John Romero and Jordan Mechner are for the preservation of video games and criticize the cancellation of Game Informer

GameStop’s sudden shutdown of Game Informerwith the immediate cancellation of all the online archives of the newspaper and the removal of the site, has really struck many, so much so that it has raised many critical voices against the decision of the multinational. Among the personalities who have intervened on the subject, stand out Jordan Mechner (Karateka, Prince of Persia, The Last Express) and John Romero (Wolfenstein 3-D, DOOM, Quake)who have made this battle their own and are fighting to highlight the importance of historical preservation in the video game industry.

Preserving video games

The two spoke with video game historian Kelsey Lewin and former Game Informer journalist Ben Hanson about it. The result was an interesting exchange, which you can watch recorded on YouTube.

Both Mechner and Romero are ardent supporters of historical preservation and have donated their archives to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. Their recent biographical books, Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family by Mechner and DOOM Guy: Life in First Person by Romeroare important documents for the preservation of the historical memory of the medium, which also includes the personal stories of the authors.

Their intervention highlights the very important work done by organizations such as Internet Archive in the preservation of past titles, a reality paradoxically oppressed by the big publishers, who do little or nothing to prevent the oblivion of what they create.

“All the games and books I’ve created in my career have been inspired and enriched by my access to libraries and archives. It’s painful for me, as an author, to see the non-profit Internet Archive under attack by publishers trying to block digital contentconfining them to a handful of for-profit platforms,” explained Jordan Mechner.

“Preserving our cultural heritage of games, books, music, and other media is an ongoing and very active work that only happens to the extent that we care and make it happen. Online libraries like the Internet Archive are a vital public service, and I support their mission.”

“We are living in an extraordinary era of digital creation. Digital archiving of today’s media is easier than ever, which should mean more preservation of today’s creations for tomorrow’s learning,” said John Romero. “Why GameStop has chosen to remove all Game Informer articles online is beyond comprehension. In our speeches, Jordan and I passionately advocate for the importance of digital media archiving.”