Video Game History Foundation launches digital archive

The Video Game History Foundation has today launched the VGHF Digital Library – an archive of over 30,000 curated files from its physical collection.

The archive is currently in early access with more items to come, but currently includes more than 1,500 full-text searchable out-of-print video game magazines, never-before-seen development assets, artwork, and promotional materials.

Users will have the ability to search for specific games, authors, publishers, and other metadata cross public and previously internal materials.

These materials include guidebooks and items from the first 12 years of E3, an international collection of FromSoftware promotional material collected by citizen archivist Kris Urqhart, and 100 CDs of art and press releases from GamePro's magazine archive.

"We've been working on this project since we founded the Video Game History Foundation in 2017, so we're extremely proud to start providing access to our digital library and continue our mission to make video game history accessible to anyone," said VGHF founder Frank Cifaldi.

"We believe that with the right tools, anyone can be a video game historian, and we can't wait to see what new stories our archive inspired. We also hope this inspires those in the video game industry to consider the importance of preserving their work and contributing to initiatives like ours."

VGHF library director Phil Salvador added: "Our vision has always been to open our collections to everyone, whoever and wherever you are, and after years of work, today we're taking the first step towards that open digital future.

"We sincerely think this tool is going to change how people study video game history. We cannot wait to see what historians, researchers, authors, YouTubers, fans, and everyone in-between will discover."