The Video Game History Foundation is a nonprofit organization started by Frank Cifaldi. Its main goal is to collect, protect, and share videos, games, and other materials from the past that are related to video games.
History
At the 2016 Game Developers Conference, Cifaldi discussed worries about keeping video games safe for the future. He pointed out that many movies made before 1950 are now lost and cannot be recovered. Cifaldi wondered if early video games might also be lost over time. He compared the way films are preserved today to the lack of similar efforts for video games, saying the games industry is "not doing a good job of keeping its history safe." He noted that The Film Foundation, a group that helps save films, inspired the creation of the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF).
Before VGHF was started, some of its founding members had worked with and supported organizations like the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Videogame Museum, and the Strong National Museum of Play.
VGHF officially began in February 2017. This event included a live video stream with IGN, a popular video game news website.
In January 2022, Phil Salvador became the Library Director at VGHF to lead several projects to save game history. In October 2023, Kelsey Lewin left the position of co-director and left the organization.
Activities
The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) aims to collect, digitize, and preserve the history of video games. The foundation archives a wide range of materials, including video games, source code, design documents, press kits, posters, video tapes, newspapers, and photographs. Special attention is given to promotional materials created during a game’s release, which may not always be preserved as thoroughly as the games themselves. Cifaldi, a representative of the foundation, stated that these materials are valuable for historians, noting, "The greatest discoveries we may find are in items people do not realize are important."
The foundation helps video game museums and archives by donating preserved materials after they are collected. Many items in the foundation’s collection are temporary and are given to permanent homes after being digitized and stored.
A digital library was started shortly after the foundation was created. Cifaldi estimated the project would take several years to complete due to its size. As a temporary solution, the foundation selects items from its internal collection to upload online. Public access to the digital library began in January 2025. The library includes over 30,000 files and media related to video games, such as text archives, magazine articles, and development materials. The foundation also has unprocessed physical items that will eventually be converted into digital formats for wider access.
In August 2025, the VGHF acquired the early video game newsletter Computer Entertainer, which it released under a Creative Commons Attribution license. The newsletter covered North American video games from the early to mid-1980s, including reviews and release dates.
The VGHF has partnered with Wata Games, which evaluates sealed video games for collectors. Wata provides the foundation with details about prototype games it has reviewed, which are added to the foundation’s database.
In October 2020, the foundation launched the Video Game Source Project to collect original source code and other materials from classic games. These items are stored in the foundation’s archives and made available for research. Early additions to the project include The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, and Power Up Baseball, an arcade game developed by Midway in the 1990s but canceled due to poor testing. The foundation also obtained the source code and intellectual property rights to Xcavator, an unreleased NES game. A finished version of the game is planned for release in 2026 to support the foundation’s operations.
In July 2023, the VGHF worked with the Software Preservation Network to study the availability of video games released in the United States before 2010. The study found that only 13.27% of classic games were commercially available, while the remaining 87% were described as "critically endangered." The study examined games for various consoles, including the Game Boy family of handhelds, of which only 5.8% were available for digital purchase. The foundation acknowledged that many games are preserved in libraries and archives, but their distribution is often limited by copyright laws.
The VGHF also collaborated with the Software Preservation Network to request an exemption to section 1201 of the DMCA. This exemption would have allowed libraries and archives to share digital copies of out-of-print games. Work on the petition began in 2021, and it was submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office in October 2024. The proposed exemption was denied.