> The archive is for everyone, and we welcome all inquiries. However, we prioritize requests that support gaming culture, gaming history, and the games industry. /../ While the archive is not open to the public, we hope /../
The archive is for everyone, but it's only for these groups of people, and it's also not open to the public... Yikes.
I'd much rather support initiatives that actually make the games and software required to run them open to the public, like GOG.com and Internet Archive. This feels like a one-way transaction - society puts games in, society gets nothing back.
This is how most archives work. You can't just have a stroll around for the craic. And there's no point really, because it's not a museum – most people would be bored quite fast, unless you have a specific reason.
GoG makes games available for purchase, but on multiple occasions they've sold games where functionality has been stripped out, or they sell something that straight up doesn't work.
This isn’t how most serious archives work. Archiving media is sensitive, careful work which takes time and space. Providing tours is at very least expensive and at worst a serious risk to the collection.
Yes, they're also currently $2 billion dollars in debt and are attempting to split into 3 separate companies.
"Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends" - The legal successor to Embracer. For their triple A studios and major ip rights (they currently own the rights to LOTR-based games)
"Coffee Stain & Friends" - For their indie studios. (Named after their most successful indie studio, the people behind Goat Simulator and Satisfactory)
Asmodee - Their board and card game group. They took out a 900 million euro "financial agreement" with Embracer to pay back part of their debts. Officially a separate entity as of February.
Embracer group has been around for a while but, in recent years, they acquired far more companies than they could realistically do anything with because they thought they could flip them for a profit. They failed and had to take a hatchet to much of what they acquired, pissing off fans of companies that were either completely obliterated or hollowed out and outsourced.
>* Our mission is to have an archive of physical games as extensive as possible. With the purpose of contributing to the joint preservation of video game culture and history.
Now they're looking for donations to a private collection that will not be open to the public. They likely plan to sell the collection the highest bidder at some point. If they can't find a buyer, they'll bin the lot of it rather than continue to pay storage costs. The employees working for them may believe in what they're doing, but Embracer group now has a history of pulling the rug out from under such people.
--------------
Edit: The archive is based in Sweden, which has a really hopping museum scene. They could make a for-profit museum with these materials and a few talented museologists and it would likely do well. They mention no such plans and that's very odd.
The contributions they're looking for are apparently games and not monetary donations.
What exactly they're doing with the archive isn't stated. The FAQ doesn't explain, other than vague intentions to have the ability to do research and possibly some sort of museum (I think?)
They do state that researchers are welcome to visit and use the material. I think that makes the collection not-entirely-useless to the public. Presumably any research they enable will be published.
> Embracer Games Archive is a part of Embracer Group - the parent company of businesses led by entrepreneurs in PC, console and mobile games, as well as other related media.
They ran around buying and gutting every IP they could get their hands on. Nordic became THQ Nordic, whilst continuing to eat everyone around them, whilst also nearly going bankrupt multiple times, before eventually ditching the name because investors didn't like people noticing just who they were.
They are the group that ate Dark Horse, CoffeeStain, Gearbox, Square Enix, Saber Interactive and so many more.
Today, they are majority-owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
It looks more like they're just hoarding a massive personal collection of games... No mention of if this is open to public.
Or if they're even digitizing the games for some use of preservation. I always feel like when you hoard things in one location like this, one fire or other natural disaster and the entire collection is gone!
Pretty much every game ever published has been digitally preserved already. I don't think you're going to get much out of feeding a binary into a pretraining dataset though.
At least part of the collection, preferedly a rotating part, should be a public exhibit. They can charge an entrance fee, and they will get way more support if there is public awareness compared to a 100% closed shop.
> We aim to assist and grant access to people within the games industry, researchers, schools, and other institutions. While the archive is not open to the public, we hope our website and social media channels will offer insight into the work being done by our team. [1]
Then maybe people within the games industry, researchers, schools, and other institutions can provide those needed contributions. Very poor form to be coming to the public, hat in hand, asking them to help finance your private vidya collection.
now, I have a full SNES collection (without boxes since cardboard is hard to keep up), almost full N64 collection, and on my way to complete Mega Drive and Master System (with boxes) and probably more than halfway through NES games.. bunch of amigas, commodores, spectrums, SGIs, monitors, some exotics like Sam Coupe, Tatung Einstein, Schneider CPCs, etc. but this is on another level.
Future collectors beware though, even though I collected a whole bunch as you can see, at the end of the day I still play either on Analogue's with Everdrive or original machines (RGB of course) with Everdrives. Sometimes even, yes, emulators. If anything, I'd honestly donate to a digital archive and emulator development. Only thing right now that really can't be emulated are CRTs - but I am honestly convinced we're soon close enough if not already 98% there with great 4k OLEDs (like sony A95L series) and some pre-processing. I can tell by the pixels when I'm looking at both A95L and BVM20 and/or B&O TV which I also have, to my wife's disapproval.
this talk with acquisition manager there illuminates a lot of things, including how it started. Back of the envelope calc it looks like to be anywhere between 5-10m euro swing to get it where it is at right now (including space and people). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKXEUG_tKks
No, only cataloguing. I asked them this when I was there January last year. They didn't do this then and if I remember correctly it was because of licensing concerns and also not wanting to open boxes. I know Royal Library in Stockholm digitally archive various media, not sure what Embracer would need to be allowed to do that.
Man, keeping all those games locked away where most can't check them out just feels off. If you're asking for people to donate, at least make it so the public can benefit too.
this will be demolished before 5 years time. physical archives dont work, theyre inefficient and costly. people get bored. the best archive is torrent seeding.
Physical archives have literally worked for thousands of years.
You do have a point in that commercial ventures like Embracer don’t tend to last for very long. Presumably the collection would not be auctioned off piecemeal if the company goes under, but rather sold as a unit to some other entity.
mzajc|9 months ago
> Can I visit the archive?
> The archive is for everyone, and we welcome all inquiries. However, we prioritize requests that support gaming culture, gaming history, and the games industry. /../ While the archive is not open to the public, we hope /../
The archive is for everyone, but it's only for these groups of people, and it's also not open to the public... Yikes.
I'd much rather support initiatives that actually make the games and software required to run them open to the public, like GOG.com and Internet Archive. This feels like a one-way transaction - society puts games in, society gets nothing back.
arp242|9 months ago
giancarlostoro|9 months ago
Zardoz89|9 months ago
https://library.gamehistory.org
rasz|9 months ago
Its Lars Wingefors private collection.
pathartl|9 months ago
ixtli|9 months ago
jasonlotito|9 months ago
[deleted]
forgotTheLast|9 months ago
awkwardpotato|9 months ago
"Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends" - The legal successor to Embracer. For their triple A studios and major ip rights (they currently own the rights to LOTR-based games)
"Coffee Stain & Friends" - For their indie studios. (Named after their most successful indie studio, the people behind Goat Simulator and Satisfactory)
Asmodee - Their board and card game group. They took out a 900 million euro "financial agreement" with Embracer to pay back part of their debts. Officially a separate entity as of February.
[0] https://embracer.com/releases/embracer-group-announces-its-i...
beloch|9 months ago
>* Our mission is to have an archive of physical games as extensive as possible. With the purpose of contributing to the joint preservation of video game culture and history.
Now they're looking for donations to a private collection that will not be open to the public. They likely plan to sell the collection the highest bidder at some point. If they can't find a buyer, they'll bin the lot of it rather than continue to pay storage costs. The employees working for them may believe in what they're doing, but Embracer group now has a history of pulling the rug out from under such people.
--------------
Edit: The archive is based in Sweden, which has a really hopping museum scene. They could make a for-profit museum with these materials and a few talented museologists and it would likely do well. They mention no such plans and that's very odd.
2OEH8eoCRo0|9 months ago
pogue|9 months ago
What exactly they're doing with the archive isn't stated. The FAQ doesn't explain, other than vague intentions to have the ability to do research and possibly some sort of museum (I think?)
https://embracergamesarchive.com/#faq
mpeg|9 months ago
Jolter|9 months ago
zabzonk|9 months ago
very unclear who these people actually are
shakna|9 months ago
They ran around buying and gutting every IP they could get their hands on. Nordic became THQ Nordic, whilst continuing to eat everyone around them, whilst also nearly going bankrupt multiple times, before eventually ditching the name because investors didn't like people noticing just who they were.
They are the group that ate Dark Horse, CoffeeStain, Gearbox, Square Enix, Saber Interactive and so many more.
Today, they are majority-owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
biglyburrito|9 months ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embracer_Group#History
Y_Y|9 months ago
I'm not inclined to trust corporate do-gooding either, but it would be nice to have some detail.
nrb|9 months ago
blharr|9 months ago
Or if they're even digitizing the games for some use of preservation. I always feel like when you hoard things in one location like this, one fire or other natural disaster and the entire collection is gone!
astrange|9 months ago
Jolter|9 months ago
Much easier to get away with such things in the US (it seems).
kmeisthax|9 months ago
integricho|9 months ago
jll29|9 months ago
protocolture|9 months ago
Is there somewhere better, preferably outside the USA?
MyPasswordSucks|9 months ago
Then maybe people within the games industry, researchers, schools, and other institutions can provide those needed contributions. Very poor form to be coming to the public, hat in hand, asking them to help finance your private vidya collection.
1: https://embracergamesarchive.com/#faq
Keyframe|9 months ago
Future collectors beware though, even though I collected a whole bunch as you can see, at the end of the day I still play either on Analogue's with Everdrive or original machines (RGB of course) with Everdrives. Sometimes even, yes, emulators. If anything, I'd honestly donate to a digital archive and emulator development. Only thing right now that really can't be emulated are CRTs - but I am honestly convinced we're soon close enough if not already 98% there with great 4k OLEDs (like sony A95L series) and some pre-processing. I can tell by the pixels when I'm looking at both A95L and BVM20 and/or B&O TV which I also have, to my wife's disapproval.
Keyframe|9 months ago
merbanan|9 months ago
dlundqvist|9 months ago
gitroom|9 months ago
devwastaken|9 months ago
Jolter|9 months ago
You do have a point in that commercial ventures like Embracer don’t tend to last for very long. Presumably the collection would not be auctioned off piecemeal if the company goes under, but rather sold as a unit to some other entity.