Games Preservation Can Involve Private Detectives Says GOG

"Part of the problem is that over the last couple of decades, many of the 3,000 games GOG previously restored and ensured could work have already started to become unplayable again. So the plan was to go back over the archive and update the games with more modern solutions and fixes, while promising the "lifetime guarantee." But, as Paczynski puts it, "what we found out when we started working on it is that the games and how they work has deteriorated way faster than we thought.""

"The purpose is to create a hundreds-long list of games that the Polish CD Projekt subsidiary will commit to constantly maintaining, even-it turns out-if the GOG storefront loses the rights to sell them. A lifelong commitment to preserve games, no matter how abandoned they might be by their original publishers."

""To be perfectly honest, it's harder than we thought it would be," Paczynski told the podcast. It's even involved hiring a private detective to identify the owner of a specific game."

GOG launched a Preservation Program to create a long list of games that will receive ongoing maintenance to remain playable on modern systems. The program pledges a lifetime commitment to preserve titles even if storefront rights lapse. Many previously restored games have already become unplayable again, prompting rework across the archive with updated fixes and modern solutions. Challenges include rapid deterioration of compatibility and subtle issues such as controller support, ultra-wide and modern resolution handling, and basic windowing behaviors. The complexity of ownership and technical fixes has made execution significantly harder than initially expected.

Read at Kotaku