Leiden University Centre for Arts

Copyright and Games Preservation: Lessons and Opportunities in De-colonization

This extended abstract examines how copyright law and institutional preservation practices struggle to accommodate video games in a global, post-colonial context.

• Copyright frameworks and heritage institutions were built around static, physical, territorially bounded objects, while digital games require ongoing copies, updates, and platform maintenance, exposing these limitations.
• Digital distribution and 'service' business models mean libraries and archives often hold only licenses rather than ownership, which limits their long-term capacity to preserve games.
• Territorial licensing creates uneven global availability; the authors cite Sony's PlayStation Network restricting access to roughly 85 countries.