Embracer Group, previously known as THQ Nordic, has been spending some incredible amounts of money purchasing game development studios over the last few years. Some of its notable acquisitions are Gearbox Entertainment, the company behind Borderlands, and Dark Horse Media, the comic book company that own IPs like The Umbrella Academy and The Mask. Most recently, Embracer Group acquired multiple studios from Square Enix, including Crystal Dynamics, the developers of the Tomb Raider reboot games.
With so many companies now owned by Embracer Group, many are expecting big things from the conglomerate in the coming years. Some remain concerned about Embracer Group's growing collection of gaming studios. However, the company wants to assure the video game community that it believes in the medium, as shown by its recent decision to create an Embracer Games Archive, which will hopefully preserve the past of gaming as its future continues to develop.
The Embracer Games Archive was announced, with a new page on the Embracer website revealing not only what the archives were, but why they were made. "Imagine a place where all physical video games, consoles and accessories are gathered at the same place," reads a statement from Embracer Games Archive CEO David Boström. "We believe that games carry a heritage worth celebrating and safeguarding for the future." Embracer Group's gaming archive appears to be an attempt to preserve the history of gaming.
Already, the archive has a sizable collection of over 50,000 games, consoles, and accessories held in Karlstad, Sweden. Even with such a large amount of gaming history already collected, Embracer Group still has plans for expansion. Currently, its main goal is to build a database and begin cataloguing its vast array of gaming history. Gaming preservation is something that many big names in the industry believe to be vital for the future. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has stated that the gaming industry should embrace the need for emulation to preserve older and influential games.
Sony has also shown that it is making steps towards becoming more involved in preserving video game history. As well as including PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP games in its new PlayStation Plus Premium subscription service, Sony has also unveiled a preservation team. Accidentally revealed back in April by a new employee, the Sony preservation team will work on not just dumping raw code into storage, but rather making games playable for even a century after they first launch. Embracer's Game Archive seems to have similar goals, as it is looking to preserve working copies of historical and influential games.
Source: Embracer