National Videogame Museum launches UK-wide survey on game preservation

GamesIndustry.biz reports that the National Videogame Museum has launched Behind the Screens, a UK-wide survey designed to map what game-preservation material already exists across the country. The museum is running it with Ukie and funding from the BFI’s Screen Heritage Fund, with the goal of identifying collections and gaps before more history is lost.

The survey is aimed at developers, publishers, studios, former industry professionals, and collectors. It asks what they hold — including development materials, artwork, hardware, design documents, marketing assets, and company archives — and also gathers views on preservation inside the industry.

The practical angle for developers is straightforward: if you have old source materials, production assets, or even boxed hardware sitting in storage, this is a chance to surface them before they deteriorate or disappear. The museum says the findings will help shape how the UK preserves and shares its videogame heritage, and where collaboration could protect at-risk material.

The National Videogame Museum opened in Sheffield in 2018 and says it has welcomed more than 350,000 visitors. It already holds nearly 5,000 game-related objects, but this survey suggests the bigger challenge is finding what still lives outside institutional collections and getting it documented while it’s still accessible.