CD Projekt-Owned GOG Begins Preservation Program to Ensure the Longevity of Fallout, The Witcher, and More

A total of 108 games are currently included in the GOG Preservation Program in a list also containing Dragon Age Origins, System Shock 2, The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, Legacy of Kain: Defiance, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, and Mad Max. GOG will add more games to the list over time.

“In a world of rapid technological change, we see the urgent need to save video games from
vanishing,” it added. “The GOG Preservation Program is committed to keeping beloved classics alive and
playable for future generations.

“Our goal is for all games, whether recent or classic, to eventually become part of the Preservation Program. For a game to qualify for the Program, our team must run it through many quality tests. If these tests fail, our team updates and improves the game until it matches our quality standards. Only then, we stamp the game with our Preservation Program and grant it Good Old Game status.

“There is a long backlog of classic games available on GOG that may already qualify for the program, but our team has not been able to confirm that yet. We aim to support as many games as possible, but it’s not always entirely up to us.”

This is a growing concern for video game fans worldwide who worry about games new and old losing functionality as time goes on. A chief example comes in The Crew, which Ubisoft removed from sale and took offline in March. This means The Crew, which was released in 2014, can no longer be played in any capacity, now or in the future. It no longer exists.

The Crew was an online-only game and therefore part of a category perhaps more at risk of delisting, but even single-player games are increasingly becoming at risk. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, for example, is a purely single-player game that launched only partly on-disc. It otherwise required a download for the complete game, and therefore its physical version cannot exist without an internet connection.

GOG said it wants hundreds of games to enter the GOG Preservation Program by the end of 2025, and that it currently has a long backlog of games currently being evaluated. Each game must pass through many quality tests before it is deemed of a high enough standard to enter the GOG Preservation Program. Games which fail will be improved upon until it matches GOG’s standards.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.