Embracer Games Archive is preserving 75000 video games and needs contributions
33 comments
·May 10, 2025mzajc
arp242
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.
rasz
>The archive is for everyone, but it's only for these groups of people, and it's also not open to the public...
Its Lars Wingefors private collection.
DonHopkins
Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors: "I'm sure I deserve a lot of criticism":
https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1cb93xy/embracer_ceo...
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/embracer-ceo-lars-wingefors-im...
forgotTheLast
Isn't that the company that bought the IP to a bunch of games franchises just to kill all ongoing development? Ironic.
beloch
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.
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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.
moogly
> Sweden, which has a really hopping museum scene
Citation needed. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/09/25/s...
https://swedenherald.com/article/tough-economic-situation-fo...
For-profit museums aren't really a thing in Sweden either, because you won't be making a profit, unless you're the Vasa Museum.
pogue
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?)
mpeg
The archive isn't even open to the public, why should the public donate games then?
rubitxxx
It’s like the seed bank, except all the seeds are effectively dead, because no one can use them. But, they have the seeds’ pretty shells and can imagine what plants they once were.
Personally, I think there should be a non-profit that works with non-profits like this, computer and console equipment museums, Internet Archive, and a spacefaring company to ensure that history is protected in a logical way.
ThrowawayR2
What other archives or museums are there for video games that are accepting donations of physical game media? There are probably a lot of HN readers with old games in the attic that are bound for the landfill once they get around to it.
SteveMoody73
Not a museum or archive as such but in the UK there is this https://www.rmcretro.com/
Has a large collection of old systems and games, magazines and anything else they can get hold of. It's also open to visitors.
dtech
I know of one in my small country, I thus assume there's many especially in the US
DonHopkins
The Video Game History Foundation is the real deal.
Their Library Director Phil Salvador is a serious historian, who extensively researched, interviewed people, and wrote a comprehensive deep dive into the history of Maxis's serious games division, Maxis Business Simulations, John Hiles, and SimRefinery.
It was such an widely read, well received investigation, that it led to the recovery of SimRefinery when a reader discovered an old floppy disk of it that had been sitting in a drawer for decades!
https://archive.org/details/sim-refinery
https://gamehistory.org/library-director-phil-salvador/
https://gamehistory.org/ep-11-simrefinery-simulated-by-a-ref...
https://obscuritory.com/sim/when-simcity-got-serious/
zabzonk
> 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.
very unclear who these people actually are
shakna
Embracer started out as Nordic Games.
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.
nrb
Is it too cynical to think they’re just building this to train AI against your donated games?
blharr
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!
biglyburrito
Sorry, but I don't trust Embracer with being a good steward of games in any capacity.
Y_Y
Is there something specific in that corporate saga you're referring to?
I'm not inclined to trust corporate do-gooding either, but it would be nice to have some detail.
stego-tech
The long and short of it is Embracer has spent its entire existence as a consumption entity, buying every IP and studio it could get its hands on, with the intention of being a gaming publisher juggernaut. This was all done on ZIRP-era credit.
They then proceeded to run it into the ground. Waves of layoffs and studio closures, mismanagement, and a credit crunch that ultimately debilitated the company.
In other words, from the outside anyway, it looks like a classic Private Equity layup and cashout.
Do not trust the Embracer Group.
thenthenthen
So their name is a hint at “ Embrace, (extend), and extinguish”?
nomdep
Well, for starters, partially owned by the Saudi state. It might be common to take a lot of money from them, but I personally think it’s morally wrong
DonHopkins
So they embrace game developers, then cut them up into small pieces with a bone saw?
Then they disposed of the Pieces Interactive by feeding them to Piranha Bytes!
integricho
what does the public gain from them?
merbanan
Doesn't seem like they are digitising the media.
dlundqvist
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.
devwastaken
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.
From their FAQ
> 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.