The world's largest publicly accessible video game archive is facing closure. The International Computer Games Collection (ICS) is being liquidated because its €1,5 million in government funding has expired and the federal government is not providing any further funding.
60.000 games without a shared future
The shareholders of ICS voted unanimously to close the facility. Since 2012, it had amassed over 60,000 games on cartridges, floppy disks, CDs, and Blu-rays, supported by organizations including the USK (Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body) and the Computer Games Museum Berlin.
The physical discs and consoles are now being returned to their respective institutions. What will happen to the painstakingly built, shared database is completely unclear. The infrastructure is currently undergoing legal review. A disaster for gaming culture.
The Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space, which only took over games policy in 2025, is responsible for the withdrawal of funding. It is headed by Dorothee Bär (CSU). The ministry claims that continued funding is not economically viable. Berlin's Senator for Economic Affairs, Franziska Giffey, had already hinted at the impending end at the beginning of the year. It was to no avail.
A slap in the face for gaming history
For us gamers, this is disastrous news. Gaming history is already dying a quiet death. A study by the Video Game History Foundation shows that 87 percent of classic games are no longer available in stores or digitally in the US. They've simply vanished. Archives are the last hope against oblivion. If the government pulls the plug here, it abandons our culture to digital decay.
The timing couldn't be worse. Sony simultaneously... approvedto completely discontinue the production of physical PlayStation discs by 2028. If games only exist on servers that can be shut down at any time, government archives are vital. Politicians clearly don't understand this. A grave mistake.
The closure of the ICS is a damning indictment of cultural policy. While the German government pumps millions into film and literature funding, the rescue of our digital gaming heritage fails due to paltry sums. If physical media disappear, the history of our hobby will also disappear without archives.
What do you think: Should the preservation of old video games be legally protected and funded in the same way as the preservation of historical monuments or classic literature?
