With the recent explosion in prices for the retro game market, many are starting to feel like gaming's history will become unobtainable to new players. Whether or not those prices are being manipulated by backdoor deals, attempting to grab a copy of Super Mario Bros. on the NES has recently become stupidly expensive. As a collector of classic games himself, PlatinumGames co-founder Hideki Kamiya has noticed this trend and has a few choice words for publishers that aren't releasing their classic titles on modern platforms.

Speaking to VGC about the history of PlatinumGames, Kamiya was questioned about the retro game market and how Platinum has strived to make its back catalog available to all players. "As a collector myself, I understand the lure of wanting to have that game in the sealed package...But as a fan, it's a problem if somebody wants to play a game but they can't get it because it's being traded in these ridiculous marketplaces," he said.

Elaborating further, Kamiya stated, "If people want to play a classic game and they can't, because it's not available on new platforms and can't be found in its original form either, that's like a threat… it’s holding game culture back... The people who own the rights to these games should be actively making moves to preserve game culture and making games available to everyone who wants to play them."

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These comments come days after PlatinumGames told VGC that it would love to see Starfox Zero get re-released for the Nintendo Switch. Platinum isn't the one that would make that decision, but it fits into the mindset that it wants for players. Just because a game is old doesn't mean it needs to remain locked to outdated and inaccessible hardware.

Currently, Microsoft seems to be the one console manufacturer that has any interest in preserving its past. While there is still a lot of work left to be done, owners of the Xbox One and Series X|S can enjoy a range of games dating back to the original Xbox console on their modern devices. There's also a large selection of Xbox 360 games available, not to mention full backward compatibility with Xbox One on the newer consoles. Sony has seemingly washed its hands of the past while Nintendo... is Nintendo.

While it's always nice to see something completely new, making sure that players can experience your past is something companies should put more stock into.

Source: VGC

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