its balance of enterprise-grade preservation features and flexibility for customization.

Preservica’s robust Digital Preservation infrastructure provided the essential foundation VGHF was looking for—supporting secure long-term storage, automated fixity checks and reliable format validation—while also offering the extensibility they needed to build a tailored user interface on top of it.

At the core of VGHF’s approach was a commitment to high-quality metadata. From the beginning, the team invested substantial effort into creating a thorough and consistent catalog, documenting when items were published, who created them and adding rich contextual information to help users understand what they were viewing. This metadata work formed the backbone of their library. It was essential in supporting discovery across their collections, which span everything from rare development materials to out-of-print industry magazines.

Active Digital Preservation and Flexible Metadata

Preservica’s support for detailed metadata schemas and strong catalog integration capabilities allowed VGHF to associate their data directly with digital assets in the preservation system. Their architecture was deliberately designed around two core components: a catalog interface built on ArchivesSpace that surfaces their structured metadata and a front end powered by Preservica that hosts and serves the digital content itself.

“When we launched our library, we structured it with two components: a catalog that acts as the metadata front end through ArchivesSpace and the Preservica front end, which houses our digital materials,” said Salvador. “What we didn’t initially anticipate was how well Preservica’s seamless integration with ArchivesSpace would support both our metadata and content delivery, allowing us to provide a unified, user-friendly experience without compromising on quality."

Powerful APIs and Customization

One of the most impactful parts of the solution was the team’s creative use of Preservica’s API to enhance the search and navigation experience. While Preservica offers out-of-the-box capabilities, VGHF was able to dive deeper, using the API to build a fully customized search interface tailored specifically for video game historians.

"As we explored the Preservica API, we realized just how much control we had—not just basic filters like subject or date, but the ability to fine-tune search logic with wildcards, field negation and automation,” Salvador explained. “That allowed us to build a search interface and experience tailored specifically to video game historians, like browsing magazines chronologically with just a few clicks."

This level of customization was critical. Researchers frequently asked for features like the ability to sort magazine content chronologically—a deceptively complex function that required both accurate metadata and flexible search logic. By leveraging the API, VGHF was able to automate this process based on metadata fields, enabling users to navigate large sets of materials more naturally and intuitively.

The decision to work with Preservica, rather than building a custom archival system or relying on off-the-shelf components, proved to be a major strategic advantage. Instead of spending limited time and resources on building and maintaining core preservation infrastructure, VGHF was able to concentrate on enriching their collections and improving user experience.

By pairing Preservica’s preservation-first foundation with powerful integration options and metadata support, VGHF created a platform that not only safeguards the past but also invites users to explore it in meaningful new ways.

The Results: Freeing Up Resources for Digitization, Access and Future Projects

By offloading backend complexity to Preservica, VGHF was able to dedicate more energy to digitization, metadata enhancement, and user-facing features that matter most to their mission.

“We put a lot of effort into digitizing materials, making them searchable and accessible, and converting them into standard formats, even extracting files from old disk formats when needed,” said Salvador. “With Preservica handling everything after that, we’re able to focus our time and energy on future projects rather than getting bogged down in managing files one by one.”

Handling Novel Digital Formats with Ease

Preservica’s flexibility was also crucial in preparing VGHF to handle novel and complex digital formats, such as old development files, CDs, and backups. A notable example was a CD donated by a game developer that contained a full backup of their hard drive, including timelines, spreadsheets, work files, and more.

“It included all their timelines, spreadsheets and work files; an incredible repository of information. We did not have to figure out how to present any of that,” Salvador said. "Knowing how Preservica works and what it does, we were able to do some checks on all the files, make sure they worked right, upload them, and Preservica took care of the rest in terms of access."

This seamless process enabled VGHF not only to preserve files but also to manage complex digital content with ease. Although more challenging formats, like video game ROMs and emulation files, have yet to be fully addressed, the system is already prepared for future expansion. “The foundational system is in place to tackle these novel formats, thanks in part to early conversations with Preservica’s team, who are excited by the idea of supporting such specialized digital assets,” Salvador explained.

By streamlining the process of ingesting and managing these unique digital formats, Preservica enabled VGHF to focus on digitizing new materials and maintaining an accessible, user-friendly digital archive for the video game history community.

Supporting Access and Innovation

Preservica also simplified the onboarding of digital formats that could otherwise become huge headaches. This capability is especially valuable as VGHF works with diverse file types that are not typically seen in traditional archival systems, including game development materials, promotional art, and behind-the-scenes documentation.

The ability to integrate these formats into a cohesive and accessible system freed up valuable time for the VGHF team, allowing them to enhance their digitization efforts while still maintaining high standards of preservation and access. As a result, VGHF has successfully built a rich digital library that will continue to grow and evolve with the gaming community’s contributions, turning a complex archival challenge into a dynamic and easily navigable resource.

With the foundation now in place, the VGHF team is well-positioned to tackle more complex preservation needs in the future, knowing that Preservica’s systems can adapt to accommodate both traditional and emerging digital formats.

The Enduring Impact of VGHF's Digital Library

Three years into the project, VGHF’s digital library is more than just an archive. It is a living, growing portal into the cultural and creative history of video games.

If you’re looking to safeguard your organization’s critical digital assets while offering users an intuitive and engaging experience, Preservica can help. Make your history accessible, searchable and impactful for generations to come. Reach out today to discover how Preservica can help you preserve your digital legacy.