Sheffield is leading a new effort to preserve the history of video games in the UK, launching a cultural heritage project aimed at building a national archive of game design and play experiences. Organisers say that as games increasingly shift to digital formats, physical materials and personal stories are at risk of being lost unless they are recorded and stored for future generations.
The initiative, called Behind the Screens, is based at the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield and is supported by the British Film Institute’s Screen Heritage Fund. It is the first project of its kind in the UK, with a broad focus on both the creative artefacts and cultural impact of videogames.
A key part of the project is conducting a comprehensive survey of games materials held by development studios. These materials include design notes, concept art, early prototypes and documentation that studios might otherwise keep in private archives or risk losing as technology changes. By cataloguing and preserving these objects, organisers hope to create a foundation for a national networked archive that can be accessed by researchers and the public.
In addition to collecting physical and digital artefacts, the project aims to capture the personal experiences of players and developers. Organisers plan to gather oral histories and testimonies about how games have shaped people’s lives and culture. This includes not just technical or design details, but memories of play, community involvement and social interactions facilitated by games.
At the National Videogame Museum, engineers and curators already maintain a collection of classic arcade machines and historical hardware. These include early consoles and arcade cabinets that require ongoing care to remain functional. Staff work on everything from repairing electronic components to maintaining servers that keep older games running, blending technical work with preservation efforts.
Museum staff describe their work as involving “screwdrivers and servers,” underscoring the dual nature of preserving games: maintaining the physical hardware while also safeguarding software and associated materials. John O’Shea, a museum representative, emphasises that maintaining these machines and materials preserves not just entertainment artefacts, but pieces of cultural and technological history.
Organisers also highlight that modern video games function as social spaces, not just media to be consumed. Games like Fortnite and other online titles enable players to interact, create and share experiences in virtual environments. These intangible aspects of gaming community, creativity and shared cultural moments are part of what the project aims to document and celebrate.
The archive will also include planned exhibitions and public programmes that contextualise gaming history within broader cultural trends. Oral histories, player stories and developer contributions will be integrated into displays and online resources to provide a fuller picture of how games influence society.
Nick Poole from UK Interactive Entertainment, an industry body, says that video games are often overlooked as a major cultural medium despite their global reach and influence. He points out that games are played by billions of people worldwide and have significant social and cultural impact, yet there is not yet a comprehensive system in place to preserve that history in the way libraries or film archives preserve books and movies.
Poole emphasises the importance of capturing both tangible and intangible aspects of gaming culture. While physical items like consoles and game cartridges can be preserved, he notes that what people do “behind the screens” interactions, community dynamics and player creativity is equally important to understand and archive.
The shift toward digital distribution adds urgency to the project. As developers increasingly release games as online downloads or streaming services, physical copies and original hardware become less common. Without concerted preservation efforts, early games and their associated design materials could disappear from collective memory, leaving gaps in the history of an influential medium.
The National Videogame Museum itself has become a hub for gaming heritage. Since opening in Sheffield, it has attracted visitors interested in the evolution of video games and interactive culture, hosting exhibits that span early arcade machines through to contemporary interactive media. The Behind the Screens project builds on that foundation by expanding the museum’s role from exhibition to national archival leadership.
Organisers hope the archive will serve researchers, historians, game developers and fans alike. By preserving design documents, developer interviews, player stories and playable hardware, the project aims to create a resource that reflects the multi-faceted nature of gaming culture. Over time, this archive could become a central repository for understanding how games have shaped and mirrored social and cultural changes.
Plans also include collaborations with studios, cultural institutions and academic researchers to ensure that a wide range of voices and materials are included. By building a networked archive rather than a single storage vault organisers hope to distribute preservation efforts and make the archive accessible beyond Sheffield, connecting regional collections across the country.
The project reflects a growing recognition that video games are not just entertainment products but significant cultural artefacts. With their immersive worlds, creative design and global communities, games offer insight into technological evolution, artistic expression and social interaction. The drive to archive these elements is part of a broader movement to treat gaming history with the same seriousness given to literature, film and music.
By documenting the evolution of game design, play experiences and cultural impact, the initiative in Sheffield seeks to ensure that the stories behind video games and not just the games themselves are preserved for future generations to explore and understand.
