The debate over game preservation rings as loud as ever now, and companies are throwing their own supports behind it. Sony’s latest efforts include forming a PlayStation games preservation team designed to futureproof and archive game data. Over the past few months, Sony has been hiring employees for this team to kickstart this massive initiative.
One such hire is Garrett Fredley, who broke the news in a LinkedIn post announcing their new position. Fredley previously worked for EA where they led preservation efforts for the FIFA franchise. They also gave a talk on games preservation for GDC. They’re obviously a good fit, and it’s an exciting prospect overall.
Fredley wrote about game preservation on LinkedIn:
Game preservation was my first career passion. It was my first foray into the world of Software Engineering / DevOps, and into a world that so many are unaware of. I was just a novice back then, contributing any way I could regardless of my inexperience. Now, I’m back to it, no longer the novice I once was.
Garrett Fredley, Senior Build Engineer at Playstation
What we know about the PlayStation preservation team
PlayStation’s new game preservation team centers around capturing and archiving data related to Sony’s IPs. Sony is cooperating with studios around the world to store relevant data and build up a catalogue of resources. A now-defunct job listing for the team reads:
This role is focused around the completion of operational tasks related to the PlayStation Studios IP Preservation service, working globally with studios, IT and production teams to methodically and diligently capture any required assets for storage and later retrieval, maintaining an extensive back catalogue of preserved assets and associated metadata.
PlayStation job listing
It’s important to clarify, though, that there’s no indication that Sony’s preservation efforts will include releasing preserved assets to the public. The preservation team will likely store data in archives rather than release them, since that part is still based on Sony’s discretion. So if you were optimistic that you’ll be experiencing tons of archived games anytime soon, just know that this isn’t necessarily the case.
What are you thoughts on the PlayStation games preservation team? Let us know!
